Allegiant Stadium to stage Pro Bowl spectacle

Article posted by Coliseum, June 25^th, 2020

Image: NFL

The 2021 Pro Bowl will be held at the under construction domed Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada, US, on January 31, 2021. This was announced by the National Football League (NFL) recently.

The National Football League is a professional American football league comprising 32 teams, divided equally between the National Football Conference and the American Football Conference.

The 2021 Pro Bowl will be the NFL’s all-star game for the 2020 NFL season. Construction of the $1.8 billion Allegiant Stadium began on November 13, 2017, and is expected to be completed in July 2020 in time for the 2020 NFL season. The spiffy stadium will serve as the home of NFL’s Las Vegas Raiders and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) Rebels college football team.

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The spectacular event will be aired on ESPN, ABC, and ESPN Deportes. There will be a variety of events and community and charity initiatives during the week’s festivities. Caesars Entertainment, the NFL’s official casino sponsor, will utilize its casino properties to enhance fan experiences during the event.

The fan-driven Pro Bowl will completely blend with the ambience on the Las Vegas strip as the week’s main attraction in a city built to be a destination for exactly this type of event. The weeklong event will continue to be a celebration of football and will feature various activities in Las Vegas, including the NFL FLAG Championship games, team practices for both the American Football Conference (AFC) and National Football Conference (NFC) All-Stars, and the popular Pro Bowl Skills Showdown.

The Pro Bowl had been staged at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida, from 2016 until earlier this year.

Las Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium getting to host Pro Bowl brings to fore Sin City’s new position as an NFL destination city. Las Vegas was due to host the 2020 Draft this year but it was transformed into a virtual event as COVID-19 caught the world in its maelstrom. The city has been awarded the 2022 Draft instead.

The announcement brings an end to the Pro Bowl’s brief run in Orlando and injects new energy into the league’s all-star showcase with its move to the brand-new venue in a market ready to embrace NFL football.

Though generally deemed to be a lower-tier event in quality than All-Star Games in the other major US team sports leagues, notably the National Basketball Association (NBA) and Major League Baseball (MLB), the Pro Bowl is still a huge draw with fans. Tickets for the spectacle will go on sale later this year.

“We look forward to partnering with the Raiders and the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority to bring the excitement of Pro Bowl week to our Las Vegas fans and community for the first time,” Peter O’Reilly, NFL EVP of Club Business and League Events, said in a statement.

He added, “We thank the city of Orlando for its outstanding partnership in helping us to grow and evolve the Pro Bowl over the last four years. To our partners at Florida Citrus Sports, Camping World Stadium, ESPN Wide World of Sports, and Visit Orlando, we appreciate your tremendous efforts over the years and look forward to creating more memorable moments together in the future.”

“The Raiders welcome the NFL Pro Bowl to Allegiant Stadium and to Las Vegas, the sports and entertainment capital of the world,” said Raiders President Marc Badain.

“Pro Bowl week is a celebration of the best the NFL has to offer and there is no better place than Las Vegas to celebrate and honor the league’s biggest stars. The NFL, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) and the Raiders look forward to a world class event that will set the standard for future NFL events in Las Vegas.”

“We’re appreciative of the NFL’s leadership and commitment to bring the 2021 Pro Bowl to Las Vegas,” remarked Steve Hill, President/CEO of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

“We look forward to hosting the best NFL players and their incredible fan base for a weeklong celebration that could only happen in Las Vegas,” Hill added.

The 2020 version earlier this year drew an average of 7.97m viewers across ESPN and ABC, slightly down from the year before, but it also coincided on the same day as the death of former Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant.

Kobe Bryant was a basketball legend who helped lead the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA) to five championships (2000-02 and 2009-10). Bryant along with his teenage daughter Gianna Maria Onore Bryant died in a helicopter crash on January 26th this year in California.

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