Kicking off the January 2025 edition of Preview Las Vegas, the Las Vegas Chamber’s annual economic forecasting event, Jeremy Aguero, principal at Las Vegas-based research firm Applied Analysis, wondered if the founders of Las Vegas in 1905 could have imagined what the destination has become today.
“Wonder” is the operative word 120 years later as the dusty tent city from the early 20th century relentlessly evolves and advances as a global capital of core industries including hospitality, meetings, events, sports, entertainment and dining while investing in innovation, economic diversification, infrastructure, transportation, utilities and other critical future-ready solutions.
From reimagined private events at Allegiant Stadium to the latest wave of new and enhanced group venues and products, here is the look of pioneering vision in Las Vegas today.
An A-Plus Destination for A-List Events
Billed as “Preview Mania” as a nod to the 41st edition of World Wrestling Entertainment’s (WWE) WrestleMania event coming to Vegas this April, Preview Las Vegas 2025 presented the challenges and opportunities for the year ahead.
Aguero identified housing shortages, affordability issues, water management and rising debt and living costs as pressure points impacting future growth. On the positive side, he 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 Vegas events typically drive higher attendance and higher ticket prices than other cities. With 24 venues and 324,000 seats, Vegas sporting events attracted 3.2 million attendees last year.
Economic 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. “Hollywood 2.0” is an intriguing future economic development prospect as Sony Pictures Entertainment and Warner Brothers/Discovery weigh bringing separate production studios to Vegas.
Surprisingly, though, leisure and hospitality jobs have only grown by 3.6% in the last decade.
Vegas continues to invest in a sustainable future, from power grid upgrades to the prospective 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.
Bill Walshe, executive vice president and global head of venue operations and development for the $2.3 billion Sphere, shared the strategic focus on expanding bookings, generating revenue and driving profitability at the 17,600-seat wonder venue.
Since opening in September 2023, 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 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2025 in January. Following last year’s inaugural keynote event with Hewlett Packard, the growth strategy calls for more corporate events.
At Preview Las Vegas 2024, Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (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 Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). 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 spoke with his UFC counterparts about bringing WrestleMania to Vegas. Discussions commenced two hours later, 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 week-long activations culminating with the main events at Allegiant Stadium and T-Mobile Arena.
“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. We always think the result is important. But the process is important to us as well, and this process has been A-plus.”
Circa Resort & Casino is jumping into the ring with its own “CircaMania” schedule of onsite events and promotions. Offering 35,000 square feet of versatile meeting and convention space, the adults-only property recently added 106 luxurious new rooms and suites to its 458-foot-tall hotel tower, the tallest in Downtown Las Vegas.
Responding to guest feedback, the expansion, boosting inventory from 512 to 618 keys, included the most-requested room types, Panoramic Sunset Suites and Single Kings.
Stated Circa CEO Derek Stevens in a release: “Circa continues to sell out every Friday and Saturday; this was the ultimate catalyst in deciding to expand our room inventory. When we built Circa, we intentionally left space unfinished so we could analyze demand over time and determine which room types to add based on popularity and need.”
[Related: The Las Vegas Meetings and Events Momentum Isn't Slowing Down]
Group Properties Invest for Success
The Preview program included fam tours and activities hosted by the LVCVA and Caesars Entertainment with other resorts participating, and some of the highlights showcased how group properties in Vegas are investing for continuing success.
In 2023, Caesars Entertainment transformed Bally’s Las Vegas into Horseshoe Las Vegas. Following more than $100 million in upgrades, the resort’s Jubilee Tower was integrated into neighboring Paris Las Vegas. Introduced last year as part of Paris’ 25th anniversary, the new pedestrian skybridge-connected tower features 756 redesigned luxury guest rooms including 38 west-facing balcony rooms with exceptional Strip views.
