Clear has been appointed as the official fan experience and secure identity provider for the Las Vegas Raiders and Allegiant Stadium. Throughout the next three years, Clear will work with the NFL franchise and the arena to develop and implement a series of integrations to improve the fan experience.

The NFL team, Raiders, moved to Nevada from Oakland in 2020. The franchise has signed a deal with the city to play in Las Vegas for the next 30 years. Before the club officially relocated from California to the Sin City, it had to have somewhere to play. When the final decision was made in 2017, the architectural studio responsible for the project, Manica, developed a new version of the stadium concept that had previously been planned to be built in Carson, CA.

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The key difference in the new incarnation of the same idea was the idea to create a permanent roof over the stands and pitch to increase the commercial potential of the arena. Construction of Allegiant Stadium began on November 13, 2017 and took just over 2.5 years to complete, an excellent result for a development of this scale. It finished on schedule on July 31, 2020. The total construction cost was $2.03 billion. The first game in the new stadium took place on September 21, 2020, in which Raiders defeated New Orleans Saints 34-24. The new venue is scheduled to host the Super Bowl in early 2024.

We all still have in our heads the excitement of the just-concluded championships in Qatar. We have to wait 3.5 years for the next tournament. It will take place in Canada, the USA and Mexico, but unfortunately Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas will not be one of the arenas of the tournament. In the meantime, until the event starts, we must focus on the club soccer competition. Sports fans can check soccer odds and bet on their favourite team.

The Raiders have just announced a partnership agreement with Clear. They will work with the club and Allegiant Stadium to develop and implement a series of integrations to boost the fan experience. Current Clear-powered experiences at the facility include entry lanes and advanced age verification for in-seat mobile orders.

© Las Vegas Raiders

Fans can download the Clear app, register and enter through the designated Clear entrance for Raiders games and selected other events. Continuing the implementation of age verification from last season, a can verify their age with Clear from their seat when placing a mobile order.

Other NFL teams, Miami Dolphins and LA Chargers, have also introduced similar services at their venues. Hard Rock Stadium, home of the Florida-based franchise, has partnered with mobile payment platform Cheq. Hard Rock Cafe, which owns the naming rights to the Miami Dolphins stadium, has partnered with mobile payment platform Cheq to offer fans the opportunity to experience their app of on Christmas Day. Attendees at the Dolphins' home game against the Packers on December 25 can make transactions using the Cheq mobile ordering app or the Cheq express kiosk at select Cheq & Pepsi Food Zone locations. Fans will receive a text message with a giveaway for the 'Messi Burger Champions Edition' at Hard Rock Cafe sites.

The Chargers’ venue, SoFi Stadium, cooperates with MeetKai to create new, engaging experiences for attendees. As the official AI partner of the LA-based team, MeetKai will work with the franchise to develop new experiences in the stadium and at home, including an AI-based locker room tour. The partnership will also provide MeetKai with branding on Chargers home and away media platforms. MeetKai's technology and advanced AI is able to process natural conversations and personalised search results.

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The Chargers share SoFi Stadium with the LA Rams, a team that recently debuted a new augmented reality experience for the first time in NFL history by partnering with the ARound platform. During the Rams' home game against the Seattle Seahawks, this fan-focused technology experience used 3D spatial computing to locate content for individual users throughout SoFi Stadium.

Both the stadium in Los Angeles and the one in Miami will host the world's best footballers in 2026. The future FIFA World Cup will be the first ever hosted by 3 countries, and the first in which 48 national teams will play. In Canada, the games will be held at two stadiums, in the US at 11 and in Mexico at 3.

The tournament will start with a group phase consisting of 16 groups of three teams each, with the top two squads advancing from each group to a knockout tournament starting with a round of 32 teams. In this format, the total number of matches played will increase from 64 to 80, but the number of matches played by the eventual finalists will remain at seven, the same as with 32 teams. Each team will play one less group match than in the previous format, which will compensate for the extra knockout round. The tournament will also be completed in 32 days, the same as previous 32-team contests.

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