Leisure travel is nearing full recovery and conventions are prime for a strong return this summer, but the opening of Allegiant stadium to fans at Raiders games and large-scale events and concerts will be “a key component to the recovery of Las Vegas” from the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the CEO of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.
Appearing Thursday during a breakfast discussion hosted by the Southern Nevada chapter of NAIOP, the commercial development association, LVCVA CEO Steve Hill and Raiders President Marc Badain touted the stadium’s opening to events and fans. They emphasized its impact on travel and tourism, along with advertising Las Vegas as a destination during national game telecasts, starting with the Raiders’ opening game this season on Monday Night Football on ESPN. Badain said that during the last couple of weeks, the number of events that have reconfirmed, along with new events willing to come, has “ramped up quickly.” The Raiders have 10 homes games, starting with a pre-season game against Seattle the weekend of August 13th.
A Garth Brooks concert is scheduled for July 10th and an unnamed event that may take place a week prior, Badain said. “There are 11 events in the first 11 weeks starting in July, so the impact is going to get off to a fast start,” he said.
Badain and Hill highlighted the national broadcasts of Raiders and other events, starting with Monday Night Football, in which Badain predicted 25 million to 30 million people will be watching on ESPN and simulcast on ABC.
“It’s free advertising for Las Vegas and the best advertising you can get,” Hill said. “Vegas at this point is selling excitement in and around the NFL games and other events the city generates.”
The Raiders have one of the hottest tickets in the NFL on secondary markets. Badain said the original expectation three to four years ago was 25 percent of attendees at games would be people visiting, but that’s now projected to be 40 percent based on stadium seat licenses.
“We know people will come here to take in their games of choice and spend three, four, or five days,” Badain said. “The numbers will exceed the projections in terms of incremental room tax that will be generated and incremental revenue that will come into Las Vegas for visitation from other markets.”
Hill said that in modeling 46 events a year at the stadium, 42 percent of attendees would be visitors and 27 percent would come into town because of the event — some 450,000 people a year.
“I think we’re going to surpass that number,” Hill said. “And when we modeled the stadium, we didn’t add any component to the spotlight being put on Las Vegas. It’s probably worth more than the economic impact of the 450,000 visitors. We’re already seeing the draw when Garth Brooks has a concert. Las Vegas is going to be the place people want to see Garth Brooks. The stadium is going to be such a big part of the recovery of the city, because it drives people to reserve that plane ticket and book that room on that day.”
Hill doesn’t think the importance of meetings and conventions to Las Vegas has ever been lost on the community, but 15 months without any show how significant they are.
“Leisure travel has almost fully recovered,” Hill said. “We’re nearing capacity on weekends now. Prior to the pandemic, we were running 88 percent to 89 percent occupancy. It was 94 percent on weekends. We’re back into the 80s, though during the week, we’re still in the 45 to 50 percent range. That difference is the attendees from meetings and conventions.”
Hill said Clark County opening up to 100 percent on June 1 and having no restrictions on events opens up the meeting and convention marketplace even more.
The World of Concrete kicks off in June and marks the first trade show of this magnitude in the U.S. since the pandemic, Hill said.
“Over the next 12 months starting in July, we have the most square footage booked at the Convention Center than we’ve ever had in a given 12-month period,” Hill said. “There’s a great demand to come back, but we don’t know yet what the attendance at those shows will look like. We know it’s going to take some time. We have some bright 12 months coming that mirror what you’re seeing at the stadium.”
Hill said international air travel, which is virtually non-existent now, will recover last in Las Vegas. He called it good news that the European Union announced this week it will allow vaccinated Americans to visit and Europeans to come to the U.S. if vaccinated without going through any quarantine upon return, which has been detrimental to international travel.
“But you have to have enough demand to get flights back up and running,” Hill said. “The airlines are ready, but that demand has to be allowed and created.”
