Your Public Dollars: LVCVA Spends Nearly $165,000 On Attending Super Bowl In Los Angeles Two Months Ago
By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority — the local public tourism agency — spent $164,843 for LVCVA executives, Super Bowl host committee members and Metro officers to attend the Super Bowl in Los Angeles in February to help prepare Las Vegas to host the NFL’s premier game in February 2024.
Three LVCVA executives attended. They were LVCVA Chief Executive Officer/President Steve Hill; Chief Operating Officer Brian Yost; and Lisa Motley, senior director of sports marketing & special events. LVCVA staffer Silvia Perez administered the LVCVA’s Super Bowl expenses and costs, which came out to $164,843.25, according to documents received by LVSportsBiz.com from the LVCVA last week.
The $164,000 bill covered costs like Super Bowl tickets, hotel accommodations, travel and meals for Hill, Yost, Motley; members of the Las Vegas Super Bowl host committee; and Metro’s special events division.
The public dollars covered these eight tickets for the Super Bowl 56 game played between the Cincinnati Bengals and Los Angeles Rams at SoFi Stadium Feb. 13.
Besides Hill, Yost and Motley receiving tickets to the Super Bowl game in LA, five Super Bowl host committee members received free tickets to the game: Steve Zanella (MGM Resorts International executive), Jeremy Aguero (Raiders executive), Virginia Valentine (Nevada Resort Association CEO), Sandra Douglass Morgan (lawyer, immediate-past chair of Nevada Gaming Control Board) and Sam Joffray (events company owner who is executive director of the Las Vegas Super Bowl Host Committee).
An LVCVA payment document showed Motley requested $25,600 for the eight tickets, host committee members attending and the venue site “to plan logistics of bringing Super Bowl to Las Vegas in 2024.”
Metro police were not part of the LVCVA’s traveling party. Metro had its own itinerary with NFL Security. But the LVCVA did cover Metro’s hotel and airfare expenses.
The LVCVA board has authorized the tourism agency to spend $40 million in public dollars on Super Bowl 58 at Allegiant Stadium, while another $20 million will need to be raised by the Las Vegas Super Bowl Host Committee.
The Super Bowl in Los Angeles was Feb. 13. The bills submitted by Yost show Embassy Suites hotel bills for Feb. 1 with a business purpose of “site to prep for Vegas NFL Super Bowl 2024.”
On Feb. 4 and 13, Yost request expenses for the Otium restaurant “to prep for NFL Draft.”
The NFL is in Las Vegas this week putting on the player draft event at Las Vegas Boulevard and Flamingo Road Thursday to Saturday. The LVCVA has approved nearly $3 million for the NFL Draft event.
Here’s another typical LVCVA expense report for the Super Bowl 56 trip in Los Angeles submitted by Motley.
Meanwhile, Hill submitted this expense report. You’ll notice the report total was $780.49, with Hill covering $116.59 in personal expenses.
It’s interesting to analyze the net economic impacts of these NFL sports events.
The LVCVA justifies spending public dollars as an investment to draw tourism for NFL events like a Super Bowl. But how many visitors would be here in Las Vegas anyway for the Super Bowl, whether it’s held in this market or another market?
LVSportsBiz.com will be reporting on the NFL Draft this week.
PSA
