The Las Vegas Raiders along with the city of Las Vegas have offered to host Super Bowl LVIII in 2024, according to Vincent Bonsignore and Adam Hill of the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
The vacancy in the NFL’s Super Bowl calendar was created when the league elected to postpone the next Super Bowl in New Orleans until 2025 because of a conflict with Mardi Gras. That conflict wasn’t an issue under the previous CBA when the NFL had a 16-game schedule. However, with the addition of a 17th game to the schedule and an extra week to the regular season, the game would now run concurrently with the annual event in New Orleans.
“It obviously provides a tremendous stage,” said Peter O’Reilly, the NFL’s executive vice president of club business and league events.
“Clearly, it is an entertainment capital. And then the Super Bowl is the intersection of sports and entertainment and the biggest annual sporting event of the year.
“So, the opportunity to do that in Las Vegas … to do that on a big stage throughout Super Bowl week and then culminating in a beautiful Allegiant Stadium, those obviously would be points that I’m sure a Las Vegas and the Raiders will be making if they enter this process.”
Even in their first year as an NFL city, Las Vegas has already faced major disruptions because of COVID-19. The NFL Draft in April was scheduled to be held on the Las Vegas Strip before it had to be cancelled and hosted virtually instead. The 2021 Pro Bowl set to be held at Allegiant Stadium was cancelled as well. Not to mention that the team’s debut season in its new city has been devoid of fans because of ongoing restrictions.
Getting a Super Bowl date for the future would be a welcome offering by the NFL. It should make Las Vegas the clear favorite to fill the date in the league’s hosting schedule.