Boyd Gaming, Raiders team up in new partnership

Boyd Gaming is preparing to make its mark on the Raiders and Allegiant Stadium through a partnership that makes its Vegas properties the “official and exclusive” local casino.

The deal was made public during a Friday news conference at The Orleans.

The operators behind the Fremont, Aliante Hotel, Sam’s Town and other local properties said its founding partnership will give the company prominent signage and brand placement throughout the stadium, including placing Boyd and its Southern Nevada casinos’ brands on the the west side of the stadium’s upper deck.

Boyd will be a presenting partner at one Raiders home game each year, and the weekly in-season radio show will be “presented by Boyd,” the organizations said. The two brands will also partner in advertising and marketing projects, host Raiders events at Boyd properties and other fan activations, Boyd CEO Keith Smith said.

“Having those 65,000-plus fans here every weekend for Raiders’ home games, it’s tremendous. Our fans from around the country, because we have casinos in 10 other states, come into Las Vegas just to see their team playing the Raiders,” Smith said, adding the partnership was years in the making.

Both organizations also highlighted its shared community values as among the reasons for the partnership, though Smith declined to share details of any philanthropic projects in the works.

Raiders President Sandra Douglass Morgan said as an alumna of UNLV’s William S. Boyd School of Law, she’s long been aware of the company and its founding family’s philanthropic contributions to the region. She sees the partnership as a way to further ingrain the team into the community’s identity.

“When I started, (team owner) Mark Davis told me that he wants to be woven into the fabric of this community,” she said. “That is something that is very near and dear to my heart as I grew up here. We want people to think of the Raiders when they think of Las Vegas.”

McKenna Ross is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms. Contact her at mross@reviewjournal.com. Follow @mckenna_ross_ on Twitter.