LVCVA Paid $190,700 To Company For Four Months Of Work On 2027 College Football Championship Game In Las Vegas Under Flawed Contract Awarded By LVCVA In March
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By Alan Snel, LVSportsBiz.com Publisher-Writer
LAS VEGAS, Nevada — The LVCVA, Las Vegas’ publicly-funded tourism agency, paid $190,700 to a Phoenix-based sports marketing company for four months of work under a contract awarded in March that the LVCVA would later say in June was given under a botched bid procurement process.
The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority awarded a $1.236 million contract to Position Sports in March to do PR, production and game management work on the College Football Playoff (CFP) championship game in Las Vegas in Jan. 2027. But after LVSportsBiz.com published stories pointing out problems with the contract bid process, the LVCVA decided in June to put the contract out to bid a second time in a rare move. LVCVA CEO/President Steve Hill said issues brought up by a company that lost out in the March bidding led to the LVCVA putting the CFP game job out to bid for a second time.
In late August, the LVCVA gave the College Football Playoff national championship game contract to Position Sports for a second time.
Position Sports beat out six other sports marketing companies for the job to work the college football title game that is slated for Allegiant Stadium in Jan. 2027.
But this time Position Sports won the CFP title game work from the LVCVA with a bid of $651,500 — much less than the $1.236 million contract awarded in March.
The second round in the bidding process — called a “Request For Proposal” (RFP) — was launched in June before bidding closed July 18. The LVCVA then picked Position Sports in August.
But LVSportsBiz.com has obtained public records showing that the LVCVA paid $51,500 a month for a “CFP consulting fee” for April, May and June and $36,200 for July based on that original $1.236 million contract awarded back in March.
The LVCVA paid $190,700 to Position Sports for the four months under that contract that was awarded when the contract bidding “process did not meet our standards,” in the words of LVCVA President/CEO Steve Hill, who made those comments at an LVCVA board meeting in June.
This LVCVA document shows one month payment — a unit price of $51,500 — coming out of the $1.236 million contract awarded to Position Sports, which is the “supplier.”
Here are the four Position Sports invoices for April, May, June and July for work on “College Football Playoff”:
The LVCVA changed the scope of the job from the first contract bid process in February to the second bidding procurement in June by cutting out public relations work. So, what exactly did Position Sports do from April to July that would now be relevant to the college football championship game if the job duty was changed?
If you look at the Position Sports invoices for April and May, you will see the LVCVA wrote, “Approved by Lisa Motley.” Lisa Motley is the former LVCVA vice president of sports and special events.
Lisa Motley is the former wife and a close friend of Position Sports Chief Media Officer Jeff Motley, who was hired by Position Sports in mid-March after he worked at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Jeff Motley and Position Sports executive Melissa Meacham-Grossman were listed as part of the LVCVA travel party at the LVCVA’s trip to Atlanta in January to see the 2025 college football national championship game. The LVCVA spent more than $70,000 on travel, hotels and food to do “research” on the CFP title game.
Hill said in a memo to the LVCVA board of directors that “Lisa Motley’s employment with the LVCVA ended on June 5.”
Lisa Motley recently announced on LinkedIn that she accepted a job as executive director of business development at Landry’s hospitality and restaurants.
LVSportsBiz.com contacted Lisa Motley for comment and if we hear back we will include her comments.
We also contacted the LVCVA and have not heard back yet.
Jeff Motley is the chief media officer at Position Sports, which is working on a college football game between Grambling State and Jackson State at Allegiant Stadium Oct. 25 and is scheduled to work on college basketball events in Las Vegas.
The June and July invoices from Position Sports were approved by Brian Yost, the LVCVA chief operating officer and chief sports officer.
Last month LVSportsBiz.com reported that Yost is leaving the LVCVA.
To promote the 2024 Super Bowl at Allegiant Stadium, the LVCVA used a separate host committee. But to promote the 2027 college football game, the LVCVA has taken the job of promoting the event in-house, which is why the public agency has hired a consultant like Position Sports.
After Lisa Motley left the LVCVA, the tourism promotion government agency moved ahead with hiring a new staffer to work on events.
Will Hunter is the new LVCVA vice president of special events. Most recently, Hunter was vice president of event operations for the Super Bowl Bay Area Host Committee from Aug. 2024 to Aug. 2025 after working as vice president of operations for the Pac-12 Conference from July 2012 to Aug. 2024. He also worked for the NFL Dallas Cowboys for three years and the NFL for five years.
The next LVCVA board meeting is tomorrow, Tuesday.
At last month’s LVCVA board meeting, a speaker during the public comments period at the end of the meeting did discuss the LVCVA college football playoff championship game bidding. Richard Manhattan of the Propyrion marketing company in Las Vegas, one of the companies that lost out to Position Sports in the CFP game job bidding process, had this to say, according to the LVCVA minutes of last month’s meeting:
PSA
