Latest / Vegas Revealed / Las Vegas Raiders President and Record Setting Casino Win | Ep. 76
Transcript
- 0:00Sean McAllister: Hey, it's Vegas Revealed, episode 76.
- 0:03Dayna Roselli: Last week we told you we traveled to Allegiant Stadium.
- 0:06Dayna Roselli: Well, while we were there, we got a one-on-one interview with the president of the Las Vegas Raiders, who is looking forward to not only football season, but events too.
- 0:17SPEAKER_00: We have, I believe, 17 events in the next 16 weeks coming to this building.
- 0:21SPEAKER_00: So in addition to the Raider games that we're obviously excited for as an organization, we're excited to be a part of bringing Las Vegas back.
- 0:27Sean McAllister: Yeah, the events have started, and we'll be talking about those coming up.
- 0:31Sean McAllister: Plus, a billion-plus dollar win for the state of Nevada when it comes to gaming.
- 0:37Sean McAllister: And a California woman hit a jackpot of her own.
- 0:40Sean McAllister: We'll tell you where.
- 0:41Dayna Roselli: And Caesar's Palace gets a facelift, plus the Bellagio Buffet returns.
- 0:47Dayna Roselli: All that coming up on Vegas Revealed.
- 0:50Sean McAllister: Spin it, Joe.
- 0:55Sean McAllister: Let's go to Vegas, baby.
- 0:57Sean McAllister: Let's go to night.
- 0:59Sean McAllister: Let's go to Vegas.
- 1:01Sean McAllister: Let's stay on out.
- 1:02Dayna Roselli: It is time for episode 76 of Vegas Revealed.
- 1:06Dayna Roselli: Sean McAllister and Dana Roselli here and all recovered from the long 4th of July weekend in America.
- 1:13Sean McAllister: And man, it was a big one here in Las Vegas, Dana.
- 1:17Sean McAllister: This was the official uh grand reopening of Las Vegas with shows and fireworks and really everything being back open.
- 1:25Dayna Roselli: I know it was good to see us on, you know, all the national broadcasts, you know, showing the fireworks.
- 1:30Dayna Roselli: We had fireworks at 11 p.m.
- 1:32Dayna Roselli: this year across the strip.
- 1:33Dayna Roselli: Now, usually we just have them at like Caesars Palace on the strip at like 9 p.m., but this was a big event.
- 1:39Dayna Roselli: I was driving home from a friend's house and I was going over that deserted overpass and there were cars lined up.
- 1:45Dayna Roselli: Not the best decision because it didn't seem very safe, but people wanted to see these fireworks.
- 1:50Sean McAllister: They did.
- 1:50Sean McAllister: I mean, and it is a spectacular thing to see when properties up and down the Las Vegas Strip are shooting off those pyrotechnic displays.
- 1:59Sean McAllister: Um, but the the reason that the fireworks were so late at 11 o'clock at night is because we had performers like Bruno Mars and Miley Cyrus performing, and they were waiting for everybody to be able to get out of those shows to come out and enjoy the fireworks.
- 2:15Dayna Roselli: I know that was really cool.
- 2:17Dayna Roselli: And we had talked about this before about obviously the huge screen on the side of Resorts World.
- 2:21Dayna Roselli: So when I said I was going over the DI Overpass, well, I was also watching Miley Cyrus perform on the side of the building.
- 2:27Dayna Roselli: But I was like, wow, this really works.
- 2:30Dayna Roselli: What a great promotion for the city and for shows there, because it makes you want to go.
- 2:34Sean McAllister: It does.
- 2:35Sean McAllister: I mean it it's like the envy kind of thing that goes on inside your brain.
- 2:39Sean McAllister: Like, oh man, I wish I'd gotten a ticket to that.
- 2:42Dayna Roselli: Right.
- 2:42Dayna Roselli: That looks fun.
- 2:43Dayna Roselli: But it looked like a great show, and boy, she looked like a real rock star.
- 2:47Dayna Roselli: So a lot of fun uh there, and Resorts World is now like officially, officially open.
- 2:52Sean McAllister: Yes.
- 2:52Sean McAllister: And uh with the Fourth of July, Las Vegas is also now officially, officially open too.
- 2:59Sean McAllister: So we're we're here, we're ready, and Dana, it looks like people are coming and they are spending some money at the tables and at the slot machines.
- 3:08Dayna Roselli: I I mean, I can't believe the numbers that came in.
- 3:11Dayna Roselli: You know, we forgot to chat about this last week when they first came out, but we've got to go over this because we set a record.
- 3:18Dayna Roselli: And who would think, like, you know, after a year where we're pretty much, you know, shut down or at 25% and people weren't coming in and they had to wear masks, that we would break a record, but we did.
- 3:29Dayna Roselli: Nevada casinos took in a record$1.23 billion in winnings in May.
- 3:37Dayna Roselli: Unreal.
- 3:38Dayna Roselli: This broke a record from October of 2007, which was 1.165 billion.
- 3:45Sean McAllister: So it's absolutely nuts.
- 3:48Sean McAllister: And tourists have been coming back to Las Vegas uh for the past several months, and uh casinos have now uh taken in revenues over one billion dollars for three months in a row.
