Fans Allowed at Last into One of World's Most Impressive New Stadiums

It had already been announced that not a single fan this season would attend the Raiders' home games. It's a massive blow for the new franchise, which now faces playing its matches in an empty stadium rather than having 65,000 fans screaming their heads off. You only need to see the

play out in empty stadiums to see how weird it is.

Raiders players are reluctantly having to get used to matches taking place behind closed doors. Can you imagine if they made it to the Super Bowl and no fans were present! The lack of fans hasn't helped the Raiders from a financial point of view. A ticket for a match at their new stadium was going to be the hottest ticket in town, a great part of a weekend in Las Vegas. It's estimated that over $500 million will be lost in ticket revenue.

Fans want to go to this new stadium and, of course, teams want to be playing in front of real crowds. The use of artificial crowd noise just isn't the same. It hasn't helped the Raiders either, as they have lost two of their first three home games at their new stadium.

Now the news has broken that there will be some fans allowed after all. But they won't be watching the Raiders. Instead, it'll be the Rebels team from the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV). The news of fans being able to attend the opening college football games

and generated a lot of interest in the city.

It is undoubtedly welcome news because fans are an integral part of the sport. Who'd have guessed players would have to take part in games played in massive stadiums with no crowds. Even a spot of criticism from the fans might cheer the players up.

The UNVL Rebels have their first home game in the 2020 Mountain West Conference shortly. October 31st might not be such a Halloween horror as the Rebels take on the Nevada Wolf Pack. That's because a limited number of fans will be allowed to watch the match.

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Local and state health officials have made the decision to allow some fans to attend college football games. Up to three percent capacity will be accepted, that's around 2,000 fans able to attend. Hopefully, they will make their presence felt to bring back the unique atmosphere that is so lacking at present.

The current plan is for this to happen in their first two home games of the new Mountain West Conference season. That means fans will be in attendance when the Rebels host the Fresno State Bulldogs on Saturday, November 7th. There will be social distancing rules in place to ensure that fans remain safe during the games. Whether or not fans will be allowed to attend home games throughout the season isn't yet known. There have been cases around the world where fans have been allowed to attend but then prevented from doing so after more Covid outbreaks.

There are two further home games due to take place this season as the teams in the Mountain West Conference hold a reduced schedule.

Each side is playing four home matches, compared to the usual six or seven. November 27th sees them hosting the Wyoming Cowboys, with their final home match against the Boise State Broncos on December 4th.

Talks have already taken place between the university and the local and state health officials over what will happen for those two fixtures. The hope is that the first two games will go well, everyone will be safe, and permission will be given for fans to continue attending home games.

The Rebels will be hoping to get back into winning ways when they play this weekend. The new season began with a

on October 24th. Having some fans cheer them on might just do the trick this weekend. The mere thought of fans watching a game and cheering as another touchdown is scored is excellent news for everyone.