Nextel agrees to sponsor Las Vegas monorail station

Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2003 | 12:28 p.m.

LAS VEGAS - Nextel Communications Inc. plans to announce a 12-year advertising deal that will cement its name on the city's main monorail station being built at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

The deal, which will be made public Tuesday, also involves putting the Nextel brand on one of the light rail system's nine trains, said Mark Schweitzer, senior vice president of marketing at Nextel in Reston, Va.

Word of an agreement was first reported by the Los Angeles Times.

Schweitzer said a retail store and exhibit space will be located at the 15,000-square-foot monorail station. The Nextel Pavilion, the station's current working name, resembles a sleek airport terminal and will house a VIP lounge and other amenities geared toward business travelers.

The four-mile-long monorail that cost $650 million travels a Z-shaped route from the convention center behind some of Las Vegas' largest hotel-casinos. The monorail will be built in three phases and eventually is expected to be extended to downtown Las Vegas.

Patrick Pharris, president and chief executive officer of Promethean Partners in Las Vegas, which sold the monorail advertising, declined to say how much the deal was worth.

Pharris confirmed the monorail company was seeking annual fees of $4 million for the convention center station and $1 million per train, making the deal worth about $60 million. The Las Vegas Monorail Co. also was asking $2 million a year to sponsor each of the other six stations along the route, he said

The deal is the second major Nextel sponsorship this year. The wireless communications provider said in June it would replace Winston as the title brand of NASCAR's championship auto racing series next year.

The train station could be outfitted with a NASCAR promotion or other convention-specific themes, Schweitzer said.

Schweitzer said he expects the advertising to reach millions of people, many of whom will attend business conventions - Nextel's target audience.

Las Vegas hosts about 35 million visitors a year, including 5 million convention delegates. An estimated 19 million people are expected to ride the monorail a year after it opens in January, officials predict.

"We think this will stand out in a big way," Schweitzer said. It's the "perfect setting."

Pharris said he was negotiating to sell train advertising to Bacardi, Coke, Motorola, General Motors and the Discovery networks.

Monster Beverage Co., owner of Hansen Beverage Co., of Corona, Calif., has already committed $1 million a year for 10 years.