by Every Super Bowl Sunday, thousands of gamblers head to the Grand Sierra Resort and Casino, the largest of its kind in Northern Nevada, to bet on the big game and have fun with other football fans. High rollers dine at all-you-can-eat buffets and champagne flows in VIP lounges throughout the massive resort. Long lines leave the William Hill betting house right next to the casino.
But this year’s action was supercharged because the Super Bowl included the San Francisco 49ers and many of the team’s fans in California, where sports betting is still illegal, crossed the border into Nevada to place bets and celebrate with their brothers. .
Some of the fans considered traveling to Las Vegas, where the Super Bowl was played for the first time this year. But they didn’t want to fight the crowds only to pay exorbitant prices for hotels and meals. Reno may lack the hustle and bustle of Las Vegas, they said, but the self-proclaimed largest small city in the world had the advantage of being affordable and convenient, about a four-hour drive from the Bay Area.
“I could have gone to Las Vegas, but everything is complicated there,” said Daniel Burnett, a San Francisco 49ers fan who stayed in Grand Sierra for the weekend. “Everything is in one place here.”
Everything, it seems, except the 49ers’ victory. They fell to the Kansas City Chiefs in overtime, 25-22, leaving many San Francisco fans in the casino stunned and some in tears.
Still, it was like Nevada’s over-the-top Super Bowl party with a decidedly more low-key vibe. Casino hotels in Reno don’t have the fountains that adorn the Bellagio on the Las Vegas Strip. Few people come here for midnight helicopter rides. What happens in Reno doesn’t always stay in Reno. But for regulars like Jacob and Nicole Wood, two Raiders fans who drove four hours from Clearlake, California, Reno is fine.
“There’s no way I’m paying $11,000 for a ticket to Las Vegas,” Mr. Wood said. He and his wife, who also bets on horse racing and basketball, have watched the Super Bowl in Reno for a dozen years.
In many ways, the Super Bowl once again highlighted the gap between Las Vegas and Reno. Las Vegas is an international entertainment capital known for being the setting for films such as the “Ocean’s” and “Hangover” franchises. After years of being shunned by professional sports leagues, the city is now home to the Stanley Cup champion Golden Knights and the NFL’s Raiders.
Reindeer? Many casinos have closed or merged. Downtown is littered with open lots. Sports? There is a Triple A baseball franchise, the Aces, and the National Bowling Stadium.
And while Las Vegas continues to market extravagance and excess, Reno, which is less than a quarter the size, always seems to be at a crossroads. The cities remain rivals, especially as they fight for funding in the state capital, Carson City, 30 minutes south of Reno. But when people think of Nevada, Las Vegas usually comes to mind.
“The North-South divide in Nevada is very deep-rooted and entrenched,” said John L. Smith, a veteran Las Vegas journalist who now lives in Reno. “The South was jealous of the power of the North. The North was jealous of the dynamism, money and growth of the South.”
It may be hard to imagine, but for many years Reno was Las Vegas before Las Vegas became Sin City. Founded in the 1860s as a railroad hub, the city prospered during the silver and gold rushes. Reno became the divorce capital of the United States because couples were required to live here for only six months (reduced in later years to six weeks) before taking advantage of the state’s liberal rules for separation.
As divorces increased, so did lawyers and bankers. Hotels, casinos and other entertainment establishments emerged. After gambling was legalized statewide in 1931, new visitors arrived. Movies revolving around the city’s divorce industry were filmed in Reno, including “The Misfits,” starring Marilyn Monroe and Clark Gable.
But Reno has been a city of transients, and as other states adopted “no-fault” divorce laws, one of the city’s calling cards faded. According to the 1950 census, Las Vegas had surpassed Reno when casinos were created on the Strip, attracting Hollywood entertainers and larger crowds in southern Nevada.
Reno, named for a Civil War general who never set foot in Nevada, continues to search for a new identity. Beginning in the 1980s, he was hit by a wave of casino closures and bankruptcies. The flow of gamblers coming here slowed after Native American casinos opened in California.
Motels and casinos have been torn down to make way for a renovation that has only just begun. Last year, a renovation of the former Harrah’s Reno hotel and casino stalled, leaving a giant eyesore. Many of the remaining casinos are self-contained, windowless bubbles that have turned surrounding streets into unappealing corridors.
“Downtown is at war with itself, fighting the parking and open space needs of tourist-oriented casinos versus mixed-use residential density,” said Alicia Barber, local historian and author of “Reno’s Big Gamble.” : Image and Reputation in the Biggest Little Town.” “We’re trying to establish a sense of place.”
Things got so bad that analysts studying the city in 2010 he wondered if Reno could become the Detroit of the West for 2020. In December, Allegiant Airlines, whose name appears on the stadium where the Super Bowl was played, said it would no longer fly in or out of Reno, leaving only two airlines offering nonstop flights between the city and Las Vegas.
In the last decade, Reno has turned a corner. Apple, Tesla, Panasonic and other companies have opened facilities in the area, attracting Californians seeking tech jobs and cheaper housing. The city has touted its easy access to world-class skiing and other outdoor activities near Lake Tahoe.
Reno still has plenty of casinos to attract players from California, Idaho, Utah and other neighboring states where sports betting has not been legalized. None has done more to attract those visitors than the Grand Sierra, which features a movie theater, a bowling alley, nightclubs, a 3,000-seat theater and a Charlie Palmer steakhouse.
Chris Abraham, senior vice president of marketing at Grand Sierra, said the resort hosts Super Bowl parties every year, but visitors were up 10 percent this year because the 49ers were in the big game. About 1,600 guests filled a ballroom and dined on Kansas City barbecue, wings and nachos. Smaller groups paid up to $2,000 for a table at Lex Nightclub.
“A lot of people looked at Las Vegas and said it’s going to be ridiculous there, I can have the same kind of experience here,” Abraham said.
As sports betting has spread, Grand Sierra and Reno have given people more reasons to visit. In 2022, the sportsbook was renovated and a Chickie’s & Pete’s sports bar opened. The resort will invest about $1 billion in the 140-acre property over the next decade, including build a stadium with capacity for 10,000 people.
But even with everything to come, Reno was still an oasis compared to Las Vegas for some fans this year.
“It feels good, very good because the 49ers are in it,” Deron Dow, who drove from San Francisco with his friend Martha Anaya, said before the game.
And it was better than paying the prices and fighting the crowds in Las Vegas.
“Las Vegas would have been a lot worse,” Dow said.
