By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
The Las Vegas Raiders have piled up an impressive number of new team sponsors as they inaugurate a new palatial 65,000-seat stadium, but a proposed 10-year, $30 million sponsorship deal with the Southern Nevada Water Authority has dried up.
The proposed partnership deal will not happen, said the water authority worker who handles marketing for the public agency.
“We did not enter into any sponsorship agreement with the Raiders, and have no plans currently to do so at this time,” said Scott Huntley, senior manager of public services for the Southern Nevada Water Authority.
The proposed length of the sponsorship — 10 years — plus the $30 million price were factors in the water authority saying no thanks.
“Both were problematic, especially now that we are reducing budgets significantly in light of the pandemic situation,” Huntley told LVSportsBiz.com Wednesday.
In 2019, the Water Authority was spending about $500,000 of a $4.9 million marketing budget on sports for water conservation messages, including $200,000 to the Vegas Golden Knights.
The water agency also spends public dollars on deals with the Las Vegas Aviators, Las Vegas Lights and UNLV sports. One of the more well-known water conservation spots features Golden Knights forward Ryan Reaves body-checking water users who are wasting water. In fact, Reaves is featured in the lead photo on the water agency’s website.
Huntley originally pitched the Raiders sponsorship proposal last year because he thought the NFL team and its dazzling new domed stadium would offer a good platform for water conservation messages to water users in Southern Nevada.
The Raiders’ sponsorship proposal came before the water authority’s advisory committee in January. But at least two members of the Southern Nevada Water Authority advisory panel said at a committee meeting that the 10-year length of the proposed sponsorship deal was a concern.
Plus, one of the advisory board members wondered if Raiders home games at Allegiant Stadium would be an effective place to advertise water conservation messages when so many of the NFL game’s fans would be visiting from outside the Las Vegas market.
“If I were going to spend $30 million over 10 years with the Raiders it’s imperative you’re talking to the people you’re trying to reach,” SNWA advisory committee member Andy Maggi told LVSportsBiz.com after the committee meeting in January.
In November 2019, Huntley said the water agency’s proposed partnership with the Raiders had comparable money value — about $30 million — as the Raiders’ other stadium founding partners. Those stadium sponsorship partners include Allegiant Air, America First Credit Union, Caesar Entertainment, Cox, Credit One Bank, Desert Ford Dealers, Reyes Coca-Cola Bottling, San Manuel Casino and Twitch.
The Raiders have used their new $1.976 billion stadium project to generate tens of millions of dollar in new corporate sponsorship deals. The Raiders went from last in the 32-team NFL in corporate sponsorship dollars to at least the top eight teams in the league.
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