New Las Vegas Lights coach Steve Cherundolo has vast experience in the soccer universe, playing professionally for the German club Hannover for 17 seasons and suiting up for the U.S. national team in the World Cup.
Yet, chances are the game-day environment at Cashman Field Saturday night for his maiden Lights home game will be unlike anything he’s experienced on the pitch. The Lights at 7:30 p.m. host Tacoma Defiance.
He’ll be a witness to an on-field appearance of the team’s pet llama Dollie — her sister, Dottie, unfortunately died this week.
On the sidelines of the longtime downtown venue, he will see fans sitting in pools and even cars, as the team has introduced “Toyota Row,” an ode to UNLV basketball’s “Gucci Row” in the early '90s.
The description of the seating is literal: Anyone with a Toyota can register with the team and park on the field to see the game in the car or atop it, Lights owner Brett Lashbrook said.
“It’s the most COVID compliant seat in all of professional sports,” he said.
Seating at Cashman is also by far some of the most affordable for pro sports in Las Vegas. With the “Summer of Soccer” through Terrible Herbst, adults can buy tickets for $10 this season. Children can get in for $5. There’s also a promotion of 20 tickets and five large pizzas from Papa John’s for $100.
“I can’t guarantee wins; I can’t guarantee goals,” Lashbrook said, “But I can guarantee that every single person in this stadium is going to smile and have a good time.”
And he wants everyone to be able to experience the “soccer fiesta,” particularly after the tough pandemic year that was 2020.
Through another partnership, a Las Vegas law firm is providing 2,500 free tickets for each home game in June for “every type of” front-line worker.
“There is now no excuse why anyone in Las Vegas ... wherever you live, whatever your socioeconomic status,” can’t go to a Lights game, Lashbrook said. He described his team and soccer as “the team of the people, the sport of the people.”
The Lights began this season with not only a new coach, but also a new partnership with the Los Angeles Football Club, a Major League Soccer franchise.
The alliance, which runs for at least one year, affords the Lights resources from the MLS team, including the temporary loan from LAFC of Las Vegas native Danny Musovski.
So far, Musovski has played two out of the three Lights games this season, and is taking the field at Cashman this weekend.
The striker, 25, is a Liberty High School and UNLV alumnus, where he set his mark as one of the most prolific players in the school’s soccer history.
Musovski noted that he scored his first professional goal at Cashman Field in 2018, but as a player of Reno 1868 FC, the Lights’ former rival. The Reno franchise has since folded.
He remembers the energy emanating from the stands and is now eager to play for the home team. “I just had mixed feelings about it,” he said about when he was with 1868 FC, playing against his hometown team. “Because obviously, I’m a Las Vegas kid; grew up here; played college soccer here, so it’s a little bit of a weird feeling.” Musovski’s family members, who still live here, including his parents and brothers, are excited to see him back, he said.
And after months of no games because of the pandemic, it’s exciting to see the Lights back.
“It’s just good for the community. It’s good for soccer fans in the Las Vegas area,” Musovski said. “And it’s good for young soccer players to see us play, and hopefully (it) motivates them to play. It’s just good for everybody.”