[Misc] For those interested in stadium builds

[lasvegan]

It’s architecturally impressive for sure, but a stadium for a team whored from another city (not for the first time either) to be frequented by wealthy tourists is really the epitome of ‘soulless’, is it not?

To be fair, The Raiders have been looking to get out of Oakland for as long as I can remember. Their stadium, shared with the A’s, was a s**t hole even back in the 80’s, and they could they could never negotiate a deal with the city to build a new one.

To be frequented just by soulless tourists is also a rather cynical misperception of the city. I don’t think people realize that Las Vegas has a metropolitan population of 2.7 million. They way the city latched on to the Golden Knights NHL hockey team (a brand new franchise) was remarkable. I think there will be more soulless afternoons at The Amex than Allegiance Stadium, even if they ever let the fans back in.

 

[lasvegan]

I know it happens a lot in America, but isn't this the same as when Wimbledon moved from their home town to Milton Keynes. OK, so the stadium wasn't anywhere nearly as grand, but still a case of build a stadium and buy a team to put in it. All those fans in Oakland who just lost their team.

I get your point. My first home in the States was a 10 minute drive to Anaheim Stadium and I became a big LA Rams fan. When they moved to St. Louis I was totally pissed off and stopped following them completely (although they originally started out in Cleveland) and haven’t really followed the NFL since.

And it wasn’t a “build and they will come” situation at all. It is a deal with the Raiders and the city that had to be endorsed by the NFL. The Raiders are paying 1.1 billion with hotel taxes picking up the rest. That’s just the way it is over here with sports teams. They are franchises in the business of making money.

 

[Lyndhurst 14]

Soulless is a synonym for USA so I dont think they care much.

Yeah - the Yanks like tastefully vulgar

 

[Saunders]

It is a stunning piece of work and a brilliantly managed build. The difficulties of building in the Las Vegas heat were immense and the way they coped was fantastic. Also there were a number of corners the Raiders could have cut to reduce costs and make the build easier but they stuck to their vision of how they wanted it to look and damned the expense.

It’s a crying shame that Raiders have left Oakland but they really have come up with a beauty of a stadium and I think they will carry this thing off.

MK Dons

 

[Saunders]

To be fair, The Raiders have been looking to get out of Oakland for as long as I can remember. Their stadium, shared with the A’s, was a s**t hole even back in the 80’s, and they could they could never negotiate a deal with the city to build a new one.

To be frequented just by soulless tourists is also a rather cynical misperception of the city. I don’t think people realize that Las Vegas has a metropolitan population of 2.7 million. They way the city latched on to the Golden Knights NHL hockey team (a brand new franchise) was remarkable. I think there will be more soulless afternoons at The Amex than Allegiance Stadium, even if they ever let the fans back in.

They could never negotiate a deal where the owners bleed the maximum profit same reason why they left oakland to la and then left la to oakland

 

[Change at Barnham]

An away trip to watch your team play the Las Vegas Raiders is going to be the hottest ticket for both the US domestic market and the international visitors market.
No wonder the city were happy to support the costs with a hotel tax. The games will generate a fortune of spending within the city.

Have they allocated the city a Super Bowl yet?

 

[Not Andy Naylor]

An away trip to watch your team play the Las Vegas Raiders is going to be the hottest ticket for both the US domestic market and the international visitors market.
No wonder the city were happy to support the costs with a hotel tax. The games will generate a fortune of spending within the city.

Have they allocated the city a Super Bowl yet?

Just a matter of time.

 

[Poojah]

To be fair, The Raiders have been looking to get out of Oakland for as long as I can remember. Their stadium, shared with the A’s, was a s**t hole even back in the 80’s, and they could they could never negotiate a deal with the city to build a new one.

To be frequented just by soulless tourists is also a rather cynical misperception of the city. I don’t think people realize that Las Vegas has a metropolitan population of 2.7 million. They way the city latched on to the Golden Knights NHL hockey team (a brand new franchise) was remarkable. I think there will be more soulless afternoons at The Amex than Allegiance Stadium, even if they ever let the fans back in.

Given your username (which I didn’t register when I saw your original post, apologies), I’m clearly going to have to bow to your knowledge of the city itself. That’s just the perception I got of the place from one visit, admittedly, as a tourist.

I have to admit though, I do find US sport a bit perplexing - particularly ‘football’. I don’t necessarily mean that in a bad way either, I just find it rather alien. The concept of kids playing front of tens of thousands of people at high school level, and potentially over 100,000 at college level is just astounding. When I played sport at that level, I counted myself fortunate if I came through a game without sliding in dog turd.

I know a lot of that has a lot to do with the incredible geography of the United States - not every city can have a top level sports team, it’s just so very different to how things are done over here. There are definitely things I like about how they do things over the pond - particularly how they have a system which prevents teams from dominating for too long.

The idea that if one city won’t build you a stadium, go and find one that will, I can’t wrap my head around though. In this country, a team’s roots are sacrosanct and wherever such a bond is broken and you end up with a bàstard child like MK Dons, they are forever looked down upon as such.

This is a genuine question; what are the people of Oakland expected to do now their NFL franchise has gone? It’s not like they can do a Wimbledon and rebuild from grass roots. Do they follow the new Raiders from afar, or just follow NFL as neutral fans again?

 

[lasvegan]

Given your username (which I didn’t register when I saw your original post, apologies), I’m clearly going to have to bow to your knowledge of the city itself. That’s just the perception I got of the place from one visit, admittedly, as a tourist.

I have to admit though, I do find US sport a bit perplexing - particularly ‘football’. I don’t necessarily mean that in a bad way either, I just find it rather alien. The concept of kids playing front of tens of thousands of people at high school level, and potentially over 100,000 at college level is just astounding. When I played sport at that level, I counted myself fortunate if I came through a game without sliding in dog turd.

I know a lot of that has a lot to do with the incredible geography of the United States - not every city can have a top level sports team, it’s just so very different to how things are done over here. There are definitely things I like about how they do things over the pond - particularly how they have a system which prevents teams from dominating for too long.

The idea that if one city won’t build you a stadium, go and find one that will, I can’t wrap my head around though. In this country, a team’s roots are sacrosanct and wherever such a bond is broken and you end up with a bàstard child like MK Dons, they are forever looked down upon as such.

This is a genuine question; what are the people of Oakland expected to do now their NFL franchise has gone? It’s not like they can do a Wimbledon and rebuild from grass roots. Do they follow the new Raiders from afar, or just follow NFL as neutral fans again?

They will either continue to follow them from afar or travel every other week to watch them, just like they did when they moved to LA. Loads of them already live here. They’ll never follow the NFL as a neutral, that’s for sure, Raiders fans are probably the most loyal supporters in the league.

American sports, particularly football, baseball and ice hockey now have huge following in England, even on this board. Everybody has adopted their own team for whatever reason and tens of thousands travel to London several times a year to watch a live game.

There is now even talk of a team in London if the league ever expands beyond our borders. Would anyone adopt that team as their own if it was an existing franchise?

 

[lasvegan]

An away trip to watch your team play the Las Vegas Raiders is going to be the hottest ticket for both the US domestic market and the international visitors market.
No wonder the city were happy to support the costs with a hotel tax. The games will generate a fortune of spending within the city.

Have they allocated the city a Super Bowl yet?

The flight from London will probably be cheaper than a ticket to the game, so bring plenty of cash if it’s on your bucket list.

I think the next 5 Super Bowls are already accounted for, so 2026 at the earliest.