[Senate Hearing 118-691]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
S. Hrg. 118-691
ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF THE U.S. SPORTS AND ENTERTAINMENT ECONOMY, LAS
VEGAS EDITION
=======================================================================
FIELD HEARING
before the
SUBCOMMITTEE ON TOURISM, TRADE,
AND EXPORT PROMOTION
of the
COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE,
SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
AUGUST 25, 2023
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and
Transportation
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Available online: http://www.govinfo.gov
_______
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
60-993 PDF WASHINGTON : 2025
SENATE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION
ONE HUNDRED EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
MARIA CANTWELL, Washington, Chair
AMY KLOBUCHAR, Minnesota TED CRUZ, Texas, Ranking
BRIAN SCHATZ, Hawaii JOHN THUNE, South Dakota
EDWARD MARKEY, Massachusetts ROGER WICKER, Mississippi
GARY PETERS, Michigan DEB FISCHER, Nebraska
TAMMY BALDWIN, Wisconsin JERRY MORAN, Kansas
TAMMY DUCKWORTH, Illinois DAN SULLIVAN, Alaska
JON TESTER, Montana MARSHA BLACKBURN, Tennessee
KYRSTEN SINEMA, Arizona TODD YOUNG, Indiana
JACKY ROSEN, Nevada TED BUDD, North Carolina
BEN RAY LUJAN, New Mexico ERIC SCHMITT, Missouri
JOHN HICKENLOOPER, Colorado J. D. VANCE, Ohio
RAPHAEL WARNOCK, Georgia SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO, West
PETER WELCH, Vermont Virginia
CYNTHIA LUMMIS, Wyoming
Lila Harper Helms, Staff Director
Melissa Porter, Deputy Staff Director
Jonathan Hale, General Counsel
Brad Grantz, Republican Staff Director
Nicole Christus, Republican Deputy Staff Director
Liam McKenna, General Counsel
------
SUBCOMMITTEE ON TOURISM, TRADE, AND EXPORT PROMOTION
JACKY ROSEN, Nevada, Chair TED BUDD, North Carolina, Ranking
AMY KLOBUCHAR, Minnesota JOHN THUNE, South Dakota
TAMMY DUCKWORTH, Illinois MARSHA BLACKBURN, Tennessee
KYRSTEN SINEMA, Arizona SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO, West
JOHN HICKENLOOPER, Colorado Virginia
C O N T E N T S
----------
Page
Hearing held on August 25, 2023.................................. 1
Statement of Senator Rosen....................................... 1
Witnesses
William ``Bill'' Hornbuckle, President and Chief Executive
Officer, MGM Resorts International; and Chair, U.S. Travel and
Tourism Advisory Board......................................... 3
Prepared statement........................................... 5
Sandra Douglass Morgan, President, Las Vegas Raiders............. 7
Prepared statement........................................... 9
Mary Beth Sewald, President and CEO, Vegas Chamber............... 10
Prepared statement........................................... 12
Steve Hill, CEO and President, Las Vegas Convention and Visitors
Authority (LVCVA).............................................. 14
Prepared statement........................................... 16
ECONOMIC IMPACTS
OF THE U.S. SPORTS AND ENTERTAINMENT
ECONOMY, LAS VEGAS EDITION
----------
FRIDAY, AUGUST 25, 2023
U.S. Senate,
Subcommittee on Tourism, Trade, and Export Promotion,
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation,
Washington, D.C.
The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 11:00 a.m., in
Room W326, Las Vegas Convention Center, West Hall, 300
Convention Center Drive, Las Vegas, Nevada, Hon. Jacky Rosen,
presiding.
Present: Senator Rosen [presiding].
OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. JACKY ROSEN,
U.S. SENATOR FROM NEVADA
Senator Rosen. We are gaveled into the Subcommittee of
Tourism, Trade, and Export Promotion, so good morning. For all
of you watching on the livestream, welcome to Las Vegas. This
is the first-ever field hearing, like I said, of the
Subcommittee on Tourism, Trade, and Export Promotion. Here, we
are right here inside the world-renowned Las Vegas Convention
Center.
