Vegas Cup race seems probable
By Micah Roberts
VegasInsider.com
New Hampshire Speedway was purchased last week by Speedway Motorsports Inc., the parent company that owns the Las Vegas Motor Speedway which could possibly set up a 2nd Cup race in Las Vegas for the 2009 season. By buying the Loudon, New Hampshire track, SMI can now control their existing dates. Las Vegas recently spent millions of dollars turning the track into the nicest fan friendly track in the world. It would seem logical of SMI to want to capitalize and get a return on investment.
The 2008 schedule is already announced so 2009 would be the first possible season where it could happen. The deal appears to be a slam dunk, but it’s going to take support from the Las Vegas community, most notably the businesses such as the Casinos. In order to get the additional race in Las Vegas , a sponsorship deal is going to have to be secured and that hasn’t always been easy. UAW & Daimler-Chrysler have sponsored the spring Cup race for the last 8 seasons. Local support has been, to say the least, weak.
The first year it was the Las Vegas Visitors and Conventions Authority who sponsored the race as a gesture of goodwill. It was kind of a thank you to the people at the track for bringing big time racing to Las Vegas . The deal was made so LVMS could then attract another sponsor after ratings and attendance proved to be successful. Ratings and attendance were through the roof, yet all LVMS could find as a sponsor for the race was CarsDirect.com.
I remember thinking at the time, “CarsDirect.com 400? are you kidding?” Where is the Caesar’s Palace 400 or the Mirage 500?
The Boyd Group and Coast Casinos have always supported the track and sponsor the Busch Series race. Many of the casinos buy blocks of tickets for their best players and support in that manner, but that may not be good enough to secure the 2nd Cup date. Someone has got to step up and say we want the race and we’ll secure sponsorship.
And why wouldn’t the casinos want the race? It brings in lots of people with money in their pockets who like to drink and gamble. Because many of the visitors are first timers and not regulars, the high room rates are never compromised. Room rates during NASCAR weekend are raised sometimes up to 3 times the regular amount because the demand far outweighs the supply.
On a normal weekend, room, food, and beverage are comped at obscene levels because many are returning guests with lots of comp points. A high comp percentage with no guarantee of play is the risk that casinos take and it’s in that trust that they will play that offers are made to certain players with a history.
If you’re raising room rates at a huge increase and not comping, your average theoretic per person is already taken care of whether they gamble or not. However, NASCAR fans love to gamble. They love to hoot-n-holler with the guys and fire away at blackjack until the Sun rises. They are the ideal crowd for Vegas who actually get treated with less gratitude than any of the other conventions in town. Room rates for the non-gambling and no-tipping CES conventioneers don’t even exceed NASCAR weekend.
The figures support just how important NASCAR is to the city. The economic impact of the race weekend this season was $198 million in Gaming and Non-gaming revenues. The entire city reaped the rewards of having the race without really paying anything for it.
Because the possible race could be set for November 2009, the perfect match for sponsorship would be the MGM CityCenter which is expected to be done at the same time. Why not get the name out there with condo sells and utilize the marketing machine that is NASCAR. I could see it now, The MGM CityCenter 400 under the lights in Las Vegas to close out the 2009 season. What a show that would be.