By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
Like UFC President/Frontman/Ringmaster Dana White, downtown Las Vegas hotel owner and developer Derek Stevens is forging ahead with business during a novel coronavirus pandemic that carries with it a future that nobody can predict with 100 percent certainty.
In their own ways, both transplants White and Stevens are Las Vegas throwbacks, happy to personally promote their products — MMA cage fights for White and over-the-top downtown hotel experiences for Stevens, who is building the billion-dollar Circa hotel-casino complete with a monster-sized Sportsbook video screen and an outdoor “Stadium Swim” at the pool where you can watch Golden Knights and NFL games on a a 135-by-41-foot, 14-million-megapixel LED screen.
White is in Abu Dhabi this week for UFC 251 at something called, “Fight Island,” a name that the UFC prez has enjoyed rolling out for maximum amusement and attention.
Meanwhile, Stevens and his Circa project Thursday received lots of media attention for its Stadium Swim concept, which will be open every day of the year and feature a pool amphitheater with a half-dozen multi-level pools.
“I can promise there will be no better location in the world to watch a big game than at Stadium Swim – even better than at the game itself. “I can promise there will be no better location in the world to watch a big game. Beyond sports, it will be a great place to catch sun and listen
to music, and I believe it will be a destination experience that inspires trips to Las Vegas,” Stevens said.
The pool amphitheater is scheduled to open Oct. 28.
Here are a few more fun facts on Stadium Swim.
In a city where hyperbole is the official language, even White and Stevens take promotions to the next level. Only a month and a half ago, Stevens gave away 2,000 free jet flights to Las Vegas to try and stir up business for Las Vegas. It was marketing gold and the Michigan transplant was on every local TV news station that day.
Both White and Stevens enjoy cutting their own promos. Here’s Stevens chatting about those free flights in May.
As for White, who tried several months ago to recruit NFL superstar quarterback Tom Brady to the Las Vegas Raiders in an authentic yet amusing Twitter video, he’s literally everywhere on TV and radio chatting with ESPN’s talking heads to Colin Cowherd to MMA bloggers. As we saw with the Brady recruitment effort, White also uses his own Twitter handle to say anything he wants, while Las Vegas-based UFC also produces its own in-house content like Embedded to spread the MMA promotion’s message.
Both Stevens and White are easily accessible to the media because both are savvy to understand that nearly every media account functions as free publicity for their products.
This being Las Vegas, it wasn’t too hard to find a photo of White and Stevens in the same pic. Here’s the duo with Seinfeld TV show actor John O’Hurley, Jr., who played the “Mr. Peterman” character.
You’re going to see a lot of White this week. Fight Island week has only begun.
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