We are going to discuss the economic impacts of U.S. sports
and entertainment economy, and I would like to thank Chair
Cantwell and Ranking Member Cruz for their leadership and for
supporting the work of this critical, critical subcommittee.
And I am proud to welcome the Subcommittee to Las Vegas today
because Nevada, I do not have to tell anyone, has long been a
leader in travel and tourism. From the excitement and energy of
our Las Vegas Strip, to the magnificent outdoor opportunities
at Lake Tahoe, and the impeccable and vast public lands
throughout our State, people from around the world love to
visit Nevada.
The Silver State is the global entertainment destination as
well. In fact, this year alone, we are welcoming a number of
major events. Well, Beyonce is here this weekend, and Taylor
Swift was here not so long ago, so need I say any more about
that?
[Laughter.]
Senator Rosen. But Nevada is also quickly becoming a global
destination for sports. We are home to the Stanley Cup
champion, Vegas Golden Knights, and for us women, the WNBA
champion, Las Vegas Aces. In the next 6 months, we are going to
host Formula 1, Las Vegas Grand Prix and the Super Bowl. In
total, Las Vegas is set to host a staggering 39 significant
sporting events or tournaments through 2024, solidifying our
city's reputation as a premier sports destination, attracting
athletes, fans, and tourists from around the world. And these
events, while they are boosting our tourism economy, they are
creating thousands of good-paying jobs, well, and they are
supporting Nevada small businesses. And to get there, our city,
with the help and support of the many witnesses here today,
well, we grew to meet the needs of the sports and entertainment
economy, notably with the creation of venues focused on
enhancing the fan experience.
In the last 7 years, four large sports venues were built in
our city, including Allegiant Stadium and T-Mobile Arena, which
added 104,000 seats to the city's entertainment venues, and
generated an additional $1.5 million in annual ticket sales.
And next month, the highly-anticipated Sphere, which I recently
toured, will open as well, creating a new and phenomenally
unique entertainment experience. So I cannot talk about what I
saw, but, again, what I can say is this cutting-edge
entertainment venue includes a dazzling 580,000 square foot LED
exterior and an immersive sound system that provides
individualized sound to every seat.
And it is because of the significant impact of the travel
and tourism industry that we have on Nevada's economy, that
this is really the reason that we are here. It is the reason I
have asked them here. It is a priority for me to lead this
subcommittee, along with leaders in our community, because we
have to be sure that in every single way, the Senate boosts
travel and tourism to help Nevada, and, of course, it is going
to help other States around the Nation. So today, the
Subcommittee is going to examine the impact of large sporting
and entertainment events on our local economies. We are going
to talk about strategies for attracting international events to
the United States and best practices for cities and States that
welcome a large influx of visitors for these type of events.
And what makes this hearing for me even more exciting is
the amazing panel of witnesses I am so proud to work with every
day that we have testifying. They are industry leaders, they
are local and community leaders, and we are proud to have them
here today representing MGM Resorts International, the Las
Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, the Las Vegas Raiders,
and the Vegas Chamber. Like I said, each witness here today
really is a pillar of our Las Vegas community, and they have
really dedicated their lives to making our city a truly
remarkable place, not just to live, but to visit. So I want to
thank you all for being here, and I look forward to your
testimony.
So we will go right into introductions, and so I would like
to introduce our first witness for today's hearing, Mr. Bill
Hornbuckle. He is president and CEO of MGM Resorts
International. Before also taking over as CEO, Mr. Hornbuckle
served as president of MGM Resorts International, and prior to
that, served as chief marketing officer of MGM from 2009 until
2012. From 2005 until August 2009, he served as president and
chief operating officer of Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino. Mr.
Hornbuckle also serves as the chair of the U.S. Travel and
Tourism Advisory Board, which is the advisory body to the
Secretary of Commerce on matters relating to the travel and
tourism industry in the United States.
