COVID throw a spanner in Raiders’ deal

Article posted by Coliseum, August 14^th, 2020

Image: MJR Group Ltd./Coliseum

The financial impact of COVID-19 has spared almost none – the National Football League’s (NFL’s) Las Vegas Raiders have missed out on a potential 10-year, $30m commercial partnership with the Southern Nevada Water Authority (in US) due to the coronavirus menace. Almost every entity around the globe is trying to tighten their purse strings as the pandemic continues to hang on like the Sword of Damocles.

The Las Vegas Raiders are a professional American football team based in the Las Vegas metropolitan area in US. The Raiders compete in the NFL as a member club of the league’s American Football Conference (AFC) West division.

“We did not enter into any sponsorship agreement with the Raiders, and have no plans currently to do so at this time,” Scott Huntley, the Southern Nevada Water Authority Senior Manager of Public Services, told mediapersons.

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“Both [the length and value of the deal] were problematic, especially now that we are reducing budgets significantly in light of the pandemic situation,” Huntley added.

Raiders’ owner Mark Davis recently announced that games at Allegiant Stadium will be played without fans in attendance for the 2020 season, thus significantly reducing the impact of in-venue signage for sponsors.

It was also believed that the partnership would not have been completely effective as it is expected that many fans from out of the State will attend Raiders games once current restrictions in place due to coronavirus are lifted as the fatal respiratory disease continue to take a huge toll on lives in the US.

“If I were going to spend $30m over 10 years with the Raiders it’s imperative you’re talking to the people you’re trying to reach,” Southern Nevada Water Authority advisory committee member Andy Maggi added.

The Las Vegas Raiders continue to be one of the hardest hit sports entities when it comes to the economic impact of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

The Raiders already announced that they will not host fans at the jaw-dropping Allegiant Stadium off the Vegas strip for their inaugural campaign in the desert. Now, the above piece of news comes as double whammy.

However, the $3 million in annual revenue this would have brought the Raiders seems to be minor in the grand scheme of things. Though, it’s just the latest indication that owner Mark Davis and Co. are going to be dealing with wide-ranging ramifications due to the current economic downturn.

It was noted earlier in the week that the Raiders are set to lose an NFL-high $571 million in revenue for the 2020 season alone due to not being able to host fans at their luxurious venue in Las Vegas. These are just two recent examples of just how much the team has been impacted.

Any revenue loss after building a $2 billion stadium is going to hit Davis hard.

The Raiders will debut the 65,000-seat, $2bn Allegiant Stadium, located just off the famed Las Vegas Strip, on September 21st on Monday Night Football in an event that will also mark the 50th anniversary of that prime time television showcase.

The club, which relocated from Oakland, California, last year unveiled its naming rights deal with Allegiant Air for the stadium, with the agreement estimated to be worth more than $400m.

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