William Hill bettor turns two 12-team mobile app wagers into $96,500 No fans for Raider home games
Safety, fairness concerns factored into decision
The Raiders’ first season in Las Vegas will be played in an empty Allegiant Stadium.
With COVID-19 dramatically reducing the level of fan attendance across the NFL and sports in general, Raiders owner Mark Davis on Monday in an email to fans announced there will be no fan participation this year. Rather than play games in a sparsely filled Allegiant Stadium in which thousands of season-ticket holders would be left out in the cold, he decided to shut down fan access in 2020.
For Davis, the decision goes back to the NFL determining this summer to block off the first right rows of seats to create a COVID-19 buffer zone between fans and players. With the Raiders selling out their season ticket allotment, and no room to put the displaced fans, it would have meant telling thousands of fans they could not celebrate the first season of Allegiant Stadium.
“I felt … that if one couldn’t go, then I don’t know if any fan should go,” Davis said.
Now more than ever with COVID-19 numbers spiking around the country, the safety and health of fans and players became a factor
“It just didn’t seem safe to put fans in the stadium at this time,” Davis said. “There’s so many variables involved. All the workers that would have been trained to work in that stadium, we would have had to watch and test them.”
As a result, the Raiders informed their season-ticket holders there will be no fans this year.
“There is nothing more important to the Raider organization than the health and safety of our players, coaches, staff, stadium workers and fans,” the club said in the email. “After intensive consultation with healthcare officials and state and community leaders, we have made the difficult decision to play the Las Vegas Raiders 2020 inaugural season at Allegiant Stadium without fans in attendance. This decision is based on our commitment to protect the health of our fans and the entire community in response to the coronavirus pandemic affecting us all.”
The Raiders have told season-ticket holders they have the option of getting a refund for the 2020 tickets without losing their seats or rolling their 2020 payment to 2021.
Needless to say, fans were disappointed.
“I’m pretty bummed about it, but also saw it coming,” said Kenny King Jr., a longtime Bay Area Raiders fan who bought two season tickets at Allegiant Stadium. “I respect Mark a lot for making the decision to eliminate all fans so that a portion of fans weren’t alienated. ”
In response, UNLV football officials said they are awaiting word from Mountain West Conference officials before deciding if they will allow fans in Allegiant Stadium.
The NFL has left fan attendance up to each team, although the degree to which fans can participate is predicated on the state and city where the teams reside.
Most NFL teams are operating under the assumption that games will be played in front of limited fans. For instance:
The Baltimore Ravens have set attendance at 14,000, while the Jacksonville Jaguars have set attendance at 25 percent capacity of their stadium.
In New Jersey, both the Giants and Jets have declared no fan attendance until further notice, which gives them some wiggle room should conditions in that area of the country improve.
And in Los Angeles, the Rams have told season-ticket holders there will be no fans or a greatly reduced number of fans at SOFI Stadium.
With Nevada still in Phase 2 of COVID-19 protocol, Gov. Steve Sisolak has not given a green light for large gatherings at events like sporting events and concerts. Even if he did, whatever ruling he made would likely not allow all 65,000