Bill is a pillar of our Nevada community--like I said, all
of them are--not only because he leads our State's largest
private sector employer, but also because of his work to give
back to our great State from education initiatives to serving
on the board of Three Square, a food bank in Southern Nevada
that is the area's largest hunger relief organization. So, Mr.
Hornbuckle, I thank you for being here today, and I recognize
you for your opening remarks.
STATEMENT OF WILLIAM ``BILL'' HORNBUCKLE, PRESIDENT
AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, MGM RESORTS
INTERNATIONAL; AND CHAIR, U.S. TRAVEL
AND TOURISM ADVISORY BOARD
Mr. Hornbuckle. Thank you, Chair Rosen, and Ranking Member
Budd and members of the Subcommittee, I would say welcome to
Las Vegas, but welcome home, first and foremost.
Senator Rosen. Thank you.
Mr. Hornbuckle. And nd to the balance of the group who are
streaming, welcome to Las Vegas. There is no better location in
America for which to examine the vast benefits travel and
tourism creates for our national economy, and to discuss how
effective public policy can accelerate a virtuous cycle of
greater travel, stronger growth, and good-paying jobs. As CEO
and president of MGM Resorts International and chair of the
U.S. Travel and Tourism Advisory Board, I appreciate the
opportunity to share a perspective on the policies needed to
meet consumer demand for our new experiences by improving
travel and ensuring America remains the world's premier travel
and tourism destination. Last year, I had the opportunity to
testify before the Subcommittee to discuss national travel and
tourism strategy. I appreciated the support from Chair Rosen
and the Subcommittee has shown for the travel and tourism
industry, including securing the position of assistant
secretary of travel and tourism, and working to ensure the
position is fully funded, so thank you for that.
So far in 2023, Las Vegas has welcomed nearly 20.35 million
visitors, nearly 10 percent more than the same period last
year. Rising demand for sports and entertainment experience is
driving much of that growth, which I am sure you will hear much
about in today's testimony. In March, an estimated 3 million
people flocked to Las Vegas when we hosted multiple rounds of
March Madness to Taylor Swift concerts--that was interesting--
at Allegiant Stadium, NASCAR events, and more. They are a
unique crowd, and I will leave it at that.
[Laughter.]
Mr. Hornbuckle. In June, our own Vegas Golden Knights
captured the Stanley Cup, which was amazing, and punctuated the
transformation of Las Vegas and the NHL's great hockey talents,
but that was simply just the start. In addition to the Golden
Knights, we are now home to the WNBA champion Las Vegas Aces
and the NFL's Las Vegas Raiders, and more professional teams
may be on the way. The only sad thing about today being here in
Las Vegas and this testimony is we got invited to the White
House to go see the Aces get recognized by the Vice President--
--
[Laughter.]
Mr. Hornbuckle.--but we thought this was kind of important.
Senator Rosen. Thank you for being with us here. Thank you.
Mr. Hornbuckle. It is like the White House. That sounds
fun.
[Laughter.]
Mr. Hornbuckle. Anyways, later this year, our city will
welcome millions more fans for Formula 1, Las Vegas' Grand
Prix, and next February, Las Vegas is hosting the pinnacle of
sports and entertainment with the Super Bowl kicking off at
Sanders Allegiant Stadium. They did not write that. I put that
in there.
Senator Rosen. Yes.
[Laughter.]
Mr. Hornbuckle. Good policy has a major role to play in
building on the success, and one of the major pillars of travel
growth is a seamless travel experience. The travel experience
truly begins at home and extends to various aspects of the
travel and tourism industry, including travel planning,
transit, and the actual travel experience. We must embrace a
holistic perspective that bridges these sectors, ensuring
policies that help create well-rounded enhancement of the
travel experience that requires coordination and national
investment in infrastructure and systems that support seamless
travel, in the broader sense. Congress and the Biden
administration took a major step forward by passing the
Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the largest long-term
infrastructure investment in our Nation's history. As America
continues to invest $550 billion that was authorized by that
law, I urge policymakers to ensure travel and tourism
infrastructure is a top priority.
