Dan Mullen Aims To Make Allegiant Stadium The Heart Of UNLV Football

UNLV head coach Dan Mullen plans to make Allegiant Stadium a focal point of Rebels football, boosting fan engagement and the Las Vegas economy through big-time college football success.

The Las Vegas Bowl logo at midfield at Allegiant Stadium. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

New UNLV Rebels head coach Dan Mullen has made an effort to not only coach his program, but both market the team and build community in Las Vegas. One of the things in his city that he wants to utilize for the benefit of the Rebels and the City is Allegiant Stadium. The almost $2 billion stadium has featured Raiders games and major soccer games as well as big-time events like WrestleMania and the upcoming Canelo Alvarez vs Bud Crawford mega fight. Now, Mullen sees an opportunity to make Allegiant Stadium a major part of Rebels football.

Mullen spoke about how the team's success can have a major economic impact on the city.

Dan Mullen On Bringing More Dollars To Las Vegas:

“A lot of it is building the program, too, and a lot of it’s business people. I met with (Vegas High Roller) Derek Stevens and said, Hey, you know, if we can bring big-time college football here. Tell me about that game last year. ‘Oh, that was unbelievable. The excitement, what it did, the business, the money it brought to the town.’ I said, ‘What if I can find a way to try to make that happen six times a year?’ He’s like, ‘Okay, hold on. Let’s talk.’ I said, I want to build a program, right? I mean, I think the economic impact of this city if somehow we can win the Mountain West, get a playoff bid, and we’re high enough to host a home playoff game, so there’s some return to the city.”

Dan Mullen On Building A Program Affordable To Families:

“For the family of four out there that wants to go to see a UNLV game, it’s going to be a lot more cost-efficient than going to a Raiders game... you never know, that three-year-old that starts coming to a game, UNLV games this year, right? 15 years from now might be a five-star number one player and his dream was to go to UNLV his whole life.”