Allegiant Stadium’s 1 million fans tops international list of venues

The Kats! Bureau at this writing is The Perch at Allegiant Stadium, Raiders-Chargers having at it. It has again been a busy weekend for this building, coming off the wild Pac-12 Championship game on Friday night.

Allegiant Stadium is a busy building, and also frequently filled. The Raiders’ home stadium has topped an impressive list of like-sized venues around the world.

Allegiant is the No. 1 international stadium for live events, according to Billboard Boxscore’s annual rankings. Allegiant has grossed more than $180 million in ticket sales, drawn more than 1 million fans, and staged 24 events in Billboard’s reporting period from Nov. 1, 2021-Oct. 31, 2022.

The Raiders’ home building is the only venue listed to draw more than 1 million fans over the 12-month period. Specifically, Allegiant Stadium grossed $182,503, 448, attracting 1,019,733 fans to those two-dozen events.

Those stats don’t count Raiders and UNLV football as “in-house” teams. But all concerts and the venue’s international soccer matches are in that total. Bad Bunny (twice), BTS (four times), The Rolling Stones, Metallica, Billy Joel and Imagine Dragons are among the the headliners to play Allegiant Stadium over the reporting period.

SoFi Stadium in L.A. is second among stadiums ($107,812,310 gross, 546,888 fans, 11 events in the reporting period), followed by Foro Sol in Mexico City, MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. and Stade de France in Paris.

Las Vegas theaters also topped three other prominent categories in the Billboard list, with two other Strip venues placing in the top five and another in the top 10 (the full listing in all categories is at Billboard.com).

Where Vegas rang the bell:

— Resorts World Theatre, No. 1 among 5,000-or-less capacity (the room’s cap is right at 5,000). The Theatre hosted 87 performances, for a $55,272,018 gross and 362,510 attendees. Luke Bryan, Katy Perry, Carrie Underwood and David Blaine are the venue’s current headliners. Celine Dion’s show is on the tarmac, we hope, for 2023.

— Dolby Live, No. 1 among those with 5,001-10,000 capacity. The Theatre hosted 87 performances, for a $55,272,018 gross and 362,510 attendees. Dolby Live’s position is especially impressive given that it’s 5,600-seat total capacity is comparatively small in a category ranging up to 10,000 capacity.

The venue formerly known as Park Theater at Park MGM grossed $114,452,081, drawing 477,737 attendees over 98 shows. Silk Sonic, Usher, Lady Gaga, Jonas Brothers and Aerosmith all headlined at Dolby Live in the reporting period.

— MGM Grand Garden, No. 3 among venues 10,001-15,000. Moody Center in Austin and OVO Hydrow in Glasgow, Scotland were 1-2. MGM Grand grossed $45,236,415, drawing 237,872 attendees over 27 shows. The Eagles, Andrea Boccelli and Alejandro Fernández with Amor Y Patria and Alex Fernandez were among the superstar headliners at the Grand Garden.

— The Colosseum at Caesars Palace, No. 3 among venues at 5,001-10,000, with $36,719,306 gross, 197,694 attendees over 54 performances. Keith Urban, Rod Stewart and Van Morrison are among the stars who headlined the venue in the charted period. Fox Theatre in Atlanta was slotted beteen Dolby Live and the Colosseum at No. 2.

— T-Mobile Arena, No. 4 among arenas of 15,001 or more, with 58 events, $124,684,713 in gross and 731,072 attendees. Tool, George Strait, Billie Eilish and The Killers have all headlined the arena. Madison Square Garden topped the list, followed by O2 Arena in London and Kia Forum in Inglewood, with Crypto.com Arena in L.A. rounding out the top five.

— Encore Theater at Wynn Las Vegas, No. 8 in the 5,000-and-under category. The venue has also been the top-grossing, 2,000-under theater since 2019 (though that is not a designated category). Sebastian Maniscalco, John Fogerty, Duran Duran and Boy George and Culture Club have all headlined the venue.

In a statement, MGM Resorts International’s Executive Vice President of Entertainment Chris Baldizan said his company “is home to the industry’s premier entertainment venues.”

“The success we’ve seen the past two years is a true testament to our employees, event partners, and loyal entertainment and sports fans who enjoy the array of experiences we offer,” Baldizan said. “We have hosted some of the world’s preeminent artists and sporting events over the years and look forward to delivering more exciting content in the months and years ahead.”

Encore Theater is what we call (comparitavly) tiny but mighty. AEG Vice President of Talent Chris Hammond says 2022 was “a banner year for live entertainment.”

“To be ranked among the top 10 grossing venues in the world yet again is a continued testament to our incredible team and headliners, and to our partnership with one of the finest resorts in the world,” Hammond, repping the Wynn’s booking booking partner at the venue, said in a statement.

It all adds up to a massively successful, 12-month run for residency and touring shows on the Strip. Just totalling those seven Vegas venues in the Billboard top 5, the city hosted more than 3 million fans at a half-dozen of its premiere live-entertainment facilities.

And, Vegas’s seven venues in the top five of those five divisions are more than any international city. No other city placed venues in every category. The Billboard listing would be a reason, or millions of reasons, why the city claims the title of Entertainment Capital of the World.

Party like it’s ‘1923’

Film legends Helen Mirren, Harrison Ford and screenwriter/producer/actor Taylor Sheridan led the cast of “1923” to VegasVille over the weekend. The series’ cast and crew took in a special screening at Encore Theater on Saturday afternoon. This is the next next installment of the Dutton family’s origin story, a prequel to “Yellowstone” and sequel to “1883,” on Paramount+.

The crew also took over Delilah and Intrigue Nightclub (fantastic places to take over) for cast parties Saturday. Ford, Mirren and Sheridan even managed to make Saturday’s National Finals Rodeo at Thomas & Mack Center, where the “1923” ranch lifestyle (and fashion styles) are on full display.

Our Golden moment

The Helmsley Charitable Trust made a stunning $1.05 million donation to Golden Rainbow at the end of Sunday’s Ribbon of Life show at Tropicana Theater. The donation is to renovate an apartment complex downtown for Golden Rainbow clients living on the streets.

Walter Panzirer of the Helmsley Trust made the donation. Panzirer is the grandson of the late Leona Helmsley, the New York tabloid star in the 1980s who was dubbed “The Queen of Mean” for her behavior as a prominent hotelier. But in here passing, Helmsley and her family have done a lot of good. The $1.05 million from Sunday is added to the Helmsley Trust’s $275,000 donation to Golden Rainbow in 2017.

‘Opium’ no more

Spiegelworld’s “Opium” at the Cosmopolitan has formally changed its name to “OPM,” effective last month. This matches the show’s spacecraft, Starship OPM. It is not the synonym for “Other People’s Money,” a term that was tossed around in an earlier era in Vegas entertainment. As in, “We’re spending OPM on this show.”

Regardless, it’s time to upgrade with some OPM merch.

Also, we had listed the talented Brett Alters as a current member of the cast in a recent column. He’s left “OPM,” for a spot with Particle Ink as it moves from its Arts District location. Alters was great in the Spiegelworld show as crewman Chip, and has also co-starred as the Squire with Piff the Magic Dragon.

Cool Hang Alert

Top acts Shenandoah and Clay Walker play Dawg House Saloon at Resorts World as party of the hotel’s rodeo celebration. Shenandoah is Friday, Walker is Saturday, both after the NFR Watch Party at the venue. Go to Dawghouselasvegas.com for info.

John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. His “PodKats!” podcast can be found at reviewjournal.com/podcasts. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on Twitter, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.