How the Las Vegas Raiders Sold Out Their Home-Field Advantage

LAS VEGAS – I’ve never been to Pittsburgh before, but I’m being told by screaming fans to my right and left that it resembles the Hacienda Bridge over Interstate 15 between Allegiant Stadium and the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino.

“Welcome to Pittsburgh!” screams one fan.

“This is Steel City!” shouts another.

Allegiant Stadium is more than 2,200 miles west of the Three Rivers, but it didn’t feel that way on Sunday night as the Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Las Vegas Raiders, 23-18, in front of 62,541 mostly black-and-yellow clad Steelers fans waving “Terrible Towels.”

Sunday’s home opener wasn’t an anomaly. It has become a trend for a Raiders franchise that has turned into the NFL’s ultimate tourist destination. When I ask Raiders fans when was the last time this has happened, they point to last year’s final two home games against the 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs, when Allegiant Stadium was a sea of red. 

“It happens every home game,” says Ralph Lopez, a 49-year-old Raiders fan from Los Angeles. “I call our house the brothel of the NFL. Tourists come, they have a good time, pay their money and leave. And then it’s on to the next team’s fans with money to spend. It’s sad.”

Lopez has been going to Raiders games since the team played at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum from 1982-94, and frequently traveled to Oakland for home games. When the Raiders moved to Las Vegas, ownership thought it would be a perfect location for Raiders fans in Southern California and the Bay Area, their two homes from 1960-2020, to travel to home games 8-10 times per year. And one-third of Raiders season ticket holders are still from California. The problem is that two-thirds of fans in the stands at Allegiant Stadium for some home games are rooting for the other team.

“The last time I felt I was at an actual Raiders home game was in Oakland; I remember we were playing Denver on Sunday Night Football a few years ago and it was 99 percent Raiders fans,” says Mark Canenguez, a 41-year-old Raiders season ticket holder, who traveled to Oakland and now travels to Las Vegas from Phoenix. “It’s the opposite now. It feels like 80-20 or 90-10 Steelers fans.”    

Canenguez goes to most games with his father, Ramon, but understands why Allegiant Stadium has turned into a neutral site at best for the Raiders after years of enjoying one of the best home-field advantages in the league.

“Our tickets are $225 base price and there are a lot of games where those tickets are selling for $800,” Canenguez says. “I’ve seen them sell for as much as $1,500. We can make up the cost of our season tickets in less than five games. Maybe three games this season when you look at the schedule. We want to sell to Raiders fans. We’re willing to sell for less to Raiders fans, but it is what it is.”

The Raiders’ regular-season home schedule includes the Steelers, Green Bay Packers, New England Patriots, New York Giants, New York Jets, Kansas City Chiefs, Minnesota Vikings, Los Angeles Chargers and Denver Broncos. Casenguez expects every home game, except for the Chargers game, to feel like a road game. The cheapest ticket to the next Raiders home game against the Packers on Oct. 9 is selling for $500, and a marginally better seat goes for around $700 on the secondary market. It’s the kind of money most people might spend on vacation, but not in real life.

Welcome, Cheeseheads! “It’s going to be green and yellow,” Casenguez says. “It’s going to feel like Lambeau Field.”

When the location and renderings for the Raiders’ new stadium in Las Vegas were first unveiled in 2016, two of the biggest initial concerns were the lack of parking and how fans on the Las Vegas Strip would get to the stadium, since Interstate 15 separates the Strip from the stadium. The solution has created one of the more colorful and entertaining one-mile walks in America. It generally serves as a preview of how many visiting team fans will be at the game.  

On game days, fans pass through the Mandalay Bay and Luxor and walk across the 0.3-mile Hacienda Bridge over the highway.

It was a sea of black and yellow before and after the game on a day when the Las Vegas Aces beat the Dallas Wings, 97-83, in Game 1 of the WNBA semifinals at their arena at Mandalay Bay.

In stark contrast to the Raiders, the WNBA’s Aces and NHL’s Vegas Golden Knights, the defending champions in their respective leagues, have established solid home advantages. Not only does it help to win, but the games are more affordable. For example, the cheapest ticket to see the Aces play Game 2 of the WNBA semifinals Tuesday night against the Wings was $7, and a ticket to see the Golden Knights play the Los Angeles Kings in a preseason game on Wednesday is $29.

