海角大神

On game days, the football pilgrimage starts across the highway. 聽

Crowds thread through gold-paneled casinos, pyramid-shaped and gaudy, before emerging onto a street-turned-pedestrian walkway. Ahead is Allegiant Stadium, the $2 billion home of the Las Vegas Raiders. But the scene also reveals something more: a new vision of Las Vegas itself.

While many of the fans making the trek from the famous Las Vegas Strip are local, more than half are not. Pro football, it seems, is now a part of the Vegas tourist experience. When local officials agreed to pay $750 million of the stadium bill, they expected a benefit of 450,000 visitors a year. The reality has been nearly double that. The arrival of the Super Bowl on Feb. 11 alone is expected to bring 330,000 fans.

For a city built on gambling and then renewed through constant evolutions, professional sports is the next big thing. As America鈥檚 attitude toward gambling changes, the city is finally taking a prominent place in the pro sports landscape. 聽

For generations, professional sports avoided Las Vegas because of its association with gambling. 鈥淭wo decades ago, Las Vegas tried to advertise on the Super Bowl, and the NFL wouldn鈥檛 allow it,鈥� says Michael Green, professor and chair of the history department at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. 鈥淭imes have changed to say the least.鈥澛�

Yet the transformation has meant more than money. For many in Las Vegas, it has also brought a new sense of identity. For the city of glittering lights, often criticized as transient, pro sports have brought a new sense of place and stability. Not to mention something to root for together.聽

鈥淯sually before the game, if it鈥檚 somebody new, you look at each other and go, 鈥榃e鈥檙e probably going to hug at some point during the game. Are we OK with that?鈥欌�� says Sondra Cosgrove, who has season tickets to the Las Vegas Aces, two-time champions of the Women鈥檚 National Basketball Association.

In 2014, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver penned an opinion article in The New York Times calling for the legalization and regulation of sports betting. Four years later, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, which barred states except Nevada from allowing sports gambling.聽

The 鈥渟ports economy鈥�

In Las Vegas, the transformation of the past few years has been startling. On one December weekend, the National Football League鈥檚 Raiders played the Minnesota Vikings at Allegiant Stadium, the National Hockey League鈥檚 Vegas Golden Knights played the San Jose Sharks, and the National Basketball Association鈥檚 inaugural in-season tournament concluded at T-Mobile Arena. One month earlier, Major League Baseball officials approved the Oakland Athletics鈥� relocation to Las Vegas.聽

For the city, it has been a renaissance. 鈥淲e鈥檝e had the family-friendly 鈥�90s, the nightclub days in the 2000s, the trade show boom, and now we鈥檙e really in the sports economy,鈥� says Michael Naft, a member of the Clark County Board of Commissioners, which governs the Strip. 聽

Las Vegas鈥� first Super Bowl will be a christening of the city鈥檚 new status as a pro sports destination.聽

Historically, about a quarter of the United States population has lacked much interest in visiting Las Vegas, says Steve Hill, CEO of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.聽

鈥淭hat quarter is pretty hard for us to break through ... and what sports has done is caused that number to shrink,鈥� he says.

His data suggests that 60% of fans attending Raiders games during the 2022 season traveled from out of town.聽 聽

Yet among those coming to the stadium was also Jerry Armstrong. The season ticket holder makes a regular trip to a wall-length window overlooking the Las Vegas Valley. The vista of shopping centers and hotels unspooling toward the mountain peaks on the horizon is home now, and pro sports are a major reason why.

Mr. Armstrong had moved to Las Vegas from Texas after inheriting a house from his father, but he was considering a return to the Lone Star State. Then state lawmakers announced the stadium deal to woo the Raiders from Oakland, California. 鈥淭hey made the announcement 鈥� I stayed,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 decided I鈥檓 going to be here the rest of my life.鈥�

Mr. Armstrong might be an unusual case, but his situation speaks to how pro sports has become a unifying force for civic pride.

Jeff Jensen, a 30-year resident of Las Vegas, says the pro sports scene symbolizes the transition from a 鈥渢ourist city to really like a regular city.鈥�

If that transition had a date, it might be Oct. 10, 2017. The Vegas Golden Knights hockey team played their inaugural regular-
season game nine days after a man opened fire on concertgoers attending the nearby Route 91 Harvest country music festival. It was the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history.聽

Leading up to the game, the hockey players visited blood drives and delivered groceries to first responders. The community embraced the team, which won that emotional first game and went all the way to the Stanley Cup Final that season. 聽

鈥淭hat鈥檚 the first thing they wanted to do 鈥� they wanted to help us,鈥� says Pammi Blackmon, a member of the VGK Ladies fan group. 鈥淎nd, well, they did.鈥�

That giving spirit has been adopted by fans. The VGK Ladies Facebook group now has more than 10,000 members. Posts range from game quips and VGK-inspired nail design to calls for friendship or support.聽

Ms. Blackmon says the bonds forged online or at watch parties have transcended sports fandom.

鈥淲e have a surprise squad that every now and then shows up to somebody鈥檚 house with goodies,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 usually because they鈥檙e going through either some really bad times or they鈥檝e lost a loved one. ... It could be many reasons why.鈥澛�

鈥淭his is a lot of fun鈥�

The Super Bowl might be Las Vegas鈥� biggest bow yet on the pro sports stage. But for residents here, sports have already changed the city. It has long been touted as a getaway from reality. Now, residents are finding that same experience.聽

Dr. Cosgrove, a history professor at the College of Southern Nevada, never considered herself much of a sports person until she decided to support the Las Vegas Aces.聽

They hooked her 鈥� and not just because the team has won back-to-back WNBA championships.聽

鈥淚鈥檓 like, wait, this is a lot of fun,鈥� she says. 鈥淔or two hours, I don鈥檛 have to think about things that make me depressed, and I can feel better when I leave.鈥澛�

And that鈥檚 a win no matter the final score. 蟻