NFL program seeks to give Las Vegas Valley’s small businesses a piece of Super Bowl spending

By Katie Ann McCarver (contact)

Thursday, March 2, 2023 | 2 a.m.

When Oniel Smith wanted to move out of New York during the coronavirus pandemic, the restaurateur said he chose Las Vegas because it was where he saw the most potential for growth and positive outcomes.

More than a year later, the owner of House of Dutch Pot Las Vegas — a Caribbean restaurant in the southwest valley — is among several applicants for Super Bowl 58 Business Connect, a supplier diversity program giving local businesses the chance to compete for contracts related to the Super Bowl in February 2024 at Allegiant Stadium.

“I really, really, really appreciate a platform like this, especially for small businesses, because I’m always here cooking, trying to make consistency become a habit in my restaurant, so I really don’t get the opportunity to be out there like that,” said Smith, who learned about the program from a customer. “So once it was presented to me, and I started reading it, I was like, ‘Oh yeah, I gotta get onto this.’”

Myisha Boyce, chief community engagement officer for the Las Vegas Super Bowl LVIII Host Committee, said Business Connect had been led by the NFL and executed in every market that had played host to a Super Bowl.

The Super Bowl is projected to bring an economic impact of $500 million to the valley, with a ripple effect touching everything from Strip workers who rely on tips, to job creation to providing a boost to small businesses.

Business Connect makes sure all businesses are considered, targeting those owned by minorities, women, individuals with disabilities, LGBTQ+ individuals and veterans to apply for the nearly 25-year-old program. The deadline is March 10, and applications can be made online at lvsuperbowlhc.com/business-connect/

“I think it is a unique opportunity to highlight the strength of the Las Vegas community on not only a national stage, but a global stage,” Boyce said. “ … There is a vibrant and very much alive business community here.”

Selected businesses will go into a Business Connect resource guide for NFL vendors and event producers, who select local suppliers to fulfill needs related to the Super Bowl, according to the host committee website.

The populations represented by the program are all underserved, Boyce said, with noted discrepancies between them and businesses that don’t fall into those categories.

“What a program like this does is start to address the wealth gap,” Boyce said. “And it creates opportunities that are specific to businesses that are less likely to receive procurement opportunities.”

While Business Connect is an NFL partnership, Boyce said, the host committee wants to continue the program’s work in Las Vegas after the Super Bowl.

This means, owners whose businesses aren’t selected for the Super Bowl program can still apply after the deadline for a localized program and the opportunity of procurement related to partners like Allegiant Stadium and the Las Vegas Raiders, Boyce said.

“Our goal is to create a legacy from this work that continues beyond (the) Super Bowl,” she said. “This is not a one-and-done.”

As a local small-business owner herself, Boyce said she was honored to be a part of the host committee and to advocate for her peers through the Business Connect program.

“It is a huge task, but one that I take very personally and one that I am very committed to seeing through because I firsthand understand what it means to get an opportunity like this and to make sure that that opportunity is open to all,” she said.

Smith, who is originally from Jamaica, said Caribbean restaurants like House of Dutch Pot don’t often get opportunities like the one he could have with Business Connect. The program could open doors to elevated sales and to marketing for a Super Bowl-sized audience, he said.

He’s grateful for a platform that seeks to help small businesses, Smith said.

“Certain things money can’t buy,” Smith said, “and this is one of them.”