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By Alan Snel, LVSportsBiz.com Publisher-Writer
LAS VEGAS, Nevada — It’s not every day the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) admits its bidding procedures for a particular consulting job award were not up to standard and decides to re-bid the contract a second time after it was first awarded in March.
But that’s exactly what happened.
And in the end the LVCVA, Las Vegas’ publicly-funded tourism agency, picked the same exact sports marketing company — Position Sports — for the job of working on producing the College Football Playoff national championship game at Allegiant Stadium in Jan. 2027.
Except now the LVCVA will paying Position Sports much less. Exactly $674,400 less.
Position Sports won the LVCVA contract a second time in five months with a bid of $651,600, according to the Nevada state contract bidding website.
“We look forward to using our 20-plus of major college football experience to help produce the 2027 College Football National Championship, one of the largest sporting events to come to Las Vegas,” said Melissa Meacham-Grossman, president of Position Sports. “We’re excited to work closely with the staff of both the CFP (College Football Playoff) and the LVCVA to deliver an unfortgettable national championship.”
In March, the LVCVA awarded Position Sports the job to work the CFP title game for $1.236 million. Here’s the website listing the four bidders the first time around in February:
But then LVSportsBiz.com reported exclusive stories on how Meacham-Grossman and the company’s future chief media officer, Jeff Motley, were part of the LVCVA hotel room block and LVCVA meals at restaurants in Atlanta in mid-January when the LVCVA had a travel group at the CFP game to research the college football championship in Atlanta.
In a story LVSportsBiz.com broke on the LVCVA’s travel expenses for the CFP championship game in Atlanta, we found these records showing that Meeacham-Grossman and Jeff Motley were part of the LVCVA travel party in January even though the first contract to work the CFP game in Las Vegas in 2027 was awarded in March.
Again, this was January — more than a month before the LVCVA awarded the first contract to Position Sports in March. What were Meacham-Grossman and Jeff Motley doing with the LVCVA travel party at the college football championship game in Atlanta if Position Sports had not received the LVCVA consulting contract yet? The optics did not look good.
There was another thorny contract bid issue. Jeff Motley is the former husband and close friend of former LVCVA Vice President of Sports and Special Events Lisa Motley, who was let go by the LVCVA in June.
A July 7 memo sent from LVCVA CEO Steve Hill to the LVCVA board members said Lisa Motley wanted to “hire Position Sports non-competitvely.” But Hill said the LVCVA “determined it was in the best interest of the LVCVA to engage in a competitive procurement for the services.”
The LVCVA’s summary of findings in the memo also highlighted Lisa Motley’s efforts to hire “ex-husband and close friend Jeff Motley as a contractor through our PR and Communications department to support CFP media efforts.”
LVSportsBiz.com’s reporting prompted the LVCVA to rebid the contract, or in government jargon, put out a “Request For Proposal” (RFP) for a second time in June to find a consultant to work on producing the high-profile CFP championship game at Allegiant Stadium.
In an LVCVA statement to LVSportsBiz.com Thursday, the Las Vegas government tourism agency said, “Position Sports has been awarded the College Football Playoff RFP following a highly competitive and rigorous procurement process conducted in compliance with LVCVA policy and state law.
“Position Sports submitted the strongest proposal, backed by a strong track record of producing high-profile sporting and special events, including high-profile NCAA football games. Their proven expertise and industry reputation makes them an excellent partner to help deliver a world-class experience for this premier event,” the LVCVA statement said.
For the RFP’s second round, seven companies in July submitted bids after the RFP was made public June 16. The state bid website shows the bidding closed July 18 with the winning bid being $651,600. Position Sports was among at least two finalists for the job. The other finalist was bdG Sports, LLC, known for producing and promoting major college basketball events in Las Vegas.
The seven bidders even included Las Vegas Events, the LVCVA’s non-profit events promotion arm. Las Vegas Events is known for putting on the annual National Finals Rodeo in December.
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