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By Alan Snel, LVSportsBiz.com Publisher-Writer
It’s time for the National Football League to get down to business at Allegiant Stadium.
The league has shut down Hacienda Avenue’s sidewalk to the public and the road that links Mandalay Bay/Strip and Allegiant Stadium is now officially inside the stadium campus and only credentialed workers will have access to Hacienda.
Polaris Avenue on the stadium’s west side is also completely closed and there is no way to drive on Polaris between Russell Road and Hacienda Avenue.
Mandalay Bay’s vast convention center is the nerve center for the media center, radio row and the NFL’s fanfest event called the Super Bowl Experience, which costs $25 on Wednesday for admittance and $50 per person Thursday, Friday and Sunday. It’ a ridiculous amount of money for a fanfest event, which will have a lavish store where fans can spend even more.
Radio row, a mecca of sports-talk promotions and radio station mega-gabbing during Super Bowl 58, was ready to roll Sunday.
The LVCVA — the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority tourism agency — also had a display area in the midst of the some 200 radio stations in the room.
Even gambling machine manufacturer Aristocrat had its NFL-theme slot machines on display in the radio row room.
Putting on a Super Bowl draws 150,000 people regardless of the host city. In Las Vegas’ case, LVSportsBiz.com was told that a Super Bowl budget of about $53 million to $55 million is helping this market put on the big game with the National Football League.
Las Vegas, which already attracts a very impressive visitor count on Super Bowl weekends even when it’s not hosting the championship game, looks to have 330,000 out-of-towners this week.
Seven days out, the cheapest Super Bowl ticket on the secondary market was $7,555, according to ticket reseller TicketIQ.
The Super Bowl carries with it the highest level of security for events in the U.S. The perimeter of the stadium grounds is extended way beyond the stadium’s normal turnstile entrances and giant entry points are available where security checks anyone trying to enter.
The 49ers and Chiefs both arrive Sunday and there will be photo opps. In fact, the entire week is a photo opp PR bonanza outside of the dozens and dozens of corporate parties and celebrity gatherings.
The Super Bowl has morphed into America’s mid-winter break and the title game itself caps a weeklong series of events in the host city. Las Vegas being Las Vegas, home of the over-the-top entertainment genre, the National Football League has found a good partner to match its hype built into the Super Bowl.
Las Vegas is on a roll with these mega-events in the sports industry.
The Formula 1 race drew mixed reviews as the Las Vegas Grand Prix hardly connected with locals, going as far to advise them to stay away from the Strip corridor if they have no connection to the 3.8-mile race.
Local businesses along the race course were crushed because of lack of customer access to their stores and restaurant, while the NFL worked with the Las Vegas Super Bowl Host Committee to foster business networking events to try and spread the wealth. F1 spread the wealth to MGM Resorts International and Caesars Entertainment properties on the Strip, but businesses that lost revenues are appealing to the race, the LVCVA and county commissioners to compensate them for the financial hit.
The National Football League stayed away from Las Vegas for its gambling-based economy, but now the league can’t get enough of Las Vegas after the Supreme Court ruled states could regulate sports betting operations. It made sports gambling a mainstream regulated pastime and the NFL has already staged two Pro Bowl events and even the Draft in 2022.