While hospitality industry job growth remains a challenge, Las Vegas is excelling in diversifying its visitor base via welcoming epic sporting events and tapping into the bigger spend those customers bring to the Entertainment Capital of the World.
This January, senior contributor Jeff Heilman attended his third consecutive Preview Las Vegas, the annual economic forecasting, networking and trade event organized by the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce. Billed as “Preview Mania” as a nod to the 41st edition of World Wrestling Entertainment’s (WWE) blockbuster WrestleMania event coming to Las Vegas this April, the 2025 edition followed the familiar pattern of challenges and opportunities for the year ahead.
Here are the major trends, events and investments that are diversifying the local economy and keeping Las Vegas at the forefront of the global group market.
Capitalizing on Economic Growth and Opportunity
Jeremy Aguero, principal analyst at Las Vegas economic, fiscal and policy research firm Applied Analysis, kicked off the show at the Las Vegas Convention’s newly renovated South Hall with his customary deep-dive read of where the Southern Nevada economy is headed.
In terms of future growth, pressure points include housing shortages, affordability issues and rising debt and living costs. Water management, while presently under control, is a persistent risk factor. On the positive side, Aguero is optimistic that the booming Vegas sports and entertainment economy can sustain visitor spending and overall prosperity levels.
Citing the $1 billion in economic impact generated by Vegas’ first-time hosting of the Super Bowl last year as one example, Aguero found that pound for pound, Vegas events typically drive higher attendance and higher ticket prices than other cities. With 24 venues and 324,000 seats, Vegas sporting events alone attracted 3.2 million attendees last year and far outpaced the competition in comparative economic value. Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) research finds that 56% of visitors come to Vegas for sporting events and spend more during their stay.
After the hard impacts and lessons of the global downtown and COVID-19 on Vegas' tourism-centric economy, expanding the marketplace remains a top priority.
Diversification efforts have produced 94,000 new jobs since before the pandemic, led by trade, transportation and utilities. Education and health services are second, followed by construction. Leisure and hospitality jobs have fallen, with only 3.6% growth in the last decade.
“Hollywood 2.0” is an intriguing future economic development prospect for Vegas. Executives from Sony Pictures Entertainment and Warner Brothers/Discovery were scheduled to speak about bringing separate production studios to Vegas but stayed in Los Angeles because of the wildfires. The ongoing discussion, which involves potential partnerships with the Howard Hughes Corporation and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), includes strengthened tax credit bills being addressed in the 2025 Nevada Legislature.
With Aguero issuing his traditional warning against complacency, Vegas continues to invest in a sustainable future, from power grid upgrades to a planned new $1.75 billion baseball stadium for the relocating Las Vegas A’s and Brightline West, the $12.4 billion high-speed rail line connecting Las Vegas to Southern California.
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Dynamic New Venues Boost Las Vegas
As Aguero pointed out, Allegiant Stadium, the 65,000-seat multi-purpose home of the NFL Las Vegas Raiders, drew early frowns over the financing of its $2 billion price tag. The dynamic venue has since silenced critics with year-over-year revenue increases that allow it to meet funding obligations.
The $2.3 billion Sphere similarly faced naysayers, but as Bill Walshe, executive vice president and global head of venue operations and development for the venue explained, the team behind the 17,600-seat wonder venue is intently focused on expanding bookings, generating revenue and driving profitability.
Since opening in September 2023, the Sphere has hosted residencies by U2, Dead & Company, Phish and The Eagles. Next up is country superstar Kenney Chesney with a 12-show run starting this May. The venue recently celebrated the 1,000th showing of the Darren Aronofsky movie Postcard From Earth, a day-one program.
Noting the global recognition of the Sphere brand, Walshe also cited the success of Delta Airlines’ centennial celebration at the venue during last month’s Consumer Electronics Show, following last year’s inaugural keynote event at the venue held by Hewlett Packard. Along with corporate events and branding opportunities, community activations are part of the growth strategy. Local students participating in a recent inaugural art competition had their work displayed on the Sphere’s massive exosphere.
[Related: How to Host a Private Event at the Incredible Sphere in Las Vegas]
At Preview Las Vegas 2024, LVCVA CEO and President Steve Hill spoke with NFL executive vice president Peter O’Reilly just ahead of Vegas’ first Super Bowl. This year, Hill concluded the show by previewing WrestleMania 41, the “Super Bowl” of the wrestling world with WWE president Nick Khan.
In September 2023, WWE merged with another combat sports powerhouse, Vegas-based UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship). That relationship paved the way for WrestleMania 41.
“We were all here for the Super Bowl and saw how big it was and how big it felt, exceeding our high expectations,” said Khan, who then initiated inquiries with his UFC counterparts about bringing WrestleMania to Vegas. Within two hours, having spoken with Hill, they called Khan back and the deal was done in just weeks.
For Khan, Vegas was “the right city at the right time” for the event, which returns to Vegas for the first time since 1993 with a week of activations culminating with the main events at Allegiant Stadium and T-Mobile Arena. To Augero’s earlier point about the Vegas effect on driving value, WWE set a new company record with 180,000 tickets sold in the opening weekend last October. Like the Super Bowl, WrestleMania has global audience appeal and is expected to generate major impressions and awareness for Las Vegas.
“There’s no bureaucracy that we’ve experienced with the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority,” said Khan in thanking Hill. “They wanted this and boom, here we are. It’s been a great experience. We always think the result is important. But the process is very important to us as well, and this process has been A-plus.”
