WWE could build on first SummerSlam event in Las Vegas at Allegiant Stadium

Courtesy WWE

SummerSlam is coming to Allegiant Stadium on August 21.

By Brock Radke (call)

Monday, June 28, 2021 | two a.m.

The new president of Environment Wrestling Enjoyment (WWE) is not only a major admirer of Las Vegas, he grew up listed here. Nick Khan graduated from Bonanza Superior College and UNLV prior to climbing the ranks in the entertainment market, and whilst his typical regular excursions to Las Vegas to pay a visit to spouse and children ended up interrupted by the pandemic, he simply cannot wait to get back again to his hometown.

The WWE is also returning to Las Vegas this summer months. Its huge annual SummerSlam function will be held at Allegiant Stadium on August 21, marking its very first time in Las Vegas and the very first time it has taken put in an NFL stadium.

Courtesy WWE

Nick Khan

SummerSlam will also be 1 of the very first events held at comprehensive potential at the new stadium where the Las Vegas Raiders performed their very first year in 2020 without having admirer attendance. A dance tunes live performance by Illenium will turn into the very first major live performance held there on Saturday, July three, followed by Garth Brooks’ stadium tour pay a visit to on July 10. The Raiders will perform their very first preseason activity with admirers in opposition to the Seahawks on August fourteen prior to kicking off the typical year with a Monday Night time Soccer activity in opposition to the Ravens at Allegiant on September 13.

“We ended up paying out shut awareness to March Insanity mainly because there was a believed that individuals may well not be likely back again to Las Vegas [to guess and enjoy online games] mainly because there was practically nothing to go back again to,” Khan said. “But at the time March Insanity strike, the occupancy level skyrocketed. That was our moment of [understanding] if we have an function, it will get individuals back again, and it’s an possibility to also aid jumpstart the Vegas overall economy.”

SummerSlam, which will stream stay exclusively on Peacock in the United States and on the WWE Network all over the place else, is 1 of the company’s “big four” pay-for every-view events alongside with Wrestlemania, the Royal Rumble and the Survivor Collection and is regarded the 2nd biggest function of the calendar year just after Wrestlemania. SummerSlam commenced in 1988 and took put final calendar year at the Amway Middle in Orlando.

The Connecticut-primarily based WWE has introduced events to Las Vegas in the previous at T-Cellular Arena and the Thomas & Mack Middle, and in 1993, WrestleMania IX was held outside at Caesars Palace in front of nearly seventeen,000 spectators. The arrival of Allegiant Stadium could indicate more professional wrestling supercards in Las Vegas in the long term.

“That’s the hope,” Khan said. “The Silver Bowl (Sam Boyd Stadium) was a tough location to get to and stay at. You have the Thomas & Mack Middle, and then all of a unexpected you experienced MGM Grand Back garden Arena, Mandalay Bay, and then boom, the Golden Knights and the Raiders and T-Cellular Arena and Allegiant Stadium, and now also the [MSG] Sphere currently being created.

“There’s a surge of sporting activities in Las Vegas and the miscalculation I believe the sporting activities environment was making earlier is seeking at the area market without having observing the hundreds of hundreds of thousands of tourism bucks every single calendar year. With the NFL’s 16, now seventeen-7 days year, you are figuring if the property online games can attract ample out-of-town admirers, and which is simple. It helps make all the sense in the environment.”

Khan practiced law prior to signing up for Intercontinental Inventive Management (ICM) in 2006 and launching the expertise agency’s sporting activities media office. 6 decades later on he moved to Inventive Artists Company (CAA) as the co-head of the tv office, representing WWE, the SEC convention of the NCAA, Best Rank Boxing and others. He joined WWE as president and chief income officer in August 2020.

The WWE held WrestleMania 37 about two times in April at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida, with limited potential stay audiences, so the Las Vegas SummerSlam will be a sizeable function for the business as perfectly as the location. And absolutely everyone included is betting it will be a major winner coming out of the pandemic and another boost to the city’s burgeoning standing as a professional sporting activities town.

“To me, Vegas has always been a town that attracts all people. Specified metropolitan areas attract regional or area individuals but not national or international, and Vegas has always been that,” Khan said. “It’s a town primarily based on winning, and the simple fact that the [Golden Knights] gained a lot early on has created a lot of traction. It is also about how terrific T-Cellular and Allegiant are and their proximity to the Strip displays the brilliance of the two developers of individuals venues.”