In recent years, the travel infrastructure decisions have
been dominated by air travel, mainly the need to modernize
airports and upgrade air traffic control systems, which
McCarran was beneficiary to some of that, I would add. This is
critically important to the future of travel, but we must also
remember that most Americans travel to hotspots, which, drawing
from hundreds of millions of people every year, are heavily
reliant on roadways. Take Las Vegas, a destination we all know
well, where more than half of the city's visitors arrive by
car. It is the same as many popular destinations from
Colorado's world class Rocky Mountain Ski resorts to Florida's
theme park destinations.
The solution--excuse me--starts with a national focus.
Better road travel must become a national priority. We also
need better coordination of agencies at all levels of
government to get projects moving faster. Infrastructure
projects do not always carry across State or county lines, and
multiple layers of reviews and multiple jurisdictions continue
to create higher costs and endless delays. For example, I-15
carries 10 million travelers from Southern California to Las
Vegas every year, about a quarter of the city's visitors. But
what could be or should be a 3-and-a-half to 4-hour journey can
stretch to 10 hours on most Sundays, and on a recent New Year's
Day, the backup was 18 miles long.
The I-15 corridor's ability to accommodate increased
capacity is imperative to the travel experience and can be
realized through strategic road expansion and support for the
Bright Line West High Speed Rail project, which again, Senator,
I know you have been supportive of, so thank you. Pursuing to
an efficient and seamless transportation system requires
greater coordination across all levels of government to foster
a 21st century approach that evolves with the dynamic demands
of a very modern world and destination, particularly here in
Las Vegas. In addition to improve infrastructure, America's
travel destinations must--travel destinations must feel more
welcoming to travelers across the globe. We must work together
and commit to supporting accessible travel, resolving visa
delays, which are numerous, and addressing workforce shortages.
Las Vegas' rapid rise as the world's top sports
entertainment destination is the culmination of an evolution,
unlike any we have ever seen in our city's history. The
transformation resulted from the public and private sectors
working together to build exciting new venues, creating unique
experiences that people love, and working together to
revolutionize the way fans engage with their favorite teams. In
that same spirit, I look forward to working with the members of
the Subcommittee to drive the next wave of growth in travel and
tourism, and further boost the industry's growing contributions
to the American economy. Thank you, and I look forward to your
questions.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Hornbuckle follows:]
Prepared Statement of William ``Bill'' Hornbuckle, President and Chief
Executive Officer, MGM Resorts International; and Chair, U.S. Travel
and Tourism Advisory Board
Chair Rosen, Ranking Member Budd, and Members of the Subcommittee:
It's great to welcome you to Las Vegas.
There is no better location in America from which to examine the
vast benefits travel and tourism creates for our Nation's economy--and
to discuss how effective public policy can accelerate a virtuous cycle
of greater travel, stronger growth, and more good paying jobs.
As CEO and President of MGM Resorts International and Chair of the
U.S. Travel and Tourism Advisory Board--or TTAB--I appreciate the
opportunity to share a perspective on the policies needed to meet
consumer demand for new experiences by improving travel and ensuring
America remains the world's premier travel and tourism destination.
Last year, I testified before this subcommittee to discuss the
National Travel and Tourism Strategy. I appreciate the support Chair
Rosen and the subcommittee has shown for the travel and tourism
industry, including securing the position of Assistant Secretary for
Travel and Tourism and working to ensure the position is fully funded.
So far in 2023, Las Vegas has welcomed nearly 20.35 million
visitors--nearly 10 percent more than the same period last year. Rising
demand for sports and entertainment experiences is driving much of this
growth.
In March, an estimated 3 million people flocked to Las Vegas when
we hosted multiple rounds of March Madness, two Taylor Swift concerts
at Allegiant Stadium, NASCAR events, and more. In June, our own Vegas
Golden Knights captured the Stanley Cup--punctuating the transformation
of Las Vegas into one of the NHL's great hockey towns. But that's just
the start.