- 4:04Sean McAllister: So not only people are coming here, but they're spending money on gaming, which is huge because we've we'd seen the gaming numbers drop and money being spent on retail and dining and all the the ancillary stuff, but y gaming is is back in the mix in a big way.
- 4:25Dayna Roselli: It really is.
- 4:26Dayna Roselli: I mean, really the numbers are in and we say all of Nevada, you know, we have obviously casinos across Nevada, up in Tahoe, but the big, you know, bulk of it comes from the Las Vegas Strip.
- 4:35Sean McAllister: And it was uh in May when we recorded this one point two three billion dollar haul, uh we had two point nine million visitors here in Las Vegas for the month of May.
- 4:49Sean McAllister: And that was up twelve percent just from April.
- 4:52Sean McAllister: So I mean a twelve percent increase month to month is pretty big.
- 4:57Dayna Roselli: Yeah, and hardly any in no conventions, no big, no massive conventions.
- 5:01Dayna Roselli: We had a world of concrete, but I think that was early June.
- 5:03Sean McAllister: Right, and no like big production shows either.
- 5:06Sean McAllister: Circus Olay just started up again, and all these other big shows just starting up.
- 5:11Sean McAllister: So, you know, i i it's good to see that people came here and you know, in the absence of uh spending on other things, they spend on on slot machines.
- 5:22Dayna Roselli: Yeah.
- 5:22Dayna Roselli: Well, and and that's the thing.
- 5:23Dayna Roselli: I mean, we we gotta talk about Graciella from Santa Clarita, California.
- 5:27Dayna Roselli: She hit it big at the Sahara, and everyone's you know, talking about it, but it's things like this.
- 5:32Dayna Roselli: It's like, you know, this is such great promotion for Las Vegas because when people see uh someone like that winning$1.39 million dollars on a slot machine, um, it makes you want to come and in risk take, right?
- 5:47Dayna Roselli: And go, I want to play the slots and I want to win.
- 5:50Dayna Roselli: And obviously we have big, big, you know, big gamblers that come into town and play the tables and you know that are regulars and all that.
- 5:56Dayna Roselli: But something like this is that simple, simple win of putting some money into a buffalo slot and winning the jackpot.
- 6:05Sean McAllister: Yeah, and Graciella, congratulations.
- 6:07Sean McAllister: She was playing the Buffalo game, which the uh I always hit the Buffalo games when I'm at the casino, but I have never hit a$1.39 million jackpot.
- 6:20Sean McAllister: And hey, it was a good decision for her to come and spend Fourth of July weekend right here in Las Vegas.
- 6:26Dayna Roselli: She won the progressive jackpot.
- 6:28Dayna Roselli: Funny the responses we're getting on Twitter, because you know a lot of the men out there are going, well, hey, what I really want to know is, hey girl, hey girl, you single?
- 6:37Sean McAllister: People come out of the woodwork.
- 6:38Dayna Roselli: No, they do.
- 6:39Dayna Roselli: And you know, she's she's a young gal, so she looks younger, so she's got a whole life ahead of her to spend that 1.3 mil.
- 6:45Sean McAllister: How funny.
- 6:46Sean McAllister: Oh my gosh.
- 6:47Dayna Roselli: People are funny on Twitter.
- 6:48Dayna Roselli: I mean, you and I send each other tweets all day long at the comments because we can't believe what some people write.
- 6:55Sean McAllister: Well, I feel like Twitter is the uh social media equivalent of sitting on the strip and people watching.
- 7:02Dayna Roselli: It's true.
- 7:03Dayna Roselli: Kind of.
- 7:03Dayna Roselli: No, you're right.
- 7:04Dayna Roselli: Um, and real quick, speaking of the Sahara, went to to visit uh Tom George, who was in town from Hawaii.
- 7:10Dayna Roselli: He's been on the podcast before.
- 7:11Dayna Roselli: He's an anchor in Hawaii, used to work here in Las Vegas.
- 7:14Dayna Roselli: He was in town doing some coverage of Las Vegas for the Hawaiian market.
- 7:19Dayna Roselli: Anyway, met up with him at the Sahara, and yeah, they have a couple good happy hours going throughout.
- 7:24Dayna Roselli: And I was just taking note, even in the casino and stuff, they've really done so many wonderful improvements over there.
- 7:29Dayna Roselli: So if you can, now we know that the slots do really well at 1.39 million.
- 7:35Dayna Roselli: But if you can check out the Sahara, it's a it's a nice stop-in.
- 7:39Dayna Roselli: Really, really nice uh renovations that they've done over there.
- 7:42Dayna Roselli: And I went to the Cass Bar and they had a good little happy hour.
- 7:44Dayna Roselli: I think it was like three to five.
- 7:45Sean McAllister: Hey, and I know that Sahara has uh a bunch of stripside restaurants that are uh opening up soon too, so keep an eye on that.
- 7:54Sean McAllister: Uh speaking of things opening and being renovated, Caesars Palace, one of the most iconic properties on the Las Vegas Strip, is uh about to unveil a renovation of its own.
- 8:07Dayna Roselli: Yeah, the main entrance to the property apparently is going to be entirely rebuilt from the ground up, which will apparently, you know, up the game when folks arrive, you know, with the first impression, the first grand entrance.
