Cowboys Legend Emmitt Smith Forced Out of Business Over 6-Figure Demand Just a Month After Launch

After nearly two years of construction delays and legal headaches, Emmitt Smith’s Las Vegas restaurant and lounge finally opened its doors in March 2024. The opening seemed worth the wait. The menu, ranging from butter cakes to massive tomahawk steaks, earned praise, while the former Cowboys RB himself would be there at times to greet guests with his trademark smile. For a year and a half, it felt like the NFL legend had planted a new flag on the Strip.

That changed on September 23. Sports journalist Arash Markazi revealed that the place was shut down after rent went unpaid. “The timing of @EmmittsVegas could not have been worse,” Markazi wrote on X. “It finally opened its doors just over a month after the Super Bowl was in Las Vegas and has shut down just over a month before the Dallas Cowboys come to town to play the Las Vegas Raiders on Monday Night Football. Brutal.”

The notice that was stuck to a window of the venue was titled, “NOTICE TO TENANT OF LOCKOUT OF COMMERCIAL PREMISES.” It claimed that the landlord changed the locks “due to your delinquent payment of rent … (which is): $407,730.88.”

The notice further stated that a new key will be released only if the full amount is paid during business hours. As Markazi pointed out, the closure couldn’t have landed at a worse possible moment for Smith’s ambitions.

On November 17, his former team, the Cowboys, is set to play the Las Vegas Raiders at Allegiant Stadium on Monday Night Football. It’s the kind of matchup that would flood the city with Cowboys fans and national media. Smith, Dallas’ all-time rushing leader and three-time Super Bowl champion, had built his restaurant with sports viewing spaces and a “Club 22” lounge explicitly tied to his football legacy.

Instead of a symbolic homecoming where he could host old teammates, welcome traveling Cowboys fans, and turn his venue into the unofficial Dallas hub on the Strip, the doors are locked. That cuts off a moment that could have been both a business lifeline and a personal milestone.

Initially, the NFL legend’s lounge and restaurant was set to open in Las Vegas’ Fashion Show Mall in 2022, but the launch never happened. Instead, it had gotten entangled in legal issues. Court documents show that Chef Rainer Schwarz, through Chef Rainer LLC, alleged his business partners failed to honor agreements, cutting him out of the project. The lawsuit claimed that Chef Rainer LLC could lose more than $67 million in pay.

According to the suit, in May 2023, the locks to the restaurant were changed, the lease was reassigned to a minority owner, and a new entity was formed to replace Chef Rainer LLC, using alternative vendors and contractors. While Smith’s LLC was part of the initial agreement, he was not named in the lawsuit.

The restaurant cost approximately $18 million to build. We will have to wait for further updates about its future.

One-year anniversary and Emmitt Smith’s legacy

During the ceremonial one-year anniversary bash in April, he hosted a glamorous fall evening party featuring a four-course tasting menu, handcrafted cocktails like the Gold Jacket Fashioned, and a show-stopping cake displayed on a football field-sized platform, topped with his iconic jersey number 22.

The event aimed to establish the restaurant as a top foodie and cultural hotspot: the first Black-owned venue on the Strip, led by its Black Executive Chef, Antwan Ellis. Media and guests were impressed by the energy, DJ sets, and how Smith brought his football-style dedication to the world of hospitality. During media interaction, he openly talked about fighting to stay alive in Las Vegas’ brutal hospitality industry. He compared building a restaurant to building an NFL career:

“We just made it one year. Success to me is not in the year’s performance. It’s year after year after year after year. Consistency and growth. That’s how I define success, just like I’ve done in my football career,” he told Black Enterprise. Even with star power, success in Vegas dining depends on high volume. Whatever happens next, whether Emmitt’s Vegas reopens, gets new investors, or fades away, one thing’s clear: Smith took a bold shot at building his brand beyond football.