Las Vegas Raiders owner Mark Davis said earlier this summer that he was still aiming to fill the team's new Allegiant Stadium during the 2020 NFL season, but with the league still negotiating protocols amid the COVID-19 pandemic, he's indicated the Raiders are now likely to be without fans for all of their home games this year. In fact, as Davis told The Athletic's Vic Tafur, the owner has vowed that if fans can't attend Raiders games in 2020, he won't go, either.
"I won't go if the fans can't go, and the way it looks right now, there won't be any fans at our games," Davis said Saturday, per Tafur. "It's all or none for me. Either all the fans are going to be in there or none ... I can't tell one fan that they can't go to the inaugural opening game in a stadium that they helped to build through their PSLs (personal seat licenses). I won't tell them that they can't go but the rest of these guys can."
Davis' remarks echo his own comments from June, when he said the Raiders would "do everything we can" to get all of their fans to their new complex, which is in the final stages of construction. At that time, Davis acknowledged the team would ultimately follow local guidelines for preventing the spread of COVID-19. As part of the acknowledgement, he indicated the Raiders would likely take the all-or-nothing approach to seating in 2020 -- either every fan is permitted to attend, or none of them are.
Davis has been vocal in his opposition to the NFL's reported decision to tarp off seats closest to the field at every stadium, saying that move all but dictated the Raiders' approach anyway. He doubled down on that notion this weekend, per Tafur.
"We're sold out," he said, "so we don't have anywhere to put those 8,000 people ... How do you tell fans who gets to go to that first game and who doesn't? Or who doesn't get to see the Tom Brady game? … It's a really tough situation that really can't be blamed on anybody. All our dreams are coming true, with the new stadium and the new practice facility and everything else, but real life gets in the way sometimes."