“The price point has really taken a lot of people out that want to support the Raiders,” says T.C. Martin, who hosts a daily sports radio talk show in Las Vegas and covered both the Aces and Raiders games on Sunday. “You can sit in the lower bowl at an Aces game for $25. There are a lot of Aces and Golden Knights fans that would like to see and support the Raiders too but they can’t afford it.”  

The Golden Knights and Aces were essentially created in Las Vegas and became champions in the city. Meanwhile Allegiant Stadium is a silver-and-black museum to the Raiders’ history in Oakland and Los Angeles. It’s probably not coincidental that the Raiders are an unimpressive 9-9 in regular-season games with fans in the stands.

“I knew this would happen,” says Bryan Brandt, a 49-year-old Steelers fan who was born in Pittsburgh but lives in nearby Henderson, Nevada. “It’s ridiculous what they charge. They have priced out Raiders fans and local fans that might become Raiders fans. I’m here with my wife for our 24th anniversary but a family of four can’t go to a game. It’s not just the ticket prices. I bought four beers and it was about $100.”

It’s not uncommon for opposing fans to take over stadiums in destination cities. It has frequently happened in Los Angeles, where the Rams and Chargers are still trying to build a fan base in a town that didn’t have an NFL team for 21 years. But even opposing fans who have seen their team outnumber home fans in other cities can’t recall the disparity at Allegiant Stadium.   

“I’ve traveled all over the country to watch the Steelers and I’ve never seen anything like this,” says Jerry Demarino, a 50-year-old Steelers fan from Pittsburgh and a third-generation season ticketholder. “This is the most Steelers fans I’ve seen at a game outside of Pittsburgh.”

Like many fans of opposing teams coming to Las Vegas, Sunday’s game is the lone road trip Demarino will make this season to watch his team play. It was a trip he circled on his calendar after the NFL schedule was released in May. It’s a sentiment shared by many opposing fans experiencing a game at Allegiant Stadium and a sad reality for Raiders fans who remember when the “Black Hole” in Oakland was the last place visiting fans wanted to go.

“What they have done is an atrocity and it’s only going to get worse,” Lopez says. “Visiting fans are having a great time. They’re always going to come back. This is their Vegas timeshare now. Opposing fans used to be scared to come into the ‘Black Hole’ and now it’s their second home. The stadium is full, hotels are full and the Raiders are worth more now than they ever were before. Why would they change when everyone is making money?”

Lopez thought he would routinely make the 45-minute flight or three-hour and 45-minute drive from Los Angeles to Las Vegas to watch the Raiders when the team relocated from Oakland but he hasn’t gone inside of Allegiant Stadium since the team’s first game in front of fans at their new home in 2021. He shows a photo of himself at that game two years ago with his wife, Flor, his daughter, Joanne, and his son, Ralphie. The TV production worker made the trip out to Las Vegas by himself on Sunday to see old friends and tailgate with Raiders fans he hasn’t seen in years. He ended up watching the game at the Mandalay Bay’s sportsbook.     

“I’m not mad that my team sucks,” Lopez said. “We’ve sucked for 20 years. I’m used to it. I’m mad that me and my family have been priced out of going to our home games. This is the worst feeling. I want my children to go to games and grow up to be Raiders fans like I was. I want them to hear The Autumn Wind before kickoff. There’s something powerful about that. I’m mad that they’re missing that.”

For years, Lopez felt the Raiders were a part of his family. The photo album on his phone is filled with pictures of moments that are time stamps in his life. There’s a photo of him at the last Raiders game at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on December 24, 1994, and the first Raiders game back in Oakland on September 3, 1995. There’s a photo of him holding his infant son at the last Raiders game in Oakland on December 15, 2019, and the family photo at the first game with fans in Las Vegas on September 13, 2021. And that’s it.    

“It's never going to be like it was before,” Lopez says. “I look at these photos and these are big moments in my life. I thought I would get to experience this with my kids but it’s gone forever. Even if we somehow got tickets to a game, what are we walking into? Look around you. Does this feel like a Raiders home game? The Raiders lost their home, and if this continues, they’re going to lose a lot of their fans too.”