- 8:22Dayna Roselli: They have competition now, um, they always have, but you know, more and more resorts are opening, like Resorts World and Circa and Virgin.
- 8:29Sean McAllister: Well, and I I wonder too if uh since properties like Caesars are moving more toward uh l electronic check-in, remote check-in, where you don't have to go up to the desk, wait in line.
- 8:43Sean McAllister: They've installed kiosks recently where you can take your uh room confirmation right up to the kiosk, a lot like you do at the airport to print your tickets and get your uh room assignment all figured out that way without having to go up and actually talk to a person at the desk.
- 9:00Sean McAllister: And it looks like, as I'm just looking at a rendering here, and it looks like as part of this redesign, that massive check-in counter that really spans the entire lobby right now might be uh shrunk down considerably.
- 9:16Sean McAllister: And something else that I'm seeing, Dana, is that it looks like that fountain that's in the Caesars lobby is going to be taken out of there too.
- 9:25Sean McAllister: Last time I was walking through the Caesars Palace lobby, I did see somebody do a belly flop into that fountain.
- 9:33Sean McAllister: So that I think that could be in part of the motivation to redesign that entrance.
- 9:41Dayna Roselli: Yeah.
- 9:41Dayna Roselli: Oh my gosh.
- 9:42Dayna Roselli: Well, and they're gonna keep, and I don't know if that's gonna be a different statue, but a 15-foot-tall statue of Augustus Caesar will be there too.
- 9:49Dayna Roselli: I know they have one there now.
- 9:50Dayna Roselli: I don't know if it'll be the same statue, or maybe they're gonna redo it, or or what that's gonna be, but also um it's gonna apparently be this big, dramatic, soaring dome and barreled ceiling.
- 10:00Dayna Roselli: They are also adding two new state-of-the-art gaming pits, which will flank the entrance there, and then the new lobby bar will be there, and a renovation of the property's legendary domed table game floor as well.
- 10:13Dayna Roselli: So a lot of different things happening at the entrance.
- 10:16Sean McAllister: Very cool.
- 10:16Sean McAllister: Can't wait to see that again over at Caesars Palace.
- 10:19Dayna Roselli: Yeah, and then our tips coming up.
- 10:21Dayna Roselli: We're gonna tell you how some of the changes may affect you if you're someone that loves to go to Caesars Palace.
- 10:27Dayna Roselli: Maybe you stay there when you're coming into Las Vegas, or maybe you're even a local, because there's some major changes that'll go on why that renovation's taking place.
- 10:34Sean McAllister: Also, still to come, uh, as we mentioned in the open, we are talking with the president of the Las Vegas Raiders.
- 10:41Sean McAllister: We caught up with him over at Allegiance Stadium.
- 10:43Sean McAllister: That's still to come.
- 10:44Sean McAllister: Um, but first, Dana, I know a lot of people are always interested when buffets are back in action on the Las Vegas strip, and yet another one, uh, this time over at Bellagio has reopened.
- 10:58Dayna Roselli: Well, and it's funny because someone recently asked us, like, what are your top episodes?
- 11:02Dayna Roselli: And we were like, we're trying to think, and we were looking at the number like, well, Debbie Gibson and uh the buffet at Caesars opened.
- 11:08Dayna Roselli: That's our second, like, top you know, people are interested in the buffets.
- 11:12Dayna Roselli: It's a huge part of the Las Vegas experience.
- 11:14Dayna Roselli: And there was a time there where people thought they would never return because of COVID, like the everything's gonna change, you know, they're not gonna do it anymore.
- 11:20Dayna Roselli: And but the Bellagio buffet opens on July 16th, and pricing is Monday through Thursday,$39.99, Friday, Saturday,$45.99.
- 11:30Dayna Roselli: Children five and under eat complimentary.
- 11:33Dayna Roselli: Children six to eleven eat for 50% off.
- 11:36Dayna Roselli: So the Bellagio is reopening its buffet July 16th.
- 11:41Sean McAllister: And uh buffets are always a good option if you're coming here.
- 11:45Dayna Roselli: It's an experience, you know?
- 11:46Dayna Roselli: It's something different.
- 11:47Dayna Roselli: You do at least try it once.
- 11:48Dayna Roselli: Yeah.
- 11:48Dayna Roselli: You know, make sure it's a day where you're really, really hungry and you can keep going up.
- 11:52Dayna Roselli: Or in this case, you know, sometimes they're doing the ones where you just pick up a plate or where you actually get served.
- 11:57Dayna Roselli: Every buffet's doing something a little different.
- 11:59Sean McAllister: But you know what?
- 12:00Sean McAllister: That's the problem.
- 12:01Sean McAllister: Why I don't go to buffets very often is because I always get full too soon.
- 12:06Dayna Roselli: I know.
- 12:06Sean McAllister: I can never but I feel like when I'm home, I'm like a bottomless pit.
- 12:11Sean McAllister: But when I actually go to a buffet and I need to be hungry and, you know, really take advantage of the ticket price, yeah, I can't do it.
- 12:20Dayna Roselli: I know.
- 12:20Dayna Roselli: You feel like you let yourself down.
- 12:22Dayna Roselli: Yes.