Underscoring Caesars Entertainment’s group strength in the heart of the Strip, Paris Las Vegas features 3,677 guest rooms and offers 152,000-plus square feet of space. With another 8,500-plus keys combined, The LINQ Hotel + Experience, Flamingo Las Vegas and Harrah’s Las Vegas offer direct access to Caesars Forum, which offers 300,000 square feet of flexible space, including the world’s two largest pillarless ballrooms at 110,000 square feet each. Famed flagship Caesars Palace has 3,960 keys and 300,000 square feet of space.
Gordon Ramsay was on hand to celebrate the grand opening of his seventh Vegas collaboration with Caesars Entertainment, group-capable Gordon Ramsay Burger at Flamingo Las Vegas. The resort also features Pinky’s by Vanderpump, the third concept from British television star Lisa Vanderpump following Vanderpump à Paris at Paris Las Vegas and Vanderpump Cocktail Garden at Caesars Palace.
Caesars Entertainment and Spiegelworld have extended their partnership with DiscoShow at The LINQ Hotel. This evocative callback to 1970s New York City is a group must, incorporating a subway station bar, the retro Diner Ross restaurant and Glitterloft, an industrial space where guests join performers in an exhilarating disco party.
The disco era also informed the design aspects of MGM Resorts International’s phased $300 million remodel of all 4,212 main tower rooms and suites at MGM Grand Hotel and Casino. Reservations for phase-one rooms open this month; the project is slated for completion by December.
MGM also revealed new group-ready venues including Mediterranean-driven Orla from celebrity chef Michael Mina and adults-only mini golf course Swingers Las Vegas. Both venues are at Mandalay Bay, where Delano Las Vegas was relaunched as W Las Vegas last December.
Like Vegas itself, Venetian Resort Las Vegas is the consummate package for groups. Part of a $1.5 billion resort-wide transformation, the phased $188 million transformation of the 2.25-million-square-foot Venetian Convention & Expo Center is on track for 2026. Numerous off-agenda options for private events include Flight Club in the Venetian’s Grand Canal Shoppes for social darts fun.
The allure of off-Strip resorts for groups came alive with visits to two premier properties.
Ten miles south of the Strip in Henderson, M Resort Spa Casino is underway with a second hotel tower. Slated for early 2026, the $260 million investment adds 384 guest rooms, doubling key count to 774 rooms and suites, and includes a new 15,000-square-foot convention venue. Serving as the headquarters hotel of the NFL's Las Vegas Raiders, M Resort’s boutique offerings include 92,000 square feet of flexible space, 100,000-square-foot pool deck and top-floor LUX event space featuring panoramic Valley and Strip views.
Twenty minutes from the Strip in Southwest Las Vegas, Durango Casino & Resort continues to generate excitement since opening in December 2023. Joining Station Casinos’ portfolio of inviting off-Strip properties, the luxurious 201-room, $780 million desert oasis offers 25,000 square feet of stylish space along with a popular outdoor event lawn. Exceptional restaurants include Mijo Modern Mexican Restaurant, L.A. import Summer House and hopping Bel-Aire Lounge.
[Related: How to Host a Private Event at the Incredible Sphere in Las Vegas]
Allegiant Stadium Wows Groups with Limitless Experiential Options
This time last year, Allegiant Stadium was basking in the afterglow of hosting Vegas’ first-ever Super Bowl. Home of Las Vegas’ NFL football team, the 65,000-seat venue was instrumental in securing the event in the first place. Without an NFL stadium, Vegas could not have even bid for the game. Attracting record global viewership and ratings, Vegas and Allegiant Stadium were seen as their own Super Bowl winners.
Since opening in 2020, the $2 billion stadium has hosted numerous high-profile U.S. and international sports competitions and championships. Allegiant Stadium has twice hosted the Rolling Stones and multiple other A-list acts. Hosting 35 major events last year, the venue attracted 1.5 million attendees and 755,000 incremental visitors, generating $1.7 billion in total economic impact. Billboard named the venue the top stadium in the U.S. and No. 2 worldwide for live events in 2024.
Planners also prize the multipurpose stadium as an exceptional stage for private and corporate events.