In addition to the Golden Knights, we are now home to WNBA champion
Las Vegas Aces and the NFL's Las Vegas Raiders. More professional teams
may be on the way.
Later this year, our city will welcome millions more fans for
Formula 1's Las Vegas Grand Prix. Next February, Las Vegas is hosting
the pinnacle of sports and entertainment, with Super Bowl LVIII kicking
off at Allegiant Stadium.
Good policy has a major role to play in building on this success.
One of the major pillars of travel growth is a seamless travel
experience. The travel experience begins at home and extends to various
aspects of the travel and tourism industry, including travel planning,
transit, and the actual travel experience. We must embrace a holistic
perspective that bridges these sectors, ensuring policies that help
create a well-rounded enhancement of the travel experience. That
requires coordination and national investments in infrastructure and
systems that support seamless travel in the broadest sense.
Congress and the Biden Administration took a major step forward by
passing the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law--the largest long-term
infrastructure investment in our Nation's history. As America continues
to invest the $550 billion authorized by that law, I urge policymakers
to ensure travel and tourism infrastructure is a top priority.
In recent years, the travel infrastructure discussion has been
dominated by air travel--mainly the need to modernize airports and
upgrade air traffic control systems. This is critically important to
the future of travel.
But we must also remember that most of America's travel hotspots--
which draw hundreds of millions of people every year--are heavily
reliant on roadways.
Take Las Vegas--where more than half the city's visitors arrive by
car. It's the same at many popular destinations--from Colorado's world-
class Rocky Mountain ski resorts to Florida's theme park destination
resorts.
The solution starts with a national focus. Better road travel must
become a national priority.
We also need better coordination of agencies at all levels of
government to get projects moving faster. Infrastructure priorities
don't always carry across state or county lines and multiple layers of
reviews in multiple jurisdictions continue to create higher costs and
endless delays.
For example: I-15 carries 10 million travelers from southern
California to Las Vegas every year--about a quarter of the city's
visitors. But what should be a three and a half hour trip can stretch
to 10 hours or more on a Sunday. One recent New Year's Day, the backup
extended 18 miles.
The I-15 Corridor's ability to accommodate increased capacity is
imperative to the travel experience and can be realized through
strategic road expansion and support for the Brightline West high-speed
rail project. Pursuit of an efficient and seamless transportation
system requires greater coordination across all levels of government to
foster a 21st century approach that evolves with the dynamic demands of
our modern world.
In addition to improved infrastructure, American travel
destinations must feel more welcoming to travelers from across the
globe. We must work together and commit to supporting accessible
travel, resolving visa delays, and addressing workforce shortages.
Las Vegas' rapid rise as the world's top sports and entertainment
destination is the culmination of an evolution unlike any we have ever
seen in our city's history. This transformation resulted from the
public and private sectors working together to build exciting new
venues, creating unique experiences that people love, and working
together to revolutionize the way fans engage with their favorite
teams.
In that same spirit, I look forward to working with Members of the
Subcommittee to drive the next wave of growth in travel and tourism--
and further boost the industry's growing contribution to America's
economy.
Thank you, and I look forward to your questions.
Senator Rosen. Wow. Thank you, Mr. Hornbuckle, and I could
not agree more to get that Brightline train. We are advocating
for it. It will move our tourists here, creating billions of
dollars of economic impact, creating tens of thousands of good
union-paying jobs, supporting our tourism infrastructure, and,
I will just tell you, taking, I think, an estimated 400,000
tons of emissions off that I-15. So we will--we will--we will
hopefully hear about that soon, but thank you for your
testimony.
And now, I would like to introduce our next witness, Sandra
Douglass Morgan, President of the Las Vegas Raiders. Ms.
Douglass Morgan is a native Nevadan and was named President of
the Las Vegas Raiders in July of 2022. She has over 2 decades
of leadership experience in the sports, gaming, and legal
sectors, and she has served as a chief regulator, director,
attorney, and advisor to resorts, casinos, and
telecommunications companies.