- 12:22Dayna Roselli: You know, you gotta get your money's worth.
- 12:23Dayna Roselli: I think I saw someone on on Twitter too saying that the prices at the Caesars buffet are going up because the demand is like so high.
- 12:30Dayna Roselli: I mean, so apparently people love them.
- 12:33Sean McAllister: Right.
- 12:34Dayna Roselli: You know, and people are willing to uh spend that money and see how many times I can get up there.
- 12:39Dayna Roselli: I know for some people though, you know, they don't feel it's worth it.
- 12:41Dayna Roselli: Like I can't get my money's worth.
- 12:43Dayna Roselli: So, you know, do what's best for you.
- 12:45Dayna Roselli: But anyway, Bellagio opening, that's cool.
- 12:47Dayna Roselli: I think we mentioned Excalibur's reopening their buffet, which is a good one.
- 12:50Dayna Roselli: The win is now open, and then Caesars is open and Cosmopolitan.
- 12:55Sean McAllister: And MGM Grand.
- 12:56Dayna Roselli: Right, and Circus Circus too, right?
- 12:58Dayna Roselli: Yep, yeah.
- 12:58Sean McAllister: Yep.
- 12:59Sean McAllister: Uh so Allegiance Stadium, that's of course the home to the Las Vegas Raiders, and it is also now home to some pretty major events and concerts here in Las Vegas.
- 13:13Dayna Roselli: Right.
- 13:13Dayna Roselli: That stadium is, yes, going to be, you know, the place for the Las Vegas Raiders to play and UNLV, our college here in town.
- 13:22Dayna Roselli: But like you said, it's set up to host a number of events and world-class entertainment and concerts uh throughout the upcoming years.
- 13:33Dayna Roselli: And, you know, it's really all starting to kick off.
- 13:35Dayna Roselli: They just had their first concert or festival-ish concert at Allegiant Stadium, uh, just right around the 4th of July weekend.
- 13:44Sean McAllister: Yeah, July 3rd.
- 13:45Sean McAllister: So it was, you know, the the holiday weekend crowd that was in town.
- 13:48Sean McAllister: A lot of those people went to uh see Elenium perform.
- 13:54Sean McAllister: And this was the first ticketed show inside Allegiant Stadium.
- 13:59Sean McAllister: It was absolutely sold out, which is astonishing when you think of you know, the arena holds sixty plus thousand people just for a football game, but this was set up for a concert with you know room down on the floor, also.
- 14:16Dayna Roselli: And we know there's a lot of other events planned, obviously.
- 14:18Dayna Roselli: Garth Brooks will finally be able to do his kickoff concert.
- 14:22Dayna Roselli: Uh, Sean, you're going to that, so it's something that we'll talk about in the next podcast, obviously, because you haven't gone yet.
- 14:30Sean McAllister: Right.
- 14:30Sean McAllister: July 10th is Garth Brooks at Allegiant Stadium.
- 14:33Dayna Roselli: Even though this our podcast is out, you know, we record this a day or two before.
- 14:37Dayna Roselli: So Sean hasn't actually gone to the concert yet.
- 14:39Dayna Roselli: But one thing we did go to was uh food tasting at Allegiance Stadium.
- 14:42Dayna Roselli: We talked about that last week, but while we were there, we caught up with the president of the Las Vegas Raiders, Mark Bedain, and what an honor, what a nice guy.
- 14:51Dayna Roselli: You know, we chatted with him, which we thought we were gonna get a couple questions, but we got into this deep conversation about first of all, how incredible this stadium is, and also all the things that it's going to host and its purpose besides just football.
- 15:05Sean McAllister: So we're here with uh Raiders president Mark Bedain, and uh I know that we're here to get a taste of Allegiance Stadium, but first I know we're inching closer and closer to the day when you can have ticketed fans inside of Allegiant Stadium for Raiders games.
- 15:21Sean McAllister: How's that making the organization feel?
- 15:23SPEAKER_00: We had a chance to open the building up to our PSL holders a few months ago, brought them in, let them sit in their seat, but there's nothing like the experience of a live game.
- 15:30SPEAKER_00: Obviously, last year we were happy we were able to play the games, but it wasn't the same thing.
- 15:35SPEAKER_00: And our fans have responded incredibly in terms of purchasing for uh the games and tickets and and and all the product here, and they just can't wait.
- 15:45SPEAKER_00: You gotta remember, our fans have been coming to a stadium that really wasn't up to standard.
- 15:50SPEAKER_00: And they've been on the road and they've gone to all the stadiums that have been built around the league for decades, and they deserved one of their own, and now they have the best one in the league in this city.
- 16:00SPEAKER_00: So the enthusiasm, the excitement that we get from all of our fans that are season ticket holders, as well as fans from around the country that we've gotten to know over the years, that they just can't wait to come here.
- 16:10SPEAKER_00: They can't wait to be in this building, they can't wait to say this is ours.
- 16:14SPEAKER_00: And it is theirs, it's their stadium, too.
- 16:16SPEAKER_00: You'll see a lot of the history of the Raiders scattered throughout.
- 16:18SPEAKER_00: And that was important to Mark, to Mark Davis, that this stadium be about the organization and and be about uh um the history and the tradition and the legacy of the Raiders and what his father built, and the fans are gonna love it.
