60,000 In Las Vegas For NFR and Related Rodeo Events This Week

By ALAN SNEL

LVSportsBiz.com

 

LVSportsBiz.com photos by J. Tyge O’Donnell

 

Las Vegas Events, the LVCVA’s non-profit arm that puts on the annual 10-day National Finals Rodeo, easily sells out the star-studded rodeo event several months before the country’s western lifestyle populace descends on Las Vegas every December.

 

LVE sold some 17,500 tickets for each nightly seven-category rodeo show, which is staged with precision to finish under two hours.

 

 

But with about eight percent of the ticket holders never showing up, there’s always a chance to fill those empty seats. So, Las Vegas Events sells another 500 tickets called Mad Dash 30 tickets that allow NFR fans to buy $70 balcony-only tickets for those seats that go unfilled. That’s another $35,000 a night in ticket revenues for Las Vegas Events.

 

But those 18,000 NFR fans at Thomas & Mack Center are only a slice of the entire visitor count that comes to Las Vegas for the Super Bowl of rodeos. Las Vegas Events President Pat Christenson told LVSportsBiz.com before Saturday’s event that he believed 60,000 rodeo fans were in Las Vegas, spread across two dozen hotels at NFR viewing parties.

 

Christenson singled out three hotel-casinos — The D in downtown, Mirage and South Point — for going all out with viewing parties and social events to cater to the rodeo fans in Las Vegas.

 

Under a 10-year agreement, Las Vegas Events pays $14 million annually to the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA), the sanctioning body of the NFR and hundreds of rodeos around the country. The deal lasts to 2024.

 

“We don’t have to think about that now,” Christenson cracked Saturday night of the 10-year agreement that was reached after some tension and conflict in 2014.

 

While the cowboys and horses have taken over Las Vegas in mid-December, there’s still plenty of hotel rooms to be filled during a time of the year that the hospitality industry in Southern Nevada considers is a slow period of the year.

 

In 2017, the first weekend of the NFR was the 47th ranked weekend out of 52 weeks in terms of hotel occupancy rates in Las Vegas, while the second weekend was the 50th ranked weekend, according to Las Vegas Events.

 

In 2018, there are 26 sponsor hotels involved in the NFR.

 

According to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, the local public tourism agency, the 2017 NFR had an estimated total economic impact of $113 million.

 

And here are some digital metrics.

 

Here are some other NFR facts, according to Las Vegas Events.

33 – total number of properties receiving Beyond the Dirt – the live satellite feed of the NFR. 23 of these are considered full viewing parties, with dedicated areas, drinks specials, DJs, etc.

56 – The total number of concerts to be held during the NFR.

320 – The total number of sold-out performances in a row at the T&M.

350 plus — The number of exhibitors this year at Cowboy Christmas.

700 – The number of contestants that will compete at the Junior NFR.

 

 

Christenson is now forging a business relationship with the PRCA’s new commissioner, George Taylor, who replaced former Commish Karl Stressman. Christenson said he had bonding time with Taylor at a George Strait concert at T-Mobile Arena this week.

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One of the NFR’s trademarks is the precision of the show production and quality of the stock and contestants. Christenson hinted that the NFR organizers are thinking about tinkering with the production, “but we’re not ready to pull the trigger.”

 

Las Vegas Events hopes to continue working with partner hotels to create bigger viewing parties so that more NFR fans come to Las Vegas even if they don’t have tickets to Thomas & Mack Center.

 

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