LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) – Members of the UNLV football squad will now gather in the Al Davis Team Room after a celebration Tuesday afternoon at the Fertitta Football Complex officially announcing a $1 million gift to UNLV Athletics from the NFL's Las Vegas Raiders.
 
Raiders owner Mark Davis and team president Sandra Douglass Morgan joined UNLV President Keith E. Whitfield, Director of Athletics Erick Harper and Rebel Head Coach Barry Odom to unveil the area's new name in front of a throng of media members.


 
"We're here today to unveil something very special for our program," said Harper. "I would like to thank Mark Davis, Sandra Morgan and the Raiders organization for all they're doing for UNLV football. It has been an absolutely wonderful relationship and partnership and it continues to grow day by day."
 
"UNLV was one of the first places that I visited when we were thinking about coming to Las Vegas," said Davis. "We are now roommates over at Allegiant Stadium – one of the most magnificent stadiums in the world. When the Fertittas built this facility, we wanted to be part of it as well. We finally settled on naming the team room after my father because I felt that having the whole team involved rather than one department or another was the way to go. What I want the young men and women to understand when they come in this room is that they take pride – on and off the field -- in the organization that they represent – and that is UNLV. So I feel very proud to have my father's name up there. My father would say the greatness of the Raiders is in the future. Today, I want to say that the greatness of UNLV is in its future."
 
"It is an extremely generous gift but I think more than anything else, it shows the Raiders' commitment to the community," said Whitfield. "UNLV is this community's university -- so this is just yet another way that the Raiders are connecting with the community. This is the sort of exciting synergies and partnerships and shared values that are happening in Las Vegas."
 
"On a personal level, the Raiders were my team growing up so this is a surreal moment for me," said Odom. "The impact that this gift will make for our student-athletes can be looked at and viewed in my scope as transformational on changing the lives in a positive way of young men that will now continue to use this gift to enhance their opportunities here. It will provide the platform for them for the next 50 years of their life to really establish something that we're all proud of and in turn how it works together. The connection between the Raiders and UNLV will make Las Vegas better. Very thankful and honored."
 
"This is part of a broader partnership we have with the University," said Morgan, a Las Vegas native who earned her law degree from UNLV. "But today it's all about football and I'm proud to be here and be part of this organization and this partnership."