- 16:30Dayna Roselli: Well, I was gonna say it's interesting because you've you've almost had like an extra year to get ready, and it feels like I mean, I know it's like it's it's like a grand opening in many ways, although it has been open, so it's gotta feel good for you to like finally rip the band-aid off and show everyone this place.
- 16:44SPEAKER_00: Absolutely, it's 2.0, right?
- 16:47SPEAKER_00: It's um we obviously wanted to open it up to the fans last year, but we made the best of it, and we have, I believe, 17 events in the next 16 weeks coming to this building.
- 16:57SPEAKER_00: So, in addition to the Raider games that we're obviously excited for as an organization, we're excited to be a part of bringing Las Vegas back and bringing all these events, concerts and soccer and rugby and some other events that uh we're still working on and haven't been announced.
- 17:10SPEAKER_00: Uh, but but bringing the tourists back for those events, and then obviously the the 10 Raider games and the six UNLV games that'll be here every single year.
- 17:17SPEAKER_00: Um, it's gonna be pretty special.
- 17:20Sean McAllister: And uh for fans who haven't had the opportunity to come and see this building yet, to go on a tour, which by the way, Allegiant Stadium is open for tours.
- 17:29Sean McAllister: You can get that on the Allegiance Stadium website.
- 17:31Sean McAllister: Um, what are the firsts that they'll find in this building?
- 17:35Sean McAllister: And by first, I mean things that they will not see in any other NFL stadium in the country.
- 17:41SPEAKER_00: I appreciate the tour plug, so thank you very much.
- 17:44SPEAKER_00: Well, I'd say the beauty of the building, while while not a first, it's just a gorgeous structure.
- 17:49SPEAKER_00: And when Mark designed it with the architect David Manica, his his goal was to build something iconic and that belonged in this city's skyline.
- 17:57SPEAKER_00: This is uh one of the most famous skylines in the world, and you couldn't just build uh a stadium that had no character and no um artistic value to it.
- 18:06SPEAKER_00: So uh I think just driving up to it from the different angles, you're you're seeing an impressive facade from every angle, and it's just if a building can be sexy, this building is sexy.
- 18:15SPEAKER_00: When you get in it, we had the benefit and unfortunately the distinction of going last, meaning that all the other teams have had a chance to build a stadium, and so we've had a chance to see what worked, what we liked, and what we didn't like, and try to incorporate all of that here.
- 18:29SPEAKER_00: One of the things that uh some people may not notice is it's very easy to circumnavigate.
- 18:33SPEAKER_00: You can get around the building very easily, and that's good for both your fans as well as from an operation standpoint, and then that'll improve speed of service everywhere you go.
- 18:41SPEAKER_00: You start talking about the premium areas, we have nine clubs, so you have a bunch of different areas that people can uh use the building for at Raider Games as well as other events.
- 18:50SPEAKER_00: Uh and then if you want to talk first, you've got to talk about the Wind Field Club, which has obviously gotten a lot of attention.
- 18:56SPEAKER_00: And we've we've been contacted by almost every team in the league about what the inspiration was behind that and how uh how we designed it and how we developed it.
- 19:04SPEAKER_00: And that's gonna be a really one-of-a-kind experience for people that get to enjoy that.
- 19:09SPEAKER_00: The club you're standing in right now will provide unparalleled access to the field.
- 19:13SPEAKER_00: You'll be right behind the bench on either the home side or the visitor side, so you'll just be that close.
- 19:18SPEAKER_00: And then when you get a chance to get in here, you'll just see the intimacy of the building.
- 19:21SPEAKER_00: There's really no bad seat.
- 19:22SPEAKER_00: I know they say that everywhere, but we didn't overbuild.
- 19:25SPEAKER_00: It's 62,000 uh fixed seats, and then there's a couple of thousand SROs.
- 19:31SPEAKER_00: So it has the feel of almost a really large arena from an intimacy standpoint while also having the size and scale of a football facility.
- 19:38SPEAKER_00: Uh and I can't imagine how loud it's gonna be in here.
- 19:42SPEAKER_00: We've been in some of the domed stadiums, and the the decibel level is incredible.
- 19:46SPEAKER_00: And then when you mix that with the passion of the Raider fans and what you see from the Las Vegas fan, it's gonna be deafening, it's gonna be a real home field advantage.
- 19:54Dayna Roselli: And I think it's cool when you when you hear about you know a stadium and obviously the Las Vegas Raiders, we have listeners from all over the country, all over the world, but if they say, Well, I'm not interested in football, but but what you keep pointing out is I mean, this is gonna be a place where we're gonna see a variety of things happen.
- 20:08Dayna Roselli: I have people talking about the WWE SummerSlam and how excited they are about that.
- 20:13Dayna Roselli: I mean, this is gonna be a place where if you're visiting Las Vegas or you live here or you know you live nearby and you drive in, that people can come for some of the biggest events really around the world.
- 20:23SPEAKER_00: That's a that's a great question, it's a great point.
- 20:25SPEAKER_00: We when this idea started five years ago, that was really the idea behind it is that Las Vegas did not have that last piece infrastructure.
