By ALAN SNEL
LVSportsBiz.com
Las Vegas’ tourism agency spends millions of dollars on multi-year sports sponsorships on big-name events such as NASCAR races at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and the National Finals Rodeo.
But interestingly enough, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) has a three-person sports marketing crew that’s hunting across the country for much lower-profile sports events such as judo, wrestling and taekwondo for youth championships that can be played indoors during the local market’s slower months of June, July and August.
LVSportsBiz.com chatted with Lisa Motley, the LVCVA’s director of sports market and special events, a job she began in December 2016 to recruit all types of sports event organizers to stage their events in Las Vegas. The $349 million-a-year tourism agency spends $400,000 a year on sports marketing — plus the salaries of Motley and her two sports marketing colleague. One worker focuses on youth and amateur sports, while another is involved in rounding up volunteers for community engagement activities related to sports events.
While the Golden Knights are a popular ticket for tourists and out-of-market fans and the Raiders will draw thousands of fans from California and across the country, the LVCVA is sniffing around sports organizations that put on Olympics qualifiers to see of they would like stage events and put heads in beds in Las Vegas.
For example, Motley’s sports marketing team might spend as little as $1,000 on lanyards to sponsor national weightlifting events in hopes the small investment opens the door to bigger sports events in Las Vegas down the road.
Not surprisingly, the LVCVA is recruiting esports conventions and events to Las Vegas, which already has the venues to house the esports organizers and players in a market considered the co-hub for esports along with Los Angeles.
Another growing niche sport on the LVCVA’s radar is pickleball, a sport with 2.8 million national players who use mini-tennis courts to play. The Plaza hotel-casino has added pickleball courts near its pool.
Motley said her team has talked with everyone from pro bicycle race organizers to youth cheerleader dancers in hopes of attracting events to Las Vegas.
Her most important tool is a calendar because events have fit into time windows during a year when tourism and hotel occupancy rates are slower than other times of the year. Thinking about March, probably not a good idea. But August or a few days following September could be pay dirt for your niche sport event in Las Vegas.
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The LVCVA does not market tickets to events like Golden Knights games. But its staff does talk directly with 17,000 tour operators and travel agents to educate them about tourists attending major sports events in Las Vegas.
It’s an initiative that LVCVA began about three months ago, with major tour operator hubs working out of Chicago, Dallas and Minnesota, for example. The LVCVA staff also hits travel shows around the country to sell Las Vegas, using mini ice hockey rink boards to promote the skating side of Vegas and the fact that tourists can come early or spend an extra day or two in Las Vegas to grab a Golden Knights game. The LVCVA has a $300,000 sponsorship of the Golden Knights through the tourism agency’s R&R advertising partner.
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