Saturday 1st March arrived and it was the day that we had been waiting for, the reason for our trip – a full-blown Rugby League marathon at the Allegiant Stadium! Four matches, including our beloved Warrington Wolves, two NRL clashes, and a women's international. It was set to be epic.
We kicked off the day bright and early, grabbing an Uber to the iconic "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" sign. The queue was packed with rugby fans, it was long but went down quick. We met some of our friends, who took some photos of us with our personalised flag from Superfly Sports Flags in front of the Las Vegas sign.
From there, we strolled back up the Strip, exploring the southern hotels: Mandalay Bay, Luxor, and Excalibur. We took the free monorail between the 3 hotels, and we bumped into more of our friends along the way. One, however, caused a moment of panic when he said that he has been told that passports were required for stadium entry! Although we had obviously traveled with them, we weren't carrying them on us and only had our driving licenses. With no mention of this on Ticketmaster, we decided to head to the Allegiant Stadium a little earlier than we originally planned, so that we could check and were prepared for a quick hotel dash if needed. Thankfully, we were never asked for ID.
We had taken a backpack with drinks and snacks out with us in the morning but the Allegiant Stadium's clear bag policy meant we had to check it in for $20. We were aware of this prior but it was still worthwhile given how much we had already saved not buying drinks and snacks in the morning for the 4 of us.
We entered the Allegiant Stadium through the southwest turnstyles and found our seats on level 200. The stadium was impressive, the views were incredible, the seats were comfortable and there was lots of space unlike many UK stadiums.
The lack of open food outlets open when we arrived inside the Allegiant Stadium was a disappointment. It was 1pm despite Louie already having breakfast and snacks, it's like his internal body clock knew it was lunchtime and he was instantly "starving!" We took a little walk before the Warrington game kicked off and we managed to find an open food outlet, the boys decided that they wanted to share some loaded fries so i waited while they went back to our seats. I got to the front of the queue to place my order and was told that they didn't have any, "oh no, ill be back" i said and ran back to the boys to ask what they wanted instead, "Just get some fries" Mark said, so back i went this time the queue was long, when i got to the front i asked for some fries, "sorry we haven't got any, we haven't received the delivery" she replied. Huh? you could have told me that the first time, i thought. Back to the boys i ran, "just get anything" Mark said, so back i went again, there was an even bigger queue but i wasn't leaving without food this time. The choices were, chocolate, sweets or popcorn. I opted for popcorn, a little shocked at $14.99 for a souvenier bucket filled with popcorn but with refills priced at $2.99 it wouldn't be so bad. Popcorn in hand i got back to my seat to enjoy the game.
The Warrington Wolves game started, and it was a heartbreaking affair. We were getting hammered. Louie was still enjoying himself and devoured the popcorn but Charlie was gutted by half time, his team were losing and there was no popcorn left. I gave him some money to go and get a refill and was not happy when he returned saying that they had now run out and wouldn't be getting any more, just my luck today. The second-half started and a few tries from Warrington Wolves lifted our spirits, but it wasn't enough and it ended with a 48-24 defeat. Seeing Charlie with tears in his eyes broke my heart, rugby is his world and he was so disappointed. I reminded him not to let it spoil his day, yes we would have loved a win but we were here for the experience and to watch the NRL games that were still to come.
We had been told that there was a no re-entry policy for the stadium from people that attended the previous year and we knew many people that had bought second tickets so that they could leave and re-enter to smoke, But after the first match we asked a steward who advised that despite the signs on the doors we could leave the stadium into the gated around around it and re-enter with no issues. We headed out, met friends and grabbed drinks.
On the way back in, i noticed that there was an NRL merchandise stand that was quickly selling out of shirts. I ran back to our seats and grabbed Charlie to see if he would like one, his face lit up. He chose a Canberra Raiders shirt, along with a match day programme and some Rugby League football cards. He had to get an adults small so it cost $110 but there's not many places to get them in the UK, plus it put the biggest smile on his face and he thoroughly enjoyed watching them beat New Zealand Warriors 30- 8.
After the 2nd game more of the food stalls had opened so we each chose something different to try and the food was incredible. The only disappointing thing was the price discrepancies, we paid $7.99 for a small hot dog for Louie that was priced at $2.99 at the next food stand, for exactly the same thing, we even saw them priced as much as $12.99.
The international game came and we were looking forward to cheering the England Women on but it was very unevenly matched, the Jillaroos were incredible and dominated with them putting 90 points past the England Women. Louie got a little restless so we took a walk outside and met more friends on the north side of the stadium. They were also sat in level 200 and there were lots of empty seats so we decided to watch the final NRL game with them.
It was obvious that the north end was the home end of the stadium, it was much more impressive with huge bars, the DJ and stage beside where they were sat. They had a popcorn stand with machines making an endless supply of popcorn (yes we finally got a refill) and they even had souvenier cups with refillable soft drinks for $7.99 (i had been paying for each bottle of Dr Pepper at the opposite end).
We found seats for the final NRL game, Penrith Panthers vs. Cronulla Sharks. It was a fantastic game of Rugby League, but our enjoyment was short-lived. Some Wigan fans in front of us obviously had an issue with us moving there and aggressively accused Louie of kicking their chairs, despite him being perfectly well behaved and me watching him. To avoid the exchange becoming heated, we decided to leave at half-time. As we got up to leave the half time performance was starting on the stage beside us so Louie had a dance with the DJ there next to him, he loved it!
When we left the stadium, we almost forgot the bag that we had checked so went back to the other side of the stadium for this. There we found a fellow Warrington fan who was staying at our hotel, her phone had died, so we took her under our wing as we made our way back to the strip to order an Uber. What a nightmare that was! First we walked back to Mandalay Bay and then decided to get the free tram to Excalibur which would be closer to the direction of our hotel and make the Uber cheaper. From Excalibur, we walked across the bridge to New York New York and a friendly guy told us where to get an Uber from but when we got there the pick up was showing a few minutes walk away. We walked around the outside of the hotel back towards the strip but every time we tried to order, the pick up point moved. Maybe it was just us being unfamiliar with Uber but we probably could have walked back to the hotel in the time that it took us to order one.
Despite the Warrington result and the food dramas, it was an incredible day packed with amazing Rugby League. There were fans from all over the world from many different teams that had traveled just to enjoy the rugby and we certainly all did that. It was a day that we will never forget.
Our Highlights:
- Seeing the Las Vegas sign.
- The incredible atmosphere at Allegiant Stadium.
- Charlie's excitement at getting his Canberra Raiders top.
- The amazing food (when we finally found it).
- Watching incredible NRL games live.
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