Question of the Day - 26 December 2020

Here in Las Vegas, we often take for granted that everyone knows what Allegiant is, but obviously that's not the case. 

Allegiant is a Las Vegas-based ultra-low-cost airline, but it's not at all a fringe carrier; it's the ninth-largest commercial airline in the U.S. It was founded in 1997 as WestJet Express, but due to other airlines with similar names, it quickly changed to Allegiant. It started flying out of Fresno, only to Las Vegas, then expanded to Burbank and Lake Tahoe. After some financial difficulties, Allegiant reorganized in 2000, then moved its headquarters to Las Vegas; its corporate offices are in Summerlin. 

Before the pandemic, Allegiant had 4,000 employees and a nearly $3 billion market capitalization.

As far as the cost of naming rights to the Raiders stadium go, that price hasn't been officially disclosed. But several media outlets reported that Allegiant is paying in the neighborhood of $20 million to $25 million per year. 

By comparison, the naming-rights deal for U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, completed in 2016 for the Minnesota Vikings, is $11 million for 20 years, while MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ, where both the New York Giants and Jets play, opened in 2010 and commands $16 million a year for naming rights, the top naming-rights deal in North America prior to Allegiant, according to Sports Business Journal.

Also undisclosed is the naming-rights cost to Social Finance, Inc., the San Francisco-based online personal-finance company that has a 20-year deal with the Inglewood, CA, stadium that's home to the Rams and Chargers and opened this year as well. Again, though, Fox Business reported that the 20-year deal carried a a $400 million price tag, or $20 million a year, so it's a good bet that Allegiant is paying somewhere in that neighborhood.