The highly anticipated showdown between Canelo Alvarez and Terence Crawford just got a major update—but it may spell trouble for UNLV Athletics. Dubbed ‘The One,’ the super-fight was scheduled for September 13th in Las Vegas. However, despite the fight’s signing, its venue remained unconfirmed until now. According to The Ring, that has finally changed. The bout is officially locked in for a venue, and the decision is already creating ripple effects that could indirectly affect an NCAA program.
Weeks after the Canelo-Crawford fight was finally made official, the new update suggests that the bout will unfold at the Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, where it was originally planned. The Ring wrote, “Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas will host the Riyadh Season undisputed and Ring Magazine super-middleweight showdown between Canelo Álvarez and Terence Crawford on Sept. 13th, The Ring can reveal.” However, there’s a problem with the venue on that particular date!
According to Allegiant Stadium’s website, the home of the Las Vegas Raiders was earlier booked for a college football match between the UNLV Rebels and Idaho State. This causes a conflict in dates, with the possibility that one of the events will have to be rescheduled. Per veteran sports journalist Kevin Lole, Dana White has revealed how the conflict over dates is being resolved. “Dana White told me UNLV is moving the game,” he commented on the post from The Ring, confirming the Canelo Alvarez vs. Terence Crawford venue.
Interestingly, UNLV Athletics, the athletic department of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), contributes over $109 million annually to the Las Vegas economy, a recent economic impact analysis by Lightcast revealed. The study was conducted based on data from Clark County for the 2021-22 fiscal year, underscoring the multifaceted value of UNLV Athletics. It reportedly boosts student-athlete employability, generating local jobs and driving economic growth through operations and visitor spending.
However, it’s worth mentioning that the new date for the UNLV Rebels vs. Idaho State game has not been officially revealed yet. But if all goes well, the Rebels vs. Bengals game would not need to be moved out of Allegiant. According to Joe Arrigo, “#UNLVfb vs Idaho St will be moved to a new date, presumably Friday night with the fight taking place Saturday.” A day earlier is still better than the hassle of finding a new venue this late in Las Vegas. Regardless, with Netflix on board to stream the blockbuster event inside the $2 billion venue that seats between 65,000 and 71,500 fans, everything seems to be falling into place for the fight.
That said, Dana White—who is promoting the fight—might still harbor some frustrations, given his previous remarks about the stadium and the controversy surrounding his initial exclusion from the fight.
What did Dana White say about Canelo Alvarez vs. Terence Crawford in the $2 billion venue?
When the Canelo Alvarez vs. Terence Crawford fight was originally planned for Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, UFC president Dana White was blunt with his take on the venue choice. “Yeah, I hate it. So, because I hate it so much, you know I’m gonna have to try and figure out how to make it an incredible experience inside Allegiant,” Dana White explained.
Credits: IMAGO
Following that, His Excellency Turki Alalshikh seemingly removed White as one of the chief promoters and teased that the fight could happen on September 12th. However, both parties later confirmed they would co-promote the event as originally planned on September 13th at their original location. Nonetheless, this will mark the stadium’s first boxing extravaganza since it opened back in 2020.
With that, the Canelo Alvarez vs. Terence Crawford fight has all it needs to become one of the biggest revenue-generating events in recent times, potentially breaking past records set by Floyd Mayweather. What do you think about the venue?
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