Las Vegas tourism board targets UK, Ireland with NFL partnership

The NFL’s London Games will have a new presenting partner this year: The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

The deal is part of a larger effort by the LVCVA to reach potential tourists in the United Kingdom and Ireland, the city’s largest source of overseas visitors.

Last year, over 500,000 people traveled from the British Isles to Las Vegas, the group’s chief marketing officer, Kate Wik, said.

“This partnership is an incredible opportunity to stay top of mind for this key international sports-minded audience,” Wik said at today’s board meeting. “You’re not going to see us heavily pushing it here, but it is a focus specifically for that UK audience.”

The board did not discuss the financial details of the partnership.

The Las Vegas presence will be felt at two London stadiums, with “Visit Las Vegas” ads on the jumbotron and TV spots throughout the NFL season in the UK and Ireland.

More than 3 million people in the UK tune in for each NFL game in London, according to Wik’s presentation, and an additional 10 million watch from the United States.

The NFL will host the international series in October. The New York Jets and Minnesota Vikings as well as the Jacksonville Jaguars and Chicago Bears will face off in Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London.

The Jags will also play the New England Patriots at Wembley Stadium, home of the series’ first game in 2007.

With tourism from the UK and Ireland peaking in the late 2010s, LVCVA CEO Steve Hill said the board has been working on enhancing partnerships with England-based Virgin Atlantic and British Airlines to drive visitation from those markets.

The board also approved a $288,000 agreement for the design and construction of the LVCVA’s booth at World Travel Market London, a yearly international tourism expo in November.

“Typically we have spread our international dollars across a series of countries, but we haven’t focused in a particular area like we’re doing right now,” Hill said. “So we’re going to do this for a couple years to see if that actually changes the arc of … visitation.”

The NFL first announced the partnership last week.

The league looks forward to showcasing Las Vegas’ “exciting and fast-paced sports landscape” in London, Henry Hodgson, the general manager for the NFL’s UK office, said in a statement.

The board also discussed college football’s Vegas Kickoff Classic, which drew 70,000 people to Allegiant Stadium on Sept. 1 to watch the University of Southern California Trojans defeat the Louisiana State University Tigers.

In addition to setting an attendance record for the stadium, another 11 million people watched the game on television, said Brian Yost, the board’s chief operating officer.

“Vegas was fully integrated into the program, and that was because of the partnership with ESPN,” Wik said, rattling off the Vegas branding in the end zone, the presence of showgirls at the coin toss and cutaway videos showcasing the city.

Without even counting user-generated content and social media posts from the teams, the LVCVA’s social media platforms garnered 4 million organic views from the game, she said.

Hill noted the media reach of football in the United States, pointing out that nearly all of the most-watched TV broadcasts last year were either NFL or college football games.

“It is the place where the eyeballs are. Being a big part of football is a big reason that Las Vegas is the sports and entertainment capital of the world,” he said. “Allegiant Stadium has been a big part of that. Without Allegiant, we would be missing that opportunity and the market value we get.”