On Wednesday, Oct. 19, the eyes of the nation will be upon Las Vegas for the last of four planned presidential debates, making it one of the biggest and most important events of the year.
While the debate will be the primary focus, Las Vegas and host University of Nevada, Las Vegas should reap a bountiful harvest of publicity, as well as room taxes and other revenues during possibly the biggest non-sporting events ever held there.
Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida, hosted the final presidential debate in 2012, which pitted incumbent Pres. Barack Obama against former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.
Lynn University officials say generated 33,208 domestic print and broadcast news stories, for a total publicity value of $63,724,378.
The university also reported 1,985 international news stories, but the real total likely is more, due to the difficulty of tracking and quantifying the value of international media coverage. The university did not assess international publicity value, which would be important for Las Vegas and its efforts to boost international tourism.
Publicity value generally is determined by the relative cost for print space and air time devoted to an event, and Lynn University reported 503,075,159 total news circulation and viewership of event-dedicated coverage in domestic media sources.
Media mentions for host city Boca Raton generated 348,395,606 in total news circulation, with Boca Raton mentioned almost as much as Lynn University, for a total publicity value of $50,470,622 for the city.
Las Vegas, being larger and more tourist-friendly, likely would generate greater coverage of the host city, while also helping to rebrand it as far more than its Sin City past.
A presidential debate ranks behind only the Super Bowl and the Olympics in total viewership with 59.2 million viewers, according to Lynn University, and the Olympics runs about two weeks. That suggests among single-day events, the presidential debate will be the second-most viewed event this year, and for a much shorter duration than the Super Bowl.
When Lynn University hosted the final debate in 2012, the event was held on a Monday night and competed directly with Monday Night Football and the final game of the National League championship series, but still drew 59.2 million viewers.
The UNLV debate might run into competition for viewers from the Major League Baseball playoffs, but it won’t have any issues with the NFL or major NCAA football games running at the same time. That means viewership totals are more likely to be in the range of the 67.2 million and 65.6 million who tuned in to watch the other two presidential debates held in 2012, as reported by Nielson.
In the social media realm, #lynndebate trended in the top three nationally and top five globally on Twitter during the night of the event. Lynn University gained a total of 309 new Twitter followers for a 15.7 percent increase.
Between Oct. 16 and Oct. 23, the university reported more than 210,000 tweets using #lynndebate, and more than 202,000 on debate night.
From 9 p.m. to 10:34 p.m. on the debate evening, Lynn University reported 6.5 million debate-related tweets were sent, with Obama’s “fewer horses and bayonets” comment generating peak activity with 105,767 tweets per minute sent at around 9:45 p.m.
The university also produced about an hour of event coverage among 49 videos posted to YouTube, and it hosted numerous social media events across several social media platforms.
Since 2012, mobile devices have increased greatly in use, making social media an even more important element of the UNLV debate than it was four years ago.
While publicity value likely will be great for Las Vegas and UNLV, local economic impact should be significant, too.
In 2012, Lynn University reported the final presidential debate generated $13.1 million in economic impact for Florida’s Palm Beach County. That amount included $1.7 million in additional local spending, and The Palm Beach Post reported a 22 percent boost in room tax revenues generating some $1.4 million.
Spending by delegates and media accounted for another $3 million in revenues, as 4,060 media members descended upon the county and spent $2,662,000, plus $655,000 in lodging, during their stay.
Lynn University spent another $4.5 million, including $1.5 million in donations, on facilities and operations costs. Some $2.2 million of that total helped to develop the technology used to host the debate
Related events generated another $1.7 million in revenues, as about 10,000 locals and 3,000 visitors attended special events, like Rock the Vote and Spin the Vote.
Surveys done at debate-related events indicate 86 percent of those surveyed thought the debate brought “positive attention” to Palm Beach County, while 89 percent said the county should hold more events like it.
Las Vegas is experienced at hosting large-scale, televised events, and the final presidential debate this year likely will be the largest event held here. As Lynn University’s numbers indicate, it’s also a great opportunity to promote the city and UNLV to an attentive national audience.
