LAS VEGAS – Mark Davis would often take midnight trips to Allegiant Stadium this summer, just to check on the progress being made in the Las Vegas Raiders’ new $ 1.9 billion home.
Friday, the Raiders’ owner sat on the team bench, waking it all up about an hour before the team broke into the 65,000-seat dome stadium – with a clear roof, sloping lanai doors to the Las Vegas Strip and a grass field – with a padded practice. Then, after going to the front of the massive Al Davis think tanks, Davis directed the Raiders from above.
“Welcome to the Death Star, where our opponents’ dreams die,” Davis said.
“This is our field of dreams. This is our house. The personality of the stadium will be defined by you, so be proud every time you step on this field with those famous black jerseys and silver helmets. You are the Raiders. D there will be a lot of personal achievements here in this field. Someone in this field today will take the first approach; someone will score the first touchdown, and someone will make the first interception. But the most important thing is what we do as a team. “I’ll leave you with three words – Just win, baby. Welcome home.”
The Raiders treated the practice as a pseudo-first name recording, complete with introductions of the player, “The Autumn Wind” and “Hell’s Bells” repeated throughout the stadium, piped-in audience noise and the players in full uniform, offended in black jerseys, defense in White.
And while the training is more like your practice of the run-of-the-mill camp about 11 miles to the south at the team’s new facility in Henderson suburb, coaches and players were excited about a to be game-like atmosphere.
From the three enormous video games to the latest sound system to the field-level lounge / club behind the northern end zone to the impressive 95-meter-high torch, with the Mandalay Bay and Luxor casinos at the back.
“This place is a unique kind of joint,” Raiders coach Jon Gruden said with a laugh. “We just need to puncture this virus in the peat and open these doors so people can enjoy it like we did today. It’s a spectacular place out of sight.
“The bright lights, the natural grass in a domed stadium, the spectacular dressing room, it’s a modern facility. It has everything you can imagine, and I can not wait to share it with our fans … It’s a lot other than Alameda. No respect for the old stadium, but it’s a lot different. “
The Oakland Coliseum was the only remaining facility shared by both the NFL and MLB, and sewer problems have become the norm in recent years.
Jalen Richard runs back, saying he was excited to no longer tackle the Coliseum’s baseball field, saying he needs to tell special team coach Rich Bisaccia, who usually throws him passes in pregame warm-ups, to “get you to step out of the lights” while admiring the new digs.
Richard said the black mirrored exterior of the stadium looked like “a nice limousine, like a blacked-out H2 Hummer … aggressive.
“Then you come in and it’s just beautiful. From the glass … the party area, the drinks, the club areas. Everything was fun and well done.”
Richard also said the seats were more “above us” than in Oakland.
“With this thing full, it’s going to rock,” he said. “It will feel that way like the Minnesota Stadium where the fans are right on top of you.”
But as Gruden remarked, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, fans will not see the inside of the stadium this season because the Raiders have decided against fans at games.
And as such, Davis told ESPN that he was sticking to his plan to stay away from home games as well.
“It’s crushing. I know how bad it hurts our owner,” Gruden said. “Mark Davis, he set this thing up. I do not know how he did it, but he is crushed. I know he is crushed not to let his fans in here.”
The Raiders had called Oakland home from 1960 to 1981 and again since 1995, after playing in Los Angeles from 1982 to 1994. Allegiant Stadium funding was made possible in part by $ 750 million in hotel taxes.
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