Las Vegas, a city once known for its underworld origins, dazzling neon signs and 24/7 party vibes, has now become something else – an unlikely center of America’s sports world. The arrival of the NFL, Formula 1 racing, the National Hockey League, the WNBA and, soon, Major League Baseball, has helped transform Sin City into a sports city – where fans can now watch the country’s greatest professional athletes – while still having some Finding time to visit places. Bet.
While New York City, Boston and Chicago have famous sports teams and fan bases, the number of people booking a trip to Vegas annually to watch a live sporting event is set to triple to more than 2 million by 2022, according to the Las Vegas Convention . Visitor Authority. “Fans will come to see their team play and then extend their stay and see a concert, shop, dine or golf,” says Steve Hill, CEO and President of the Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority (LVCVA).
Just last month, Formula 1 took to the Strip for the second edition of the Las Vegas Grand Prix, with Saturday night’s race won by Mercedes’ George Russell. In February, the Kansas City Chiefs defeated the San Francisco 49ers 25–22. overtime thriller at Allegiant Stadium to capture Super Bowl LVIII. It was the first time that the NFL’s signature game, annually the most watched television event in the US, was held in Las Vegas. According to tourism officials, the games had an estimated $1 billion economic impact on the region.
Ticket resale giant StubHub says last February’s Super Bowl was the best-selling Super Bowl on the site since 2020. The average ticket price was $8,400, with some seats selling for as much as $22,907. StubHub spokesman Joseph Bocanegra says the 2023 Vegas Grand Prix “was StubHub’s best-selling F1 race of (2023) and one of the top 10 best-selling sporting events of the year globally in 2023.”
Some cities are ideally suited to host major events like Vegas, the Super Bowl and F1. With approximately 151,000 hotel rooms, the city can accommodate large crowds. Not only that, but its football stadium, hockey and basketball arenas as well as its F1 track are also within walking distance of the Vegas Strip. People attending Raiders games don’t have to endure the brutal travel that Giants and Jets fans do on the East Coast. “Vegas is in a league of its own when it comes to hosting (large-scale) events,” says Hill.
In addition to hotel rooms, hotel properties located on the Vegas Strip know how to throw parties for wealthy guests attending events like the Super Bowl and Formula One. After Chiefs’ big win last February, Taylor Swift and her boyfriend Travis Kelce celebrate At Zouk Nightclub inside Resorts World Las Vegas. Throughout Super Bowl week, the hotel made sure that visitors to town for the game remained immersed in related activities. “We have to think about activating the entire complex or property,” says Ron Nicoli, chief marketing officer of Resorts World Las Vegas.
Vegas is no stranger to reinvention. In the 1990s, its image became more family-friendly, as kitschy-themed hotels such as the Luxor and Excalibur opened. This didn’t last long, ushering in the “what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas” era, where the city lived up to its hedonistic 24/7 reputation. Now it’s all about the game.
The arrival of Formula One in 2023 means Vegas can now target the affluent global racing audience who come to watch racing greats such as Lewis Hamilton. Demand was again strong for this year’s weekend racing, with over 300,000 fans in attendance. Those who came out purchased tickets ranging from $150 general admission seats to Paddock Club passes, which cost up to $45,000. Last year’s race was StubHub’s best-selling F1 race of the year globally.
To give you an idea of how much money is at stake, the average F1 fan spends approximately $4,100 during race week in Vegas. The average visitor to Vegas typically spends about $1,200 per visit. The Vegas F1 race was expected to have an economic impact of $1.5 billion locally.
The 3.8-mile course for the Vegas Grand Prix provided free advertising for the city’s bright lights and large casinos, as the track included portions of the Strip and passed by prestigious properties such as the Bellagio, Caesars Palace and the Venetian. The Vegas Grand Prix is also the only F1 race to be held at night in North America. “No other city can host an event like Las Vegas – it’s in our DNA,” says LVCVA Hill.
Sports have always been a big part of the Las Vegas scene. For decades, Nevada was the only state in the US where you could legally bet on sporting events. As a result, making the pilgrimage to watch and gamble at major sporting events such as the Super Bowl and the NCAA men’s basketball tournament became a rite of passage for sports fraternities.
But for a long time, you could only watch the games on television at one of Vegas’ many sports betting sites. Leagues such as MLB, the NHL, the NBA, and especially the NFL wanted their teams and their games to keep their distance from the city, due to fears of gambling getting too close to the game. When casino owners George and Joe Maloof owned the Sacramento Kings, the NBA banned their property, the Palms Resort Casino, from taking wagers on pro basketball games.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver changed his tune in 2014 when he declared that sports gambling should be “brought out of the underground and into the sunlight where it can be properly monitored and regulated.” In 2018, the Supreme Court struck down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA), which had essentially made it illegal to wager on sports anywhere except Nevada. That decision opened the floodgates and the legal sports gambling industry took advantage. approximately $120 billion Legal sports wagering took place last year.
The staggering amount of money at stake caught everyone’s attention, especially the major sports leagues. Today, you can’t watch an NFL game without being bombarded by ads from legal sports betting apps.
Once gambling was regulated, there was some nervousness about sports teams opening shops in Vegas. The city’s first major pro sports franchise, the Las Vegas Golden Knights, debuted as an expansion franchise in 2018 and met with immediate success. They reached the Stanley Cup Finals in their first season and won the Cup in 2023. The city has embraced the Knights; The production value of the pregame show resembles a Broadway show more than a hockey game. Fans from 49 different states have purchased tickets to Golden Knights home games on StubHub this season, more than any other team in the NHL.
As big a hit as hockey is in the desert, Vegas’ rise as America’s premier sports city can be traced to 2020, the year the Oakland Raiders officially arrived. Owner Mark Davis was happy to pack up his team and rebrand them. Las Vegas Raiders. And why not? They got a new stadium with a permanent dome and several luxury suites to accommodate the high-roller fans.
An October trip to Allegiant Stadium to see the Raiders take on the Pittsburgh Steelers saw the stadium packed with 65,000 fans, at least half of whom were out-of-town visitors cheering on the Steelers, a game that was featured on StubHub. Have to say this is one of the best selling NFL games on their platform so far this season.
“The Raiders have been a top 10 team for us every year since relocating to Vegas in 2020 and are second only to the Cowboys in ticket sales,” says StubHub’s Bocanegra. This season, 89% of all Raiders tickets sold on the site have come from out-of-state buyers, more than any other team.
The Allegiant Stadium, located a short walk behind the Mandalay Bay Hotel Casino, is now as much of an attraction as the Bellagio fountains. According to Hill at the LVCVA, the stadium was important in Vegas’ emergence as a major sports city. “The construction of Allegiant Stadium was transformative for Las Vegas,” he says. “Not only did it provide a venue that could host an NFL team, the Super Bowl, international football and a Taylor Swift concert, but it also allowed F1 And also inspired other global leagues and events to come to Las Vegas.”
Vegas’ status as a premier gaming city still has a lot of room to grow. In 2028, the former Oakland A’s are set to come to town. The team will play in a new, 33,000-seat domed stadium being built on the Strip on the site of the former Tropicana Las Vegas hotel. But the NBA can beat the A’s in town. The league is reportedly considering expansion plans as early as 2027, possibly to have a team in Vegas.
“And, potentially, with the addition of an NBA or MLS team, it will become one of the premier sports hubs domestically,” says Resorts World’s Nicoli. “If I had made this statement 20 years ago, everyone would have looked at me like I was crazy, but today, I think it’s true.”
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