McKenna Ross | (TNS) Las Vegas Review-Journal

LAS VEGAS — Las Vegas will have a first when 65,000 fans watch the Super Bowl at Allegiant Stadium next month — but operators on and off the Strip are no strangers to throwing a massive watch party for the game.

Resorts across the valley are mobilizing their loyalty club databases, preparing for special events and promoting a way to get those without a ticket to Allegiant Stadium to celebrate the last NFL game of the season with them, instead.

Downtown Grand General Manager Andrew Economon said downtown and off-Strip properties have to get creative in how they engage the Super Bowl fan because of their distance to the action.

“Much like Formula One, it’s on the other side,” he said. “We don’t see all the fun fan activities and everything else.”

For that reason, Economon said his property and others in downtown have to position themselves differently. He said Downtown Grand has focused on its value proposition of offering a good time at a more reasonable price — like $1 blackjack tables and $5 craps and roulette tables and a $2 hot dog and beer combo — when compared to the Strip. He said the property was about half-booked for Super Bowl weekend before it opened to the general market and more demand can be expected as the playoffs continue.

“We had early requests, six months ago, for room bookings without teams being announced or anything else,” Economon said. “They just knew that people wanted to be here and they wanted to be downtown.”

Executives say preparing for the Super Bowl is a much more familiar event compared to the Formula One Grand Prix. Unlike the November race, operators are familiar with the sport and with how people want to watch the Super Bowl — because they already travel to Las Vegas for the Super Bowl, no matter where the game is played that year.

Playoff weekends have been practice for the real thing, Durango hotel-casino General Manager David Horn said. The newly opened Stations Casino property in the southwest valley has a 205-seat sportsbook and the co-located lounge The George has a 56-foot LED screen for sports viewing.

“That’s really been the test of how we run A/V and how we service the guests, and what we can handle from a load standpoint,” Horn said.

Meanwhile, the Grand Prix required learning the sport and the logistics around the race. But that’s less of a burden in this case, Palms General Manager Cynthia Kiser Murphey said.

“In this case, we understand what the event is as people in this country,” Kiser Murphey said. “And Las Vegas knows how to throw a party, but having that event in the biggest party city in the world is, I think, it’s going to be fun and activation on steroids.”

Activations off-Strip

While many of the biggest events, parties and fan experiences take place on the Strip, some bigger venues will create programming to pull from the visiting crowds. Illuminarium at Area 15, the off-Strip entertainment center, will play the game on its 360-degree screens. Fremont Street Experience is hosting a four-day live performance series, dubbed the “excessive celebration bowl bash,” that will bring 150 hours of free entertainment to Downtown Las Vegas.

Several of Durango’s food and beverage outlets, Mijo and Bel-Aire Lounge, will have reservation-based events. Likewise, The George, with an open air patio for larger events, is promoting its $250 food and beverage package with food that comes out quarterly, Horn said.

At the Palms, Kiser Murphey said the Palms is engaging its role as a Super Bowl Host Committee sponsor through several special programs: an NFL alumni-sponsored father-daughter dance at Kaos, hosting the Raiders’ watch party lounge and putting on the Super Bowl Soulful Celebration, an annual gospel concert sanctioned by the NFL, on Feb. 7.

Depending on databases

Multiple operators said they are leveraging their existing customer database to attract visitors. Las Vegas-based Boyd Gaming, operators of 11 downtown and locals casinos, is tapping into the 17 properties it operates spread across the Midwest and South.

“It’s a great event to engage our local customer, but beyond that it’s an opportunity to engage our national customer,” said David Strow, Boyd’s vice president for corporate communications.

Strow said the company can expect additional interest from markets that are still in the playoffs, such as Kansas City where Boyd operates the Ameristar Casino.

The Palms’ shared database with its sister property Yaamava’ hotel-casino in Southern California is key to some of the property’s plans. It’s going all-out with plans to draw their Yaamava’ players to Vegas: a Club Serrano watch party in the property’s the Pearl theater, a Ferrari giveaway – with the prize presented by comedian Jay Leno – specialty drink and food specials throughout outlets on site and sportsbetting seminars at its William Hill book.

“People travel from all over the world for decades to come to Las Vegas,” Kiser Murphey said. “No matter where the game is being played, people come to Vegas to celebrate it. So this time, people come from all over the world to Las Vegas to celebrate. Oh, and by the way, the game is over at Allegiant – that’s just massive.”

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