Allegiant Stadium Private Events has upped its wow factor by reinventing its group playbook.
“When launching the stadium, it initially made sense to focus primarily on football-themed events,” said Ashley Hinsen, vice president of sales and private event management, a 20-year Las Vegas hospitality veteran experienced in every aspect of the business. “Leaning into the same niche becomes repetitive though, and we recognized that on-field events are ultimately no different than in other cities. By thinking outside of the stadium walls and reimagining the group proposition through the experiential lens, we have redefined the offer as 125,000 square feet of open canvas space for endlessly imaginative activations. The opportunities for collaborative creative vision and design are truly boundless, limited only by budget.”
The dynamic strategy includes flexible scaling.
“We want to break the perception that planners need a million-dollar-or-higher budget and many thousands of attendees to have a successful event here,” Hinsen continued. “Our tiered sales structure includes a dedicated focus on programs for under 200 people, including board and executive meetings and other high-touch gatherings. While NFL, concert and other major bookings naturally limit large-scale event availability, we host small to midsize groups practically every day of the year.”
The new approach also embraces creating a true sense of place with Vegas views and touchpoints throughout and end-to-end experiences that surprise and delight.
Illustrative venues include Coors Light Landing. Offering panoramic Strip views through a massive glass wall with lanai doors and the centerpiece Al Davis Memorial Torch, the world’s largest 3D-printed structure, the 1,200-capacity space overlooks the field and includes an outdoor Strip-facing terrace.
“There’s no view like it when the sun sets and the lights shine,” said Hinsen, pointing out the pedestrian bridge connecting the stadium to Mandalay Bay, one of many partner resorts and organizations around town. “We close the bridge for 20,000-plus corporate events. The experience begins with drummers, custom lighting, exterior branding and other elements that build anticipation before entering the stadium. We ingrain the vibrancy and exuberance of Las Vegas in every event.”
Recent creative showcases on the lounge-like Coors Light Landing include a 50-person luncheon featuring black and white tables, place settings, linens and centerpieces that entertainers, posing as servers, subtly swapped out for like brightly colored items during the event.
“Designed to set the tone of innovation for the group’s year ahead, this magical transformation culminated with attendees shaking their own purple cocktails to live music,” Hinsen said.
Her favorite activation to date was the Brand Experience Summit, an exclusive VIP experience for 35 chief marketing officers and heads of marketing staged during IMEX America 2024.
Created in partnership with IMEX, InVision Communications and the LVCVA, the program, designed as a “masterclass in experiential marketing,” began with a rock-star arrival in the endzone in luxury SUVs.
Following welcoming remarks on Coors Light Landing and breakouts in venues including the Vegas NFL team’s locker room, where attendees received custom jerseys, the group was announced over the PA system and musically played onto the field, where they enjoyed an eight-course dinner on the 50-yard line prepared live by Vegas-born, James Beard Award-nominated chef James Trees and his team.
Achieving an unprecedented Net Promoter Score (NPS) of 100, the event was a win for Allegiant Stadium Private Events on multiple fronts, from concept and strategy development to event production and execution.
“The senior level marketers have seen it all and are not easily impressed,” Hinsen said. “During planning, one of our partners expressed concern about not having a breather between the seamlessly curated and choreographed program components. But that is how we operate, maintaining the wow factor and surprise and delight moments from start to finish. Back to my earlier point about scale—a stadium buyout, in this case 35 people, does not have to be a massive event. Having this intimate gathering in a building built for up to 65,000 people was just beautiful.”
Offering 10-plus event venues, including budget-friendly spaces that are anything but budget and non-advertised spaces available “for the right group and the right price,” Allegiant Stadium continues to win hearts and minds in the hyper-competitive Vegas market.
“We want to be seen as innovation leaders that push the event industry forward,” Hinsen said. “In formulating our new strategy, we challenged ourselves to reinvent something that was already successful and make it even better. We never say we cannot do it because it has never been done before. We just go ahead and figure it out.”
