Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2003 | 10:49 a.m.
Nextel Communications Inc. will market NASCAR's March race at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway as well as its wireless telephone network when the company opens a branded monorail station at the Las Vegas Convention Center next year.
Nextel formally announced its multimillion-dollar sponsorship of the station Tuesday with typical Las Vegas panache, setting off fireworks and confetti cannons as the taxicab-yellow Nextel monorail train rolled into the station overhead.
"We're going to make our mark on a city that is just as unique as we are," said Mark Angelino, senior vice president of sales and distribution for Nextel.
Nextel is capitalizing on Las Vegas being a popular tourism destination, hoping that millions of people will see the train and the station. The company also is banking on the tie in of Las Vegas as a marriage capital, painting one end of the monorail train with the tagline "Nextel. Done," and the other end with "Vegas -- City of 'I Do.' "
The Reston, Va.-based telecommunications giant is the third corporate sponsor to sign on with the Las Vegas Monorail Co. and the first to agree to put its name on one of the seven stations on the 3.8-mile route. Monster Beverage Co., a subsidiary of Corona, Calif.-based Hansen Natural Corp., and Motorola Inc., a Schaumburg, Ill.-based technology company, have agreed to train sponsorships.
Nextel is making a bid to be one of the most recognized name brands in the world, preceding the monorail sponsorship deal with the June announcement that it would replace Winston as the title brand of NASCAR's championship auto racing series.
Angelino said his company is hopeful that the new monorail station would be open prior to NASCAR's 2004 stop in Las Vegas. The Nextel Cup series is at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway early in the season, March 7, the UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 race.
He explained that not only would Nextel be able to promote its products at the 15,000-square-foot venue within the station, but it would also be able to promote the activities and products of its business partners.
The station pavilion will include a retail store, a business center and a 30-seat theater and will be manned with Nextel employees to demonstrate the company's products.
"We hope to have kind of a red-carpet club for customers to relax at the station before their meetings at the Convention Center or before they go back to their hotel rooms," Angelino said.
Nextel was welcomed to Las Vegas by Manny Cortez, chairman of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority; John Haycock, chairman of the Las Vegas Monorail Co.; and Francois Badeau, chairman of the TransMax Group, the creator of the team that developed the $650 million monorail system.
As the Nextel monorail train pulled into the station at the conclusion of the announcement, a video showing an animation of the train in operation along the route was shown to the approximately 100 people in attendance. The announcement came during the middle of the Comdex computer trade show being attended by about 50,000 people at the Convention Center.
Nextel still isn't saying how much it's spending on the station and train sponsorships, although published reports say the 12-year deal is worth about $50 million.
"How do you put a number on something like that?" Angelino asked, looking at the monorail train over his shoulder.
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