At a downtown steakhouse named after Oscar Goodman, the mayor of Las Vegas from 1999 to 2011, I drank Bombay Sapphire gin sprinkled with jalapeños.
Goodman, whose wife is the current mayor, was asked if Super Bowl XV would be the biggest event in his city’s history.
“If you can name an event bigger than the Super Bowl, tell me,” he said. “This is a big game, a great game, a game that the whole world will be watching.”
Perhaps this sounds like the boast of someone who has had too many spicy martinis. Considering the entertainment hub has hosted countless conventions, trade shows, and musical performances, including his artist Usher’s MGM in-house mansion during halftime of Super Bowl V.
And in just the next two months, Las Vegas will host major sporting events such as the Las Vegas Grand Prix and the National Finals Rodeo. This is significant because that activity lasts for his 15th consecutive day.
But Jeremy Aguero, principal analyst at Applied Analysis, a leading economic, fiscal and policy research firm based in Las Vegas, doubled down on Goodman’s claims in Blackjack’s manner, even going so far as to say it’s not close.
“There’s nothing comparable to that. I mean, we have some pretty notable events here that fill the city,” Aguero said. “We don’t want to leave the impression that there’s precedent and there’s going to be a Super Bowl.”
If you do that, you should get a huge reward.
The last Super Bowl reported $1.3 billion in total economic activity or output for Arizona, including a total contribution of $726.1 million to Arizona’s gross domestic product.
Las Vegas city officials declined to predict the economic impact of February’s games, but said it should be $600 million to $700 million more than a typical Super Bowl weekend in Las Vegas.
“Visitors who come to the Super Bowl clearly tend to spend more than the typical visitor,” said Steve Hill, president and CEO of the Las Vegas Tourism Association. .
Super Bowl weekend is already busy in Las Vegas. Even when Las Vegas does not host the Super Bowl, which is the first time in the city’s history to host a Super Bowl, its hotels are fully booked for the game.
But compounding the economic impact is that many tourists will be in Las Vegas not just for a weekend, but for a week, starting with the Super Bowl opener on Monday, February 5th.
For the first time since the NFL allowed fans in on opening night, the event will be held at the stadium where the game will be played, Allegiant Stadium.
All 152,000 hotel rooms in Las Vegas (average occupancy of just over two people) must be booked, and about 330,000 people will be in the city for this year’s games.
These numbers coincide with Super Bowl LVII.
Famous events in downtown Phoenix, including the Super Bowl Experience, where fans can participate in numerous interactive NFL activities, drew nearly 300,000 fans last February.
On Monday, February 13, 2023, the day after the game, Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport recorded more than 200,000 visitors, with more than 6,000 media members registered that week, its busiest day of the week. We set a record.
Las Vegas may be known for its excesses, but the setting for the upcoming Super Bowl should be realistic for media and fans.
Unlike sprawling Super Bowl host cities like Phoenix, Los Angeles, and Miami in recent years, the 2021 Super Bowl week in Tampa Bay was lackluster due to COVID-19, but the Las Vegas event is more It will be centralized.
Both the Super Bowl Experience and Media Center will be held at the 2.1 million square foot Mandalay Bay Convention Center, approximately a 20-minute walk from Allegiant Stadium.
“It’s very accessible to everyone,” said Nicki Ewell, NFL senior director of events.
Ewell alluded to the fact that while the NFL’s marquee event will be held in Las Vegas for the first time, it likely won’t be the last.
“The Super Bowl has great cities and rotation,” she said. “Las Vegas will definitely be one of them.”
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