- 20:33SPEAKER_00: It has pretty much everything else, but it did not have a large-scale venue.
- 20:38SPEAKER_00: So it made sense to bring that here, and we're seeing the demand from every concert promoter, every large scale event promoter.
- 20:45SPEAKER_00: They've all wanted to come here, but they didn't have a place where they could uh where they could play.
- 20:50SPEAKER_00: So it worked.
- 20:51SPEAKER_00: The idea worked, the execution worked, and now you're seeing the benefit of that with the programming that you're gonna see over the next few years.
- 20:58Sean McAllister: And today we're here getting a taste of the food and beverage that's going to be available here.
- 21:03Sean McAllister: Uh what makes that unique in a city like Las Vegas?
- 21:06SPEAKER_00: This is probably if if not the the the best culinary experience in the world, I I'd put it up against any city, any market.
- 21:14SPEAKER_00: And so that expectation is a high one.
- 21:17SPEAKER_00: So we knew that going in, and so we spent a lot of time talking with all the different people in this space.
- 21:23SPEAKER_00: And Levy was by far and away the easy choice uh in addition to the footprint that they have here, just what they the vision that they were going to present for Las Vegas uh was one that that matched what the Raiders wanted.
- 21:34SPEAKER_00: And then we spent a lot of time, the owner included, um curating the different food options, going through uh certain ideas and certain concepts, ones that worked, ones that didn't, ones that made sense with the Raider brand, ones that made sense for a variety that you want to see in a building like this.
- 21:51SPEAKER_00: And it really needs to be an exceptional experience.
- 21:54SPEAKER_00: So we brought in some national as well as some local chefs and some concepts that people will recognize.
- 22:00SPEAKER_00: Recognize and then we created some of our own, and the variety is is exceptional.
- 22:05SPEAKER_00: So if you're coming to all these games, you don't have to eat the same thing every single game.
- 22:08SPEAKER_00: We have a chance to try a lot of things, and then as we mentioned earlier, we have the fan-friendly pricing that you've seen some other stadiums do.
- 22:16SPEAKER_00: Because it really doesn't make sense to have a family that that comes here that doesn't want to spend fifty, a hundred dollars on a food experience, but can get a hot dog and uh and a coke and a pretzel for their family and spend twenty, thirty bucks.
- 22:27SPEAKER_00: Um, you should have that option for people, you know.
- 22:29SPEAKER_00: It really should be something that's available.
- 22:31SPEAKER_00: So that was an easy decision for us to bring into the building as well.
- 22:34Dayna Roselli: We're gonna go taste some food.
- 22:36Dayna Roselli: Thank you for joining us.
- 22:37Sean McAllister: Raiders president Mark Bedain, we can't wait to be back in this building to see some football out on that field.
- 22:43Sean McAllister: Look forward to having you.
- 22:44Sean McAllister: It was great to chat with Mark Bedain and you know the other executives from the Las Vegas Raiders.
- 22:51Sean McAllister: And what was really neat is uh after this tasting event, which we were at Allegiance Stadium for, Mark Bedain said, Hey, since we're here, who wants to go on an impromptu arena tour?
- 23:04Sean McAllister: And I'll take you around the stadium from my perspective.
- 23:07Dayna Roselli: I mean, what a tour guide, right?
- 23:09Dayna Roselli: It doesn't get any better than that.
- 23:10Dayna Roselli: That was exciting.
- 23:11Dayna Roselli: We went into the the football player locker room, the Raiderette locker room.
- 23:15Dayna Roselli: We got to see all the different hallways lined with art, and he was explaining us the meaning behind everything.
- 23:20Dayna Roselli: We got to see some of the club lounges.
- 23:23Dayna Roselli: What a great tour.
- 23:26Dayna Roselli: And if anyone says you went on a tour, I'm like, yeah, but with like the president of the Las Vegas Raiders, it's kind of a big deal.
- 23:32Sean McAllister: Well, and you know, big kudos to the Raiders organization for putting people in in in charge, essentially, who are just such great down-to-earth people.
- 23:43Sean McAllister: I love that.
- 23:44Sean McAllister: And I think that's from the top-down, just great people in the Raiders organization.
- 23:49Dayna Roselli: Definitely.
- 23:50Dayna Roselli: And it listen back to episode 75 if you do want more detail on the food that we're talking about.
- 23:55Dayna Roselli: It's the wide range of food that they're going to offer at Allegiance Stadium.
- 23:59Dayna Roselli: It's pretty incredible.
- 24:00Dayna Roselli: Everything from a$3 menu and up.
- 24:03Sean McAllister: Uh, and by the way, just circling back to events at Allegiance Stadium, uh, the Alenium concert was the first time that the Wynne Field Club, which is essentially a nightclub inside Allegiance Stadium at field level, was open.
- 24:18Sean McAllister: So Win Field Club now open for business, and they'll continue that for uh football games when we get into NFL season two.
- 24:28Dayna Roselli: All right, let's get to some tips.
- 24:29Dayna Roselli: Uh, why don't we hit the one that we were talking about earlier that has to do with Caesars Palace first?
- 24:35Sean McAllister: Uh earlier we told you that Caesars Palace is totally redoing the iconic lobby at that property.
