"Everything's coming up Vegas," as my colleague Bryan Wroten says.
This week in the newsroom, we were brainstorming which topics would next best suit a deep dive. These conversations typically start off with one broad topic, then lead to a wave of secondary, supporting ideas.
For example, Bryan and our fellow CoStar News reporter Katie Burke did a story package on San Francisco, unpacking the realities of what business is like for commercial real estate assets in the city and a bit about daily life amid its recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The topic this time around is Las Vegas. The city has poured so much into new investments in the past five years. I believe this will result in some big buzz around tourism and entertainment.
To some extent, it already has. Sin City just hosted the Formula One Las Vegas Grand Prix on Nov. 18, which accelerated hotel performance on the Strip.
Average daily rates at hotels skyrocketed each day during the week of the event, reaching a 207% year-over-year increase on one of the days.
Recent investments in the city include the addition of a football stadium and the relocation of the Oakland Raiders to Las Vegas in 2020; the opening of Resorts World Las Vegas in 2021; and the long-awaited opening of the Fontainebleau Las Vegas and the debut of the Sphere in 2023.
President Biden's Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is also leading to improvements of Nevada's roads, bridges, airports and more.
Come February, Las Vegas will come even more to life when it hosts Super Bowl LVIII at Allegiant Stadium in Paradise, Nevada. The stadium is about a nine-minute drive from the Strip.
Hotel News Now will have a full preview article detailing hotel demand expectations around the event in the coming weeks.
This year's road to the Lombardi Trophy so far has been an exciting one. As a Clevelander, I can assure you that if the Browns make it all the way, the entire city will somehow find a way to head to Paradise.
This is the first year that Las Vegas will be the host of the Super Bowl, and I have a feeling that people will turn this into a significant event, taking advantage of nightlife opportunities ahead of game day and after. Could this become the ultimate week of leisure in 2024? I will be interested to see the economic impact of this event.
Super Bowl XIV in 1980 at the Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena, California, currently holds the record for attendance with 103,985 people. However, it's worth mentioning that the Rose Bowl Stadium can hold a capacity of about 92,542 spectators while Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas holds 65,000 but can be expanded to 72,000 for bigger football events.
In addition to the major happenings coming to the city, we took a look at Las Vegas' 2024 calendar of "smaller" events. This list was endless and still included several big-name artists and entertainment groups.
Hence why Bryan said,"Everything's coming up Vegas."
I do firmly believe this is the year of Las Vegas. There's sports, entertainment, new infrastructure, new venues, a loaded show schedule, the start of a $600 million renovation of the Las Vegas Convention Center and more.
Stay tuned to Hotel News Now for full coverage on the happenings in Las Vegas this year.
Hoteliers, investors, what are your thoughts? Are you keeping your sights set on Las Vegas? Perhaps its secondary markets?
Send me an email or connect with me on LinkedIn.
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