It honors Sam Boyd (1910–1993), a major figure in the hotel and casino industry in Las Vegas.

[4] The stadium consisted of an uncovered horseshoe-shaped single-decked bowl, with temporary seating occasionally erected in the open north end zone.

It was the home field of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) Rebels for 49 seasons, from 1971 through 2019; they moved to Allegiant Stadium in 2020.

The annual Las Vegas Bowl took place at Sam Boyd in December from 1992 through 2019, and also moved to Allegiant.

A long time stop on the AMA Supercross Championship beginning in 1990, the final race of the season was located at the stadium every year.

[8] A $1.2 million renovation during the summer of 2015 replaced field turf that had not been changed out in more than a decade and was severely worn from usage.

Additionally, two rows totaling 860 seats were removed from the east and west sidelines to widen the field and drop Sam Boyd's capacity to 35,500.

[15] Four weeks later on December 21, the Washington Huskies defeated the Boise State Broncos 38–7 in the last Las Vegas Bowl held at the stadium.

In 2005, Brigham Young University made its first postseason appearance since 2001 and excited BYU fans over-filled the stadium; the announced attendance was a record 40,053.

Additional seating was arranged at Sam Boyd Stadium for the 2006 game; the resulting attendance of 44,615 was the largest crowd to watch a team sports event in the history of the state of Nevada at that time.

Arizona won the contest, 31–21; 40,047 attended the game which featured David Hasselhoff singing the national anthem.

[25] Due to restrictions set by their local governments in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the New Mexico and San Jose State programs used the stadium as a temporary home field during the late stages of the 2020 season.

The Spartans hosted the 2020 Mountain West Conference Football Championship Game against Boise State (which resulted in a 34-20 win for San Jose) in what is currently the stadium's final scheduled event and was announced to the media final sporting event in Sam Boyd Stadium history.

On November 27, 2009, the Locomotives played the Florida Tuskers in the 2009 UFL Championship Game at Boyd, which the Locos won 20–17 in overtime.

[26] Sam Boyd Stadium was originally announced as the host for the 2019 and 2020 Alliance of American Football championship games,[27] but the former was moved to Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas and the league later folded halfway through its 2019 season.

Following the 1976 season of the North American Soccer League, the San Diego Jaws decided to relocate and become the Las Vegas Quicksilvers.

[30] Spanish superclub Real Madrid defeated Mexico's Santos Laguna 2–1 in a friendly match played on a temporary grass pitch in Sam Boyd Stadium in 2012.