Preparations continue for Super Bowl LVIII at Allegiant Stadium and the surrounding areas on Wednesday, January 25, 2024.
Sunday, Jan. 28, 2024 | 2 a.m.
The Super Bowl clock is quickly winding down for Las Vegas.
Today will see the NFL determine its conference champions, with the winners advancing to the big game Feb. 11 at Allegiant Stadium. Once those contests go final, all eyes will turn to Las Vegas.
It’s not the first time Las Vegas has hosted a showcase sporting event, but it is unquestionably the biggest.
The Super Bowl is perennially America’s most-watched television program, and the pressure is on the host city to deliver.
Las Vegas wants to make an impression. The goal wasn’t just to host the 2024 Super Bowl. It’s about hosting the 2029 Super Bowl and the 2035 game and the 2041 game and so on.
For that to happen, Las Vegas must put its best foot forward.
Sam Joffray, the president and CEO of the Las Vegas Super Bowl Host Committee, has been there every step of the way, shaping the city’s official bid for the game and shepherding it through the logistical labyrinth necessary to stage such an epic event.
It’s not for every city, but Joffray believes Las Vegas will rise to the occasion.
“The Super Bowl is not a one-size-fits-all event,” he said. “You can’t just drop the Super Bowl into any city.”
The work began years ago and will continue through the national anthem, kickoff and the traditional Gatorade shower at the end of the game, Joffray said.
There are a lot of moving parts that go into producing an event as big as the Super Bowl.
The host city needs abundant convention space, more than 100,000 hotel rooms and the infrastructure to welcome the flood of spectators, event workers and media members who descend on the city for a week or longer.
Las Vegas has hosted many large-scale events — Mike Tyson boxing bouts, Stanley Cup Finals games and Formula One — and come through with flying colors. (OK, so there was that NBA All-Star thing, but that was more than 15 years ago and lessons were learned.)
The Super Bowl requires thousands of workers and volunteers, scores of vendors and a massive convention apparatus to house all of the NFL’s Super Bowl-adjacent activities.
For a first-time host like Las Vegas, working out all the kinks is an ongoing process.
“In 2021, when we started the bid process for this, there had not even been a Raiders home game (with fans in attendance),” Joffray said. “When we started planning, we didn’t even know what the game day experience would look like in Allegiant Stadium.”
“Usually when you are awarded a Super Bowl, the first thing you look at what it takes to put on a sold-out game at the Superdome or MetLife Stadium and use that as a baseline for parking and how much footage you’ll need in the back of house or entertainment staging areas for halftime,” Joffray said.
“None of that could be stress tested. There hasn’t been anything of this magnitude here in Vegas,” he said.
The cost of additional police, emergency workers and transportation for the Super Bowl can run into the tens of millions of dollars, and local government entities are on the hook for those bills. Getting a return on that investment is crucial.
The stakes are high for Las Vegas over the next two weeks. Successfully pulling off a Super Bowl would likely vault Las Vegas into the rotation of regular hosts for the game, a list that includes places like Miami (11 times), New Orleans (10) and Los Angeles (eight). Those cities have proven they can handle the rigors of the big game and have become reliable standbys.
Las Vegas has what it takes to join those ranks.
“It’s no secret that Miami and New Orleans have hosted 10 times or more,” Joffray said. “There’s a reason for that, and that’s the level of hospitality they provide, the convenience of the destinations for walking. We have all those things, and we have them on steroids. If you come to the Super Bowl in Vegas, you’re probably going to say, ‘That was awesome, I can’t wait for it to be here again.’ ”
How can Las Vegas make sure Super Bowl LVIII leaves a lasting positive impact?
Previous host cities have been dinged for a lack of hotel rooms or having geographical footprints that were too spread out. Bottlenecked public transportation has also been a problem. None of that figures to be an issue for Las Vegas.
Other common criticisms are beyond the control of the host cities.
A bad halftime show can drag down the Super Bowl experience, but that kind of flop falls on the show’s producers. Similarly, don’t blame the host city if the game is a blowout.
That leaves the hospitality factors.
Welcoming high rollers and everyday tourists alike is something Las Vegas has tons of experience with and is uniquely positioned to do.
So really, for the next two weeks, Las Vegas just has to be itself.
“I think that our best foot is already forward,” Joffray said. “We’ve got a big head start on what Vegas does on a day-to-day basis, as far as hospitality. The level of service that Vegas provides is, bar none, compared to anywhere else an immediate enhancement to the Super Bowl.”
If Las Vegas meets expectations, it won’t be the last time we welcome the Super Bowl.
Mike Grimala can be reached at 702-948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Mike on Twitter at twitter.com/mikegrimala.
