“We are bringing the world’s greatest championship game to the world’s greatest arena,” declared Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) President and CEO Steve Hill December 15. “That combination is unbeatable.” The city will be hosting the 2024 Super Bowl at the $2 billion Las Vegas Raiders’ Allegiant Stadium February 24.
The NFL owners decided to award the 2024 Super Bowl to Las Vegas after a year of contemplating it. The spot opened up after New Orleans decided it preferred to host the Super Bowl in 2025 instead of 2024. With that, planning began with major players being the NFL, the Raiders and Las Vegas officials.
Hill described the process, “The sense all along from that conversation was that we would be able to work this out,” Hill said. “They certainly had an alternative location in mind in the event that Las Vegas wasn’t able to do this and meet their qualifications. But I don’t think they ever seriously thought that that would happen.”
As with many good things, hosting the February 24. Super Bowl will cost the city lots and lots of money: up to $60 million says Hill. Including money for security, transportation, venue support and marketing, among others.
Hill anticipates up to $25 million in sponsorships from national and local brands. He will recommend the LVCVA board authorize $40 million to cover remaining costs.
On the flip side, Hill says the city will make out like a big one-armed bandit, bringing in $500 million more than it would on a normal Super Bowl weekend. Such weekends typically attract 310,000 visitors.
Hill told the Las Vegas Review-Journal: “It is a huge event for Las Vegas to have it in the city,” Hill said. “That doesn’t even value all the eyes of the sporting world on Las Vegas.”
He added, “The stadium and the Raiders have been fabulous for Las Vegas … I don’t know that there’s ever been a move of a professional team that has meant more to the team and more to the city at the same time.”
Governor Steve Sisolak, an early supporter of the stadium, says the plan is working out as he envisioned. Part of the stadium ($750 million) was financed by an increase in the hotel tax. Sisolak said, “Allegiant Stadium is an economic engine for our state, without a doubt. It’s driving a lot of people coming here and those people are spending their money and employing our residents.” He added, “I think it will be on the regular rotation, at least I hope so, for the Super Bowl. Like they have in Dallas and Miami. Hopefully we’ll get it every four or five years.”
It’s a far cry from 2003 when the NFL rejected a TV commercial for the LVCVA because of the connection between the city and sports betting.
But today sports betting is legal and respectable in half of the states.
Casino Consultant Brendan Bussmann of Global Market Advisors told CDC Gaming Reports, “It’s huge. Huge. Hosting one of the iconic sporting events in Las Vegas proves even further that we are the sports and entertainment capital of the world. There will be no better Super Bowl than Vegas will be able to do. Period.”
Andrew Klebanow, a principal at C3 Gaming, told CDC Gaming Reports, “That’s what happens when you get a Super Bowl,” he said. “It moves Las Vegas from being a gambling and entertainment town to a true major league city that can support major leagues teams. There’s not another major city in the U.S. that’s capable of hosting an event like the Super Bowl, with its 150,000 hotel rooms, including 120,000 rooms within 20 minutes of Allegiant Stadium.”
