If you were transported to a seat in Allegiant Stadium last week for the Raiders’ Sunday Night game against the Steelers, you’d have never guessed you were in Las Vegas for the Raiders’ home opener.
The ‘Terrible Towels’ were waving and the crowd got loudest when either cheering a big play by the Steelers or jeering the Raiders. It was a clear numbers advantage for the visiting Steelers, making it feel like the Raiders were playing their third straight road game to begin the season.
That figures to change this week when the Raiders head to Los Angeles to play the Chargers.
Expectations are that SoFi stadium will lean heavily to Silver & Black. And the Chargers are expecting it as well.
Got an email earlier this week from a ticket agency suggesting a 65-35 split in #Raiders fans Sunday at #Chargers. In related news, it sounds like the Chargers have the crowd noise turned up for the last period of practice.
— Joe Reedy (@joereedy) September 28, 2023
This has been an ongoing problem for the Chargers since they announced their move from San Diego to the Raiders former hometown of Los Angeles in late 2016
Even before that, the Raider Nation — much of which just took the quick trip down from LA — would show up in large numbers to Chargers games. But it’s been much worse over the past six years as Chargers fans in San Diego were not having their team leave town and the Raiders fans in LA welcomed the ability to drive across town instead.
The result is the Raiders will play in front of their first favorable crowd on Sunday.
As a matter of fact, it could be their *only* favorable crowd over the first half of this season. The next two home games are against the Packers and Patriots — two teams well known for having good traveling fan bases. That means it could be November before the Raiders have a legit home game feeling at Allegiant.
We’ll see if the Raiders can take advantage of this week’s ‘home’ game or not.