The Golden Knights got a whole new contingent of celebrity fans during last year’s playoff run—the Las Vegas Raiders’ roster.

With all the Raiders in town for team activities and minicamp as T-Mobile Arena got to full capacity in time for the Stanley Cup Playoffs, several players maintained a similar schedule during Golden Knights’ game days. They’d practice in the mornings, attend team meetings and workouts in the afternoon and then rush from their headquarters in Henderson to the Strip in time for puck drop.

A Raider representative performed the ceremonial cranking of the rally siren in virtually every postseason game; the list of players who took a turn included quarterback Derek Carr, defensive end Yannick Ngakoue, defensive end Maxx Crosby, safety Johnathan Abram and wide receiver Bryan Edwards.

“It’s just fun to watch other people play at a high level and just to feel the city’s energy. The support for the team has been really cool,” Carr said at the time. “I’ve gotten to know some of the players and just want to continue to support those guys.”

Carr, the longtime Raiders’ captain, wasn’t shy about namedropping one of the players with whom he has become closest—Golden Knights captain Mark Stone. After catching the decisive Game 6 when the Golden Knights upset the Avalanche in the quarterfinals, Carr reached out to his new friend with quite the message.

“I told Mark Stone, ‘You guys are inspiring us. This is awesome,’” Carr said. “I didn’t know anything about Vegas before we got here and just thought it was the Strip and that was it, but what I’ve learned is, it’s a small community of people that really know each other and care about each other.”

The Raiders are off to a hot start with visions of hosting a playoff game at Allegiant Stadium, which has been just as boisterous as T-Mobile Arena in two regular-season games since fans were allowed to attend. The Golden Knights would know, as a handful of them—including Stone, defenseman Shea Theodore, center Chandler Stephenson and defenseman Brayden McNabb—were in attendance for the Raiders’ Monday Night Football opener against the Baltimore Ravens.

“It was awesome,” McNabb said. “I’ve been to a few football games, and that was definitely by far my favorite game and experience. I’ve been to the Super Bowl, and I had way more fun [at Monday Night Football].”

The building erupted in cheers when McNabb and his teammates were shown on screens inside the venue. “When we went on the Jumbotron, it kind of shocked us,” McNabb said. “We froze a little bit; [it] wasn’t our best performance on the big screen.”

Las Vegas, which went without representation among the “big four” of major U.S. professional sports for a long time, suddenly has a pair of teams with a developing rapport, and local fans are along for the ride. During the Raiders’ second home game versus Miami, the crowd’s cheer of “Knights!” during the national anthem was deafening, enough to startle the singer, Broadway performer Brian Flores—and energize the team.

“I was like, ‘Oh buddy, I want to learn how to skate. I want to play hockey,’” Carr said. “That got me excited.”

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