The Las Vegas Raiders have already announced that fans will not be in attendance for any home games during the 2020 regular season. The Raiders are playing their inaugural season in Sin City, and home games would have been one of the hottest tickets in town.
Allegiant Stadium, the $1.9 billion new home of the Raiders, has sat empty through the first few months of existence, but that is set to change. It was recently announced that fans will be allowed to attend college football games this fall.
The University of Nevada-Las Vegas (UNLV) has been given permission to allow a small number of fans to attend the first two home games of the season. It’s unclear if fans will be allowed to attend all season long, but the Rebels will get to play in front of a crowd when they kick off their 2020 season.
Local and state health officials will allow up to three percent capacity to attend each home game, which is right around 2,000 fans. Other rules and regulations will be in place to ensure that social distancing is taking place.
UNLV hosts the University of Nevada-Reno on Saturday, October 31st, and this is the first time that fans will be allowed inside the new stadium. This is a huge rivalry game, and it is expected to be a hard ticket to get.
The second home game that fans can attend will take place on November 7th. The UNLV Rebels will host the Fresno State Bulldogs in that matchup.
The school does have two more home games on the schedule this season, and the university has been working with local and state health officials to determine a course of action. UNLV is hopeful that it will get the approval to have fans in attendance for those games.
Getting to tour the new stadium will be worth the admission price for most fans, as it has not been opened to the public. The Raiders still don’t have any plans of allowing fans during the 2020 season.
Mountain West Kicks Things Off
The Mountain West Conference officially started its 2020 season this weekend, becoming one of the last leagues to get things underway. The league has had to make a number of schedule changes due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and it means fewer games for each team.
UNLV took on the San Diego State Aztecs on Saturday, and things did not go well for the Rebels. UNLV suffered a 34-6 loss in that game, and the team is hoping that fans will help turn things around.
Each team in the Mountain West will play an eight-game conference only schedule this season. Each school will host four games, as opposed to the traditional six or seven home games.
UNLV will host the Wyoming Cowboys on November 27th and the Boise State Broncos on December 4th to wrap up the home portion of their schedule.
Sports Betting Set to Take Off
Nevada’s sports betting industry has slowly started to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, especially with the start of the NFL season. College football is another popular sport to bet on, and many area teams have yet to take the field or just did so this weekend.
The Pac-12 Conference has yet to begin the 2020 season, but that will change in November. Las Vegas, Nevada, is right in the middle of Pac-12 country, and this will provide a renewed interest at the sportsbooks.
New Jersey has taken over as the leader in the sports betting industry, and Nevada is now trying to catch back up.
