LVCVA Rebidding Job For 2027 CFP Title Game In Vegas After Telling LVCVA Board Chair Jim Gibson In March That Bid Process Was Fine
By Alan Snel, LVSportsBiz.com Publisher-Writer
LAS VEGAS, Nevada — It’s not every day the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA), a very powerful and well-funded local government agency in sports-crazed Las Vegas, makes a rare decision to nullify a contract it awarded to a consultant in March and then repeat the bidding process for the job for the 2027 College Football Playoff (CFP) national title game at Allegiant Stadium.
The public tourism agency’s top executive, Steve Hill, has not publicly discussed the LVCVA’s unusual and newsworthy move to rebid what’s called a “Request For Proposal,” or RFP, for the college national championship game consulting job here in Vegas in Jan. 2027. After LVSportsBiz.com broke a June 10 story reporting the LVCVA decided to rebid the contact for the CFP title game, companies now have until July 7 to submit a bid to the LVCVA for the work, listed on the state’s public bid website.
But LVSportsBiz.com obtained a public record of a March email that shows a revealing message sent from the office of Clark County Commissioner Jim Gibson, who is also chairman of the LVCVA board of directors, to a company owner who lost out in the original bidding. The LVCVA chose Phoenix-founded Position Sports over three other companies, including Richard Manhattan’s sports and entertainment marketing company, Propyrion of Las Vegas.
The email is revealing because it gives an inside look at what the LVCVA thought of the bidding process in this case at the time.
Susan Gersh, Gibson’s assistant, wrote to Manhattan in March that, “Both Commissioner Gibson and Commissioner (Michael) Naft are in receipt of your email dated March 17, 2025 regarding the LVCVA’s issuance of the College Football Playoff (“CFP”) RFP award to Position Sports. Commissioner Gibson contacted executive leadership at the LVCVA to receive clarity on your concerns. Following is information that the LVCVA has provided to Commissioner Gibson:”
- Propyrion’s bid was exorbitantly higher (millions more) compared to the other 3 bidders.
- The chosen bidder, Position Sports, has an office in Las Vegas and is licensed in Clark County. Their office here is one of 5 of their “headquarters” offices. However, they were founded outside of Nevada.
- (Former LVCVA Vice President of Sports and Special Events) Lisa Motley was not a part of the selection committee that chose Position Sports. She did act as the subject matter expert on the pre-bid call; however, the entire decision process was conducted by the LVCVA’s Purchasing Department.
- Position Sports’ experience and past performance did weigh into their selection, however that was just one of several factors.
Here’s the part that says Gibson believes the LVCVA followed its bidding procedures: “After Commissioner Gibson’s receipt of the above information from the LVCVA, he is confident that the LVCVA Purchasing Department followed all procedures required when awarding the CFP contract to the winning bidder.”
It triggers a simple question: If Gibson, who chairs the LVCVA board, thought the LVCVA’s bidding process was followed, why is the LVCVA rebidding the contract for the CFP championship game?
We tried to contact Gibson at his county commission office, but a Gibson office worker was uncooperative and said to call the county’s PR office. We emailed Clark County PR head Jennifer Cooper about talking with Gibson but did not hear back.
In previous LVSportsBiz.com stories reported with multiple LVCVA travel expense records provided by the LVCVA in response to our information requests, we discovered that Position Sports exec Melissa Grossman was part of the LVCVA travel group that went to Atlanta in January for the most recent CFP championship game won by Ohio State.
The college football championship game was Jan. 20, while the LVCVA’s deadline for the bid for “sporting event production, public relations and game management services” for the 2027 CFP game in Las Vegas was Feb. 24.
Yet Position Sports was there on the scene in Atlanta with the LVCVA at meals and in a hotel room block.
It raises the question of whether it was a done deal for the LVCVA to hire Position Sports before the RFP deadline a month later when three other companies would submit bids in February.
Hill, the LVCVA’s top official, and other execs like LVCVA Chief Operating Offiver Brian Yost were also in the LVCVA travel party in Atlanta for the CFP title game and could have seen that a Position Sports exec was part of their travel group even though the bid deadline for the Las Vegas championship game was still a month away in February.
Then in March at a Mountain West Conference forum on women sports, Motley, the former LVCVA VP for sports and special events, made a comment about Position Sports getting the job for the CFP title game in Vegas. Her former husband, Jeff Motley, was also getting hired in March at Position Sports as “chief media officer.”
After the LVCVA told LVSportsBiz.com June 10 that it was rebidding the contract for the college football game in Las Vegas, the LVCVA then informed its board members June 13 that Lisa Motley was “no longer with the LVCVA.”
Companies have until today to ask questions about the current Request For Proposal.
PSA
