LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Bringing the Super Bowl to Las Vegas is a monumental task, but Sam Joffray says he feels like a kid in a candy store as he sets about the task.
Anyone with $55 million to spend in Las Vegas might feel the same way. That’s how much Las Vegas committed in the bid that brought the game here.
Joffray, president and CEO of the Las Vegas Super Bowl Host Committee, has done the job 10 times already for New Orleans, and he’s been involved in the past 25 events. He joined the Las Vegas effort at the request of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA). He compares the effort to putting on a major convention or trade show. Last year’s NFL Draft and this year’s Pro Bowl have provided a glimpse at some of the things in store.
One thing is certain: Las Vegas knows how to put on an event of this scale. And everyone will want to be here. Joffray noted that the usual block of 23,000 hotel rooms might expand — the usual stakeholders just seem to have a few more people who need to be in Las Vegas for this one.
But work is just starting as 11 committees start to identify who they will be working with in the community to make Super Bowl LVIII an event fans will remember for a long time. Mark the date: Feb. 11, 2024, at Allegiant Stadium.
You’ll see the faces of the Executive Committee out in front — people like Raiders President Sandra Douglass Morgan and LVCVA CEO/President Steve Hill — but the work will come from businesses and volunteers that are selected by the committee. Joffray’s core team of 14 staffers and 44 interns from UNLV will work with the 300 volunteers that will serve on various committees, meeting monthly.
The Business Connect program will line up more than 200 partners for the goods and services needed to produce the event. From catering and transportation to things like generators, fencing and flowers, the NFL is buying:
Audio Visual
Barricades, Fencing
Cable Wire Contractors
Carpeting (Event)
Catering, Food & Beverage
Contract Labor
Entertainment
Event Décor & Furniture
Event Photography
Event Production
Field Turf
Florals
General Contractors
Generators
Golf Carts
Janitorial Services
Office Supplies
Port-O-Lets
Large Format Signage
Security
Staffing (Hospitality)
Staging, Lighting
Talent Trailers
Temporary Housing
Tenting
Transportation – Motor Coaches
Warehousing
Waste Removal
The NFL is seeking out businesses owned by minorities, women, disabled, LGBTQ+ and veterans.
Community involvement bring an investment of “at least $4 million and thousands of hours of sweat equity,” according to materials released to the media.
“In addition, each year the NFL seeks to improve the surrounding communities of the Super
Bowl Host City through the Super Bowl Legacy Grant Program, by giving an annual $1 million
contribution from the NFL Foundation,” the Host Committee website said.
A grant application process will be in place to connect with community organizations.
The range of events in the community will touch on the environment, homelessness, youth programs, food insecurity, veterans/military and human trafficking. Las Vegas saw a glimpse of this during the draft and the Pro Bowl, but the Super Bowl will take it to a new level.
About 9,000 volunteers will work on the project, Joffray said. They will staff charitable events, hospitality events and more.
The first events will probably come in the summer and fall. During the Pro Bowl, the NFL put on a tree planting event at the Clark County Wetlands Park and an event for kids at the Boys & Girls Club in Henderson, among other events.
Joffray said the committee is aware of the traffic situation with Tropicana Avenue near the stadium, and committee members have already begun talking about it.
During Super Bowl XLVII between the Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers — Joffray’s last experience leading the committee in New Orleans — “We wanted the message out there that the Super Bowl should be in New Orleans every year,” he said.
And what will be the message in Las Vegas?
“As our first Super Bowl in Las Vegas, and not our last, the stakes could not be higher,” Joffray said. On Monday, Feb. 12, he hopes to hear from the host city: “That was awesome. How fast can we get the Super Bowl to come back to Las Vegas?”