Shaded Seats at Allegiant Stadium

What You Need to Know About Shade at Allegiant Stadium

Located just west of the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, Allegiant Stadium is the spectacular indoor home of the Las Vegas Raiders and the UNLV Rebels. Opened in 2020, the sleek black-and-silver venue is affectionately nicknamed the Death Star due to its futuristic, spaceship-like appearance.

While the venue features a natural grass field that rolls in on a massive motorized tray to get real sunlight on non-game days, the building itself remains completely closed up for football games. The initial design renderings originally called for fully transparent roof panels to flood the venue with bright natural light, similar to the stadium in Minnesota.

However, during the design evolution, the team recognized that a completely transparent roof in a scorching desert climate would fail energy code requirements and make the interior far too hot and blindingly bright for fans. To fix this, builders utilized an advanced fritting process, printing highly opaque silver patterns onto the roof layers to reflect away the intense desert heat and block out the direct glare.

The Entire Stadium Is Best For Shade

The fully enclosed dome structure means the afternoon sun doesn’t reach the seating bowl. Because of this, you do not need to prioritize specific sides of the field to escape the heat.

Late Afternoon And Evening

As a late afternoon game reaches its final quarters or moves into primetime, the sun sinks low over the western horizon outside the facility. Inside the stadium, fans notice absolutely no difference in temperature or light levels as the advanced climate systems keep the entire bowl perfectly regulated.

The only visual indicator of the passing day comes from the massive retractable glass windows in the north end zone, where the shifting desert sky transitions from a bright daytime backdrop into a glowing sunset over the Las Vegas Strip, all while keeping the playing field perfectly illuminated.