(Publisher’s Note: Under a new LVSportsBiz.com editorial policy, we will publish economic impact numbers regarding sports teams, stadiums and events only when a source directly linked to the numbers shows us the math behind the spending.)
By Alan Snel, LVSportsBiz.com Publisher-Writer
The Las Vegas Raiders say their stadium, Allegiant Stadium just west of the Strip, generated $2.29 billion in revenues and out-of-town visitor spending since the venue opened to all fans on July 3, 2021 with an electric dance music concert by Illenium.
LVSportsBiz.com sat down with Raiders Chief Financial Officer Michael Crome at the Raiders HQ in Henderson to discuss how the NFL team, which runs the 62,500-seat stadium, reached that number during the past two and a half years.
It’s important to note that the number of $2.3 billion generated by the stadium attendees is gross revenues and not net income for the Las Vegas area. The Raiders keep the majority of the revenues generated at the fix-domed stadium that sits across I-15 from Mandalay Bay.
The $2.29 billion represent all local and visitor spending directly related to events held at Allegiant Stadium plus the amount of money spent by out-of-town stadium visitors at their hotels, casinos and restaurants based on LVCVA spending data, Crome said.
It should be noted the stadium’s revenues, which include NFL-leading ticket sales and impressive corporate sponsorships, are a factor behind why Forbes business magazine pegged the Raiders franchise value at an eye-opening $6.2 billion.
In 2022, for example, the stadium hosted ten Raiders games and 24 ticketed non-Raiders game events like concerts for a total of 34 live events, Crome said. (The Raiders hire ASM Global to help run the stadium and ASM Global says on its website that Allegiant Stadium has more than 40 annual events.)
The economic impact number also includes revenues from many corporate events held at Allegiant Stadium, which has several swanky clubs and an open area near the Al Davis torch that people pay to rent for private events. It’s interesting to note that two new fancy venues that opened in Las Vegas this year — the Formula 1 car race paddock building off Koval Lane and the Sphere behind the Venetian — also are marketing their spaces for high-end corporate events and social parties.
A ticketed stadium event that was not a Raiders game was Saturday’s Las Vegas Bowl, which attracted about 16,100 people to the venue, Crome said. He explained both stadium personnel and the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA), Las Vegas’ publicly-funded tourism agency, will survey stadium visitors who came to Las Vegas specifically for the event to determine how much they spent on hotels, gambling, food and merchandise.
The Raiders received about ten percent completed responses on an average of 10,000 emails sent for each survey — or about 1,000 responses. Crome supplied this info on the surveys sent to many fans at all stadium ticketed events, not including UNLV games:
The stadium keeps track of its own revenues from direct spending on events, merchandise and food/bev and also collects live entertainment taxes for non-Raiders events at the stadium, Crome said.
An interesting quirk is that if the Raiders do not make the Super Bowl, the NFL will charge the live entertainment tax on Super Bowl tickets — money for Nevada’s public tax revenue coffers, Crome pointed out.
Keep in mind that Southern Nevada is raising more than $1 billion in hotel room fee revenues during a 30-year repayment period for the public’s $750 million contribution to the stadium construction budget of $1.4 billion that was part of an overall stadium project that cost $2 billion.
Depending on the number of hotel room users and nights, the monthly revenues from hotel room taxes can approach $5 million, with more than $200 million raised in hotel room tax dollars to pay the public debt on the stadium construction. The stadium’s spending impact numbers are gross revenues and do not take into consideration the public’s investment in the stadium construction.
J.C. Bradbury, economics professor at Kennesaw State University in Georgia, explained to LVSportsBiz.com last week that economic impact reports typically do not include public investment numbers and reflect gross revenues without explaining the “net” impact.
Many Raiders home games are filled with visiting fans from opponent team cities like Pittsburgh, Kansas City, San Francisco, and Green Bay. While the Raiders might not enjoy the home field advantage they had at the Coliseum in Oakland, the out-of-town fans are helping Southern Nevada pay off its stadium construction debt.
If stadium fans identify themselves as visitors, the Raiders will rely on LVCVA data to help determine how much money they spent on gambling, hotel rooms and meals, Crome said.
The Raiders’ Allegiant Stadium will host Super Bowl 58 Feb. 11. More than 300,000 visitors already come to Las Vegas on Super Bowl weekend. The LVCVA approved $40 million to help put on the Super Bowl, while the Las Vegas Super Bowl Host Committee is raising another $20 million for the NFL’s biggest annual event.