Las Vegas Raiders

The Las Vegas Raiders played their first home game yesterday at the new Allegiant Stadium — but with empty seats because of the pandemic — defeating the New Orleans Saints 34-24 (after a 17-17 halftime).

As an Oakland, Calif. native, I watched with mild curiosity. Las Vegas is one of my favorite places, so I was happy to see all the Vegas imagery juxtaposed with the team I once rooted hard for. People used to say Las Vegas would never get pro sports teams because of the gambling influence on what are supposed to be fair tests of athletic/strategic ability. Ultimately, money as a factor seems to have prevailed — not by those involved in betting, but by corporations and government. Indeed, it's a tourism marketing boost when every commercial break included tantalizing Vegas strip imagery.

I'm still happy when the Raiders win, but I don't care when they lose. Like Seinfeld says, I'm rooting for laundry. I ignored them after they moved to L.A., though was I happy when they won a Super Bowl while based there. When they came back, I wasn't totally sold. The Raiders have been poorly managed for years and they're ultimately responsible for costing the county millions to lure back the team and renovate the stadium.

Now they're in Vegas, thanks in part to a .88% tax increase on hotel rooms to pay for their new stadium. Normally I'd be excited to see a game while in town, such as the Las Vegas Stars minor league baseball games way back when, or MLB spring training games. I noticed that the Las Vegas Aviators started recently and is right next to Red Rock casino — and it's on my things-to-do list. But I don't think I'll come to town and spend even more money on the Raiders. I'll be happy to go see the Golden Knights play the San Jose Sharks, but not the Raiders.

The Raiders have talent an amazing amount of it in fact. As well the Saints have talent also. The Raiders played about a perfect game in my opinion. Although the Saints look like they were going to clobber the Raiders in the beginning the Saints probably hung themselves solely with their huge amount of penalties they caused themselves to receive which has to be deducted from the large amount of talent that the team has.

Although I never lived in Oakland or in a city where the Raiders have called home I do like the team and always have. I think it's a good fit in the Vegas market.

Quote: Marcusclark66

I think it's a good fit in the Vegas market.

The Raiders seem like a good pairing with the UNLV Rebels and the general Vegas spirit.

Yeah, I was waiting for the Raiders to fall apart like they typically do, but they played a great second half.