Centennial committee OKs slogan

Sito Negron

Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2003 | 8:58 a.m.

Las Vegas has a major party planned for 2005, and Monday it moved one step closer to having a theme and a way to pay for the party.

The Centennial Executive Committee approved the slogan "We Did It Our Way!" for the festivities, which are to celebrate that it has been 100 years since the land auction that gave birth to the city.

It also approved a contract for marketing, event production and merchandising with Clear Channel, a media conglomerate that has holdings in radio, television and billboards, as well as in multimedia and event production.

The next step for the contract is ratification by the Las Vegas Centennial Celebration Committee, a larger body that also must approve the deal, and then final agreement by Las Vegas City Council. The next Centennial Committee meeting is set for Oct. 13, and the council meeting is Oct. 15.

The Clear Channel contract calls for the company to seek national level corporate sponsorship from beer, auto and soft drink companies. In exchange, Clear Channel would take 20 percent of the gross, give 20 percent to the Commission for the Las Vegas Centennial, and use the rest to produce events.

Although centennial organizers have said they hoped for millions of dollars from the deal, Bruce Eskowitz, president of Clear Channel's national sales and marketing division, said he preferred to wait until a specific inventory of public assets -- primarily space that can be sold to advertisers -- was completed before naming figures.

The contract has a series of 90-day performance measures built in, with the first coming at the end of year. By then, the review of such places as the Las Vegas Convention Center, McCarran International Airport, lamp posts and other high-visibility areas is to be completed.

"I'll feel better talking to you Jan. 1," Eskowitz said. He added that he had a "very aggressive number" in mind. His company has produced such events as the Super Bowl.

The contract has several levels of sponsorship, which are defined in relation to the money put forth and the amount of recognition a company receives as compensation. The schedule calls for the first major sponsors to be committed by June 2004, with more as the event draws closer.

In addition to a percentage of the sponsorship revenue, Clear Channel also would receive 25 percent of the gross receipts from merchandise sales, and would receive fees for such work as production television programming and events.