Las Vegas expecting huge windfall from NFL Draft

LAS VEGAS (KSNV) — The people who make a living by closely following the Las Vegas economy are predicting a huge windfall for Southern Nevada from the NFL Draft, this April 23-25.

Since Las Vegas has never hosted the NFL Draft, Jeremy Aguero, a principal analyst with Applied Analysis, says it’s impossible to predict accurately the event’s impact on the local economy.

However, he says it’s possible to put a few pieces together from last year’s host city. “When you think about what the draft did in Nashville, about 600,000 people, and you see some of the other markets it's been in, our expectation is Las Vegas has a good opportunity to beat some of those numbers, and that economic impact would be pretty substantial for the community", Aguero said.

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Aguero also points out that Las Vegas has a number of advantages over other previous host cities that make it a more attractive destination for football fans, who want to watch the NFL Draft in person. “Not only are we superior to other locations, and I don't mean that in any derogatory way,” Aguero said, “but we have more hotel rooms, access is easier here, we have a lot of entertainment options, we're going to draw people to the event, we believe. And, in addition to that, every visitor that comes to Las Vegas spends more than $800 per person, per trip.”

The potential for an even greater economic impact also comes from NFL Draft history. “Something that gets left out every now and then,” Aguero said, “what we've seen in other markets is that room rates rise when the Draft is in town, and that's really good for Southern Nevada because that's revenue to the bottom line.”

Lori Nelson-Kraft, Senior Vice-President with the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, says the NFL Draft represents the ongoing transformation for Las Vegas to become a major sports destination. “Mega-sporting events like the NFL Draft coming here in late April create such a new exciting category for the destination,” said Nelson-Kraft. “And, you're going to see more of that. You saw that we inked a deal with the PAC-12 to bring their championship game here. We're talking with the NCAA about bringing some of their events here. That's part of our natural evolution.”

Aguero said he’s also looking forward to other big weekends for the Las Vegas economy when the Raiders start playing in Allegiant Stadium later in 2020, as well as the NFL’s biggest game. “I think game days are going to be fantastic. I think the Super Bowl, should it come to Las Vegas, could be the biggest event that we've ever seen.”