- 24:43Sean McAllister: And with that construction is gonna come some changes that you need to take note of uh whether you're staying at Caesar's Palace or just visiting Dana.
- 24:52Dayna Roselli: Right now, during construction, it which is taking place from July through December, here are some of the changes, okay?
- 24:58Dayna Roselli: And I feel like these affect a lot of people because they're the main areas that you're used to going to.
- 25:04Dayna Roselli: So we're talking about the main valet off Las Vegas Boulevard is going to accommodate the Caesars Rewards Diamond and seven star members only.
- 25:11Dayna Roselli: So, you know, if you're a local or if you're just visiting, you're not a Caesars Rewards member, you're not gonna be able to park there.
- 25:17Dayna Roselli: But the Coliseum Valet, now that's the ground floor of the Caesars Palace self-parking garage that's in the back, right off Frank Sinatra.
- 25:25Dayna Roselli: That's gonna accommodate all valet guests.
- 25:28Dayna Roselli: So you gotta enter through the back now if you want a valet.
- 25:31Dayna Roselli: The ride share pickup and drop-off will be relocated to the exit doors uh right next to the Vanderpump Cocktail Garden.
- 25:38Dayna Roselli: So kind of a different location there.
- 25:39Dayna Roselli: And it took me a minute to think about that.
- 25:41Dayna Roselli: Is it those doors that kind of push open to the side of it?
- 25:44Sean McAllister: Yeah, it's kind of back behind the Coliseum.
- 25:47Dayna Roselli: Right.
- 25:47Dayna Roselli: So I bet they'll put up a sign or something that will say ride share here, I'm assuming, uh, so people can find that, because that's a little tricky.
- 25:54Dayna Roselli: And then the express hotel check-in and checkout kiosk will be placed at all available entrances so that you know if you have to enter in a different place and not through the front, you'll be able to find your way.
- 26:05Sean McAllister: All right.
- 26:06Sean McAllister: So they're getting people used to those electronic check-ins in this interim period, too, which is good.
- 26:12Sean McAllister: Uh, so again, Caesars Palace, lots of changes to make note of.
- 26:15Sean McAllister: Um, Dana, I'm glad you ran us through that list of the the changes because otherwise I'd have gone down there and been lost.
- 26:23Sean McAllister: I wouldn't have known what to do.
- 26:25Sean McAllister: Uh so my tip of the week is uh at Magiano's Little Italy.
- 26:30Sean McAllister: This is an Italian restaurant that is on I think the second floor uh over at the fashion show.
- 26:39Sean McAllister: Yes.
- 26:40Sean McAllister: The retail complex that sits right across the street from the win.
- 26:43Sean McAllister: Uh Magianos has been there for years.
- 26:45Sean McAllister: It's great.
- 26:46Dayna Roselli: The great part about it is it's at the fashion show, which is a mall, but it faces the strip and the win, so the view is great.
- 26:53Sean McAllister: There's great views, great views, great food.
- 26:56Sean McAllister: They have family style options there in addition to the individual entrees.
- 27:01Sean McAllister: But what I wanted to mention about that is that uh right now, through August 11th, Magianos also has a special menu uh that benefits the Make A Wish organization.
- 27:15Sean McAllister: And if you order any item off of this menu, a portion of that sale goes to Make A Wish.
- 27:22Sean McAllister: And there's some good stuff on this menu, Dana.
- 27:24Sean McAllister: Talking about lobster fondue, parmesan crusted scallops.
- 27:30Sean McAllister: Scallops are my favorite, I love it.
- 27:32Sean McAllister: A Florentine stuffed chicken breast, a banana split cheesecake for dessert, a lemon drop martini, and there's also Wish Lemonade that is uh lemonade and uh vanilla.
- 27:48Dayna Roselli: Okay.
- 27:48Sean McAllister: So it's pretty yummy.
- 27:50Dayna Roselli: Yeah, great.
- 27:50Dayna Roselli: And it always helps when you can order something that's uh great at a restaurant and a portion goes to a good cause.
- 27:56Dayna Roselli: So it's good to let people know that.
- 27:58Dayna Roselli: And like you mentioned, they do do the family style.
- 28:00Dayna Roselli: That's an option if you've got a bigger party, and that's what I love.
- 28:03Dayna Roselli: Because there are some places that you go to and it's only family style.
- 28:07Dayna Roselli: Right.
- 28:07Dayna Roselli: But here, if you wanna, you know, just order off the menu, you can, or if you want to do the family style package, you can do that.
- 28:13Dayna Roselli: And I recommend the stuffed mushrooms too.
- 28:15Dayna Roselli: They're delicious.
- 28:16Dayna Roselli: Oh, I've never had those.
- 28:18Dayna Roselli: Oh, they're so good because they're like really big mushroom caps.
- 28:21Sean McAllister: Yeah.
- 28:21Dayna Roselli: And yeah, they're stuffed with all sorts of oh, it's so good.
- 28:24Sean McAllister: Yeah, I want to go back.
- 28:25Dayna Roselli: I know.
- 28:26Dayna Roselli: Yeah, so Magiano is a great place, a great tip too when you have a special menu like that.
