Boost of $62.1 mil. makes LV Super Bowl champion

Friday, Jan. 29, 1999 | 11:08 a.m.

For the diehard football fan, Miami is the place to be this weekend.

But Las Vegas has to rank a close second. And, it could be No. 1 for the diehard football fan who likes to legally bet on the showcase event of the National Football League.

While Miami is the setting for Super Bowl XXXIII between the defending champion Denver Broncos and the Atlanta Falcons, Las Vegas is where most of money on the game changes hands.

"It's one of the most bet-on events in the United States," said Rob Powers, a spokesman for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. "The way the Super Bowl has evolved, if you can't be in the city where the game is played, Las Vegas is the next-best place to be."

Powers called the Super Bowl "a transcendent event" because it draws people into the casino who may never place a bet on anything else.

Last year, the state Gaming Control Board reported that $77.3 million was wagered in Nevada on the Super Bowl game between the Broncos and the Green Bay Packers.

Las Vegas felt an economic impact of about $61.8 million in non-gaming revenue as a result of the game last year. This year, the LVCVA is projecting a 1 percent increase to $62.2 million, based on an estimated 224,000 visitors to the city.

Kevin Bagger, senior research analyst with the LVCVA, said the increase is due primarily to the additional number of rooms on line in Las Vegas since 1998's Super Bowl. His research projects a hotel occupancy rate of about 90 percent this weekend.

Powers said many resort properties gear up special promotions for professional football's premiere event.

"There are a lot of VIP parties for customers," Powers said. "Many of them will set up rooms with big-screen TVs. You can be in a hotel with several thousand people watching the game, it's almost like being there because the excitement is so intense."

Many of those who couldn't be in Las Vegas for the game may make plans to be here next year after seeing some of the TV advertisements that will run during the Super Bowl.

That's because the LVCVA is running two to three 30-second spots in selected television markets and placing newspaper ads in those cities' daily newspapers.

Jim Gentleman, group director on the LVCVA advertising account for R&R Advertising, said two newly produced spots will be run during local ad time in San Diego, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Houston, Seattle and St. Louis.

These aren't the $1.5 million TV spots the public has heard so much about in the past few weeks; airing commercials during a local segment costs between $10,000 and $25,000 each, depending on the market. Smaller markets like San Diego and St. Louis will be on the lower end, while buying time in the Chicago market costs more. R&R has placed ads in local markets in previous Super Bowl broadcasts.

Gentleman figures the TV and print campaigns in those cities on Sunday will reach 4.9 million people. The new spots show off some of the city's newest attractions and are set to music by the Isley Brothers and the B-52s.

In addition to the media campaign, the LVCVA is making an extra point with the football fans in Miami -- a multimedia campaign was developed at Miami International Airport.

That means people who arrived by plane had a good chance of seeing images of Las Vegas projected on big screens covering about 70 percent of the main concourse at the airport.

Those going to Miami will definitely see a big game.

"But in Las Vegas," said Powers, "it's more like celebrating a national holiday."