After Covid-19 forced Las Vegas to miss out on the 2020 NFL Draft, the redemptive 2022 draft weekend starting on Thursday, April 28 is slated to generate a massive turnout, even for Vegas’ standards.
Little to no official estimates have been made thus far, but some feel that attendance could approach a million visitors, based on comparisons to the most recent live draft event, which was held in Nashville in 2019.
The 2019 draft drew over 600,000 visitors and resulted in an economic impact of nearly $224 million–this year’s event is slated to shatter both of those figures, given the fact that Las Vegas boasts nearly three times the number of hotel rooms than the Music City.
Virginia Valentine, CEO of the Nevada Resort Association, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that the city “was built for signature events like this,” and that it is prepared to “set a new standard in hosting NFL events while breaking attendance records.”
Many have also looked at figures from Las Vegas’ 2019 New Year’s Eve celebration as a potential gauge for in-person attendance and spending. That event, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA), drew over 325,000 people and generated just under $500 million.
However, not everyone is certain that the three-day draft event will fetch the same turnout.
University of Las Vegas (UNLV) hospitality professor Amanda Belarmino told the Review-Journal that figures may be lower than New Year’s because of the inability for potential visitors to take time off from work, especially for a multi-day event. She did note, however, that “room rates indicate there is a high demand.”
Per the LVCVA, the average daily room rate this time last year was just under $110 a night. This year, rates have jumped to over $244 a night, based on a survey of about 150 listings on the popular booking site hotels.com.
According to the Review-Journal, a spokesman from Harry Reid International Airport said that they were experiencing two waves of traffic–those arriving for the draft and those leaving the National Association of Broadcasters annual trade show, which ends the day before the draft beings.
The airport is also expected to see a massive increase in the amount of private planes flying in, and due to the limited amount of space, pilots will be encouraged to divert to North Las Vegas Airport or Henderson Executive Airport instead.
The general feeling among city officials and hospitality executives is that if the draft event is as successful as it is slated to be, the city will almost certainly be granted the opportunity to host the Super Bowl and other NFL events in the near future.
