In the first season that included fans present for Raiders games in Las Vegas, the team had a surprisingly high rate of no shows. The situation wasn’t a surprise for team owner Mark Davis.
Via Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com, Davis blames the situation on the COVID vaccination requirement for entry to Allegiant Stadium.
Davis opted for a vaccination requirement for 2021, because he believed it was not practical to expect compliance with the mask mandate.
There’s another reason for the 14.3-percent no-show rate for home games played in 2021. Davis believes some bought tickets with the intention of reselling them at a significant premium, and that they couldn’t find buyers.
The reporting from Sports Business Journal as to the high rate of no-shows also pointed out that some hotels and casinos bought large blocks of tickets for distribution to customers, who then didn’t use them or re-sell them.
This year, there will be no requirements or limitations related to COVID. So that explanation will go away. It will be interesting to see if more fans show up to watch the games.