Allegiant Stadium , home to the Las Vegas Raiders , hosted the 2024 NFL Super Bowl
After decades of work , Las Vegas is continuing to reap the benefits of its longstanding mission to put “ heads in beds .” The strategy has grown well beyond that initial mission of offering great entertainment , food and beverage , gaming , and a hotel room . This is using sports as an economic driver to fill up those hotel rooms , but also put on amazing events that can only be done in one destination on a routine basis — because of the critical mass that has been built in the desert .
Building the Foundation
While some will point to the opening of Allegiant Stadium as the catalyst that changed the paradigm , it is the latest in many that came to build a solid foundation for sports and entertainment as an economic driver .
The mission to have these two sectors has been a driver for decades . This includes major events , from the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo that takes place at the start of every December for a 10-day period to the Las Vegas Bowl , which saw its inaugural game in 1992 , to the first NASCAR Race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 1998 .
Sports formerly was used as a vehicle to fill the lighter occupancy months on the calendar . But Las Vegas has built a more solid foundation beyond those events to help fill the events calendar and continued its economic progress — not only designed to generate jobs and further investment , but also to generate tax revenue for education , including the building of schools and teacher salaries , but also roads and other infrastructure projects to reinvest in the destination .
Events such as the NBA Summer League , the hosting of multiple college basketball tournaments , the Las Vegas Rock ’ n ’ Roll Marathon , and other amateur events in basketball , baseball and other sports draw tourists to the destination who enjoy its hotels , restaurants , and other forms of entertainment .
While those decades of events have helped build the foundation , the opening of T-Mobile Arena and the inaugural season in October 2017 of the NHL ’ s Vegas Golden Knights provided the first major investment in a large facility on par with any other arena in the country .
MGM Resorts International had the foresight to build this facility with the vision to host a professional sports league of either hockey or basketball , allowing it to be an anchor between New York-New York and ParkMGM . The creation of The Park between the two facilities created a synergy between the two , and a gateway to the venue only accelerated the development on that end of the Strip for further investment in the existing facilities .
The Southern Nevada Infrastructure and Tourism Committee ( SNTIC ) served as the latest catalyst that allowed for the expansion of the convention center at the same time it allowed for the construction of Allegiant Stadium . With the initial promise of at least 40 events a year , Allegiant has over-delivered in its original mission .
The goal of the committee was to set in motion that investment in further infrastructure for the destination . SNTIC was aided in the middle of its effort in 2016 by the Raiders looking to relocate from Oakland , California to Las Vegas . This changed the conversation from continuing the effort to invest in meetings and conventions to adding further investment in sports . Las Vegas Sands Corp . efforts to get the Raiders into the foray served as a further catalyst to drive the economics of Southern Nevada .
Economics at F1 Speed
As Formula 1 became one of the most popular sports around the globe , Las Vegas became the third stop in the United States , and hosted its inaugural race in 2023 with the Las Vegas Grand Prix .
The feat to host a race on the Las Vegas Strip is not an easy one when you have to build a stadium in and around the Strip , create the race paddock , and be able to host a race for three straight nights in a row . While lessons have been learned from the race that had some local controversy , F1 brought an audience to Las Vegas on an international level that had not been accomplished before .
The biggest growth opportunity for Las Vegas continues to be attracting further international tourists to the destination . This will further propel the economy because international guests tend to have a longer length of stay and spend more while they are in the destination . While the peak of international visitors happened in 2019 when over 3.8 million visitors came through the airport , the visitors in 2023 still were under by just over half a million visitors . However , those will return as events like F1 and others , including our existing meeting and convention calendar , continue to fill back up .
F1 ’ s economic impact continues to be of a mega event proportion , stretching up in the $ 1 billion range . First and foremost , this comes from three days of Las Vegas being on televisions and streamed around the world as it hosted warm-ups , qualifying , and the race .
This multi-day advertisement alone will pay for itself , as the destination will not only welcome back the visitors that came to the inaugural race but those that will want to see this year ’ s race in November , or just want to come to Las Vegas because of everything else it has to offer . It is mega events like F1 and the Super Bowl that continue to offer initial and long-term impacts to the destination . This in the same way but on a different scale than the contribution of some of those earlier events .
The Business and Economics of Tourism
The Southern Nevada economy continues to be driven by the business of tourism . This is a serious economic engine that continues to shift , adapt , and enhance the model for others to follow . Very few destinations around the world can use tourism as a driver of the economy .
APRIL 2024 www . ggbmagazine . com 25