- 28:30Sean McAllister: By the way, I think also if you order any pasta dish on the menu, um, you can get a a take-home uh container of any other pasta on the menu for like five bucks or something.
- 28:42Dayna Roselli: Okay.
- 28:42Dayna Roselli: Yeah, that's a great deal.
- 28:44Dayna Roselli: We ordered um from Uber Eats.
- 28:45Dayna Roselli: I don't do that a lot, but my neighbors were I was going over there for dinner and they ordered Magianos too to be delivered.
- 28:51Dayna Roselli: And I must say, like, because usually I'm iffy about delivery, but like the food was hot, it was packaged really well, and when we spread it out, I mean, just here's a little tip.
- 28:59Dayna Roselli: If you want to pretend that you cooked, you could probably dump those onto some serving plates, and everything would look just fine.
- 29:06Dayna Roselli: It was really good with all the pasta on the side, and they gave you bread and the whole nine.
- 29:11Dayna Roselli: So um, one other quick mention, and we're gonna throw in a third tip, and it it's along the lines of restaurants.
- 29:16Dayna Roselli: So, El Dorado Cantina is a popular Mexican restaurant here in Las Vegas.
- 29:21Dayna Roselli: There is one that's just behind the strip, right next to a male strip club, which is uh Sapphire, and people think it's inside Sapphire, but it's not.
- 29:30Dayna Roselli: It's got its own entrance, but it's kind of a fun place, open 24 hours.
- 29:34Dayna Roselli: They opened a new one at Tivoli Village, which is more on the west side of Las Vegas, kind of a little bit more north.
- 29:40Dayna Roselli: Great location, always busy, always pumping.
- 29:42Dayna Roselli: And now they have opened another one in the southwest part of the valley, and so a lot of folks that live out that way are excited that they'll have a El Dorado Cantina to drive to that's a little bit closer.
- 29:53Dayna Roselli: And the menu's huge, so whatever you want, you know, they they have.
- 29:57Dayna Roselli: And you and I, I remember when we went there to the the first time it opened the one at Tivoli, we really loved the mushroom portobello tacos more than anything.
- 30:05Dayna Roselli: Oh, those are delicious.
- 30:07Sean McAllister: The vegetarian tacos.
- 30:08Sean McAllister: They're amazing.
- 30:09Sean McAllister: Highly recommend those.
- 30:11Dayna Roselli: And this one, uh, this new one's over near the 215 and Durango area.
- 30:16Dayna Roselli: It's like sunset and Durango over in that vicinity.
- 30:20Dayna Roselli: It's kind of the old uh no regrets bar it used to be called, but now they've moved in there.
- 30:25Dayna Roselli: Yeah.
- 30:25Sean McAllister: Yeah.
- 30:25Sean McAllister: Oh, great.
- 30:26Sean McAllister: So there's El Dorado Cantinas pretty much in every part of town.
- 30:31Sean McAllister: Easy access.
- 30:32Sean McAllister: Easy access.
- 30:32Sean McAllister: Easy access.
- 30:34Sean McAllister: Hey, thanks so much for uh joining us on episode 76 of Vegas Revealed.
- 30:40Sean McAllister: Just a quick reminder that we do have a link down in our show notes that'll take you directly to our Vegas Revealed merchandise store, and there you can find everything from iPhone cases to t-shirts, tank tops, coffee mugs, fanny packs, anything that you can think of, pretty much, you can slap a Vegas Revealed logo on and uh get something from the the store.
- 31:07Sean McAllister: And we have some other Vegas merch in there too.
- 31:10Dayna Roselli: So that's a wrap for episode 76.
- 31:12Dayna Roselli: I'm heading back to upstate New York to visit with my parents and go to my godson's graduation party.
- 31:18Dayna Roselli: Then I'm coming home.
- 31:19Dayna Roselli: Then Sean's going to upstate New York to visit his family.
- 31:22Dayna Roselli: So we're here and there and everywhere, but we're gonna keep pumping out content for you.
- 31:27Dayna Roselli: And uh, we have a special podcast coming up on the 31st that uh kind of includes some of Sean and I's favorite moments through the years, very Vegasy moments, celebrity interactions, funny stories that we have coming up on episode 79.
- 31:42Sean McAllister: And uh sandwiched right in between there, we have another brand new interview with Las Vegas headliner, longtime headliner, and media sensation Chris Angel, who is just a mogul.
- 31:56Sean McAllister: He's built an incredible business, and he has added to uh his business portfolio recently, and we're gonna sit down and talk to him about absolutely everything.
- 32:07Dayna Roselli: Yeah, and we are taking a road trip for this one.
- 32:09Dayna Roselli: So there's yeah, this is a really cool story.
- 32:11Dayna Roselli: We hope that you'll listen to that um next week.
- 32:13Dayna Roselli: I think it's time to maybe order up a martini or something for the flight.
- 32:18Sean McAllister: Let me hit the call button, Dana.
- 32:21Sean McAllister: Captain.
- 32:22Sean McAllister: On behalf of the flight crew, thank you for flying with us and have a pleasant day.
- 32:26Sean McAllister: Let's go today.
- 32:27Sean McAllister: Let's stay a day.
- 32:30Sean McAllister: Let's go today, baby.
- 32:32Sean McAllister: Let's go today.