Prior to joining the Raiders, Ms. Douglass Morgan served as
Chairwoman of the Nevada Gaming Control Board. She also served
as a commissioner on the Nevada State Athletic Commission, and
was the first black city attorney in the State of Nevada when
she was the chief legal officer for the City of North Las
Vegas, where she served from 2008 to 2016.
Ms. Douglass Morgan is widely recognized for her excellence
and for her commitment to Nevada businesses, to our education,
and for her support for local causes. She is a recipient of
several awards and distinctions, including the UNLV Boyd School
of Law Distinguished Service Alumni Awarded, and the 2012
Attorney of the Year by the Las Vegas Chapter of the National
Bar Association, which recognized her for her commitment to
serving the local community, especially communities of color.
Ms. Douglass Morgan, thank you for being here today. I am
so pleased to have you share your knowledge and expertise with
the Subcommittee, and I now recognize you for your opening
statement.
STATEMENT OF SANDRA DOUGLASS MORGAN, PRESIDENT, LAS VEGAS
RAIDERS
Ms. Douglass Morgan. Thank you, and good morning, Senator
Rosen and members of the Committee. Thank you for inviting me
here today to share with you the incredible success story of
the Las Vegas Raiders, and contrary to what Bill said, our
collective Allegiant Stadium.
[Laughter.]
Ms. Douglass Morgan. It is hard to believe that only 5
years ago, Allegiant Stadium was still under construction. We
were eagerly anticipating our first game at the stadium and
planting roots in the community to ensure that the benefits
that come with this world-class facility are accessible to all.
When the pandemic hit, no one could have imagined that we would
have our first season as the Las Vegas Raiders with no fans in
the stands and no additional concerts or events to round out
the schedule. However, despite those obstacles, we are here
strong 5 years later with results that showed that Nevada made
an undeniably solid investment into our State's economic
future.
The Las Vegas Raiders and Allegiant Stadium have opened the
door to a broad, new global audience and events we would have
never dreamed of that we would host in our own city. Taylor
Swift and Beyonce, as you mentioned, sold out our stadium with
two shows each, and I personally love all Swifties and the
Beyhive.
[Laughter.]
Ms. Douglass Morgan. K-pop band, BTS, and Black Pink were
an overwhelming success, and this summer we actually hosted two
Concacaf summer soccer semifinals. And perhaps the most
exciting event is on the horizon when we host Super Bowl LVIII
in 6 short months in February.
Since opening in 2021, Allegiant Stadium has welcomed more
than 3 million visitors from over 120 countries, and outside of
Raider games, those additional events that we needed to bring
to round out the calendar have grown exponentially with 25 in
2021, growing to over 40 in 2022. And as of now, we have over
30 concerts or events on calendar for this year. These events
bring in meaningful revenue to the State and have generated
over $29 million in live entertainment tax since 2021.
We have also seen that these are incremental visitors and
not just visitors who were already coming to Las Vegas and
added on the stadium to their itinerary. Since Allegiant
Stadium opened its doors, 89 percent of stadium attendees said
the event they attended was their primary reason to visit Las
Vegas, and 54 percent of the stadium attendees actually
traveled for the event either to Reid Airport or by vehicle
transportation that they attended. We estimate that 1.52
million incremental visitors came to Las Vegas to attend an
event at the stadium, and that was clear with events like
Taylor and BTS, which also brought in a very diverse
demographic, as Bill mentioned, to our stadium and to the
destination.
We are happy to have been a part of creating an additional
demand in this market. That is not only a significant economic
impact for the State, but also for the businesses in town, both
small and large, who reap indirect economic benefits of our
tourism industry. The Raiders organization is committed to
supporting local and disadvantaged businesses since we entered
the market, and we are proud of the impact that we have had in
that space. Since the stadium opened, over 20 percent of the
food and beverage revenue has been generated by local
businesses, and over a half a million dollars of the Allegiant
Stadium Food and Beverage Program has contributed to local
nonprofit organization revenue. The Stadium Raiders games and
all the events I mentioned have a combined impact and reach far
beyond our walls, benefiting a broad cross-section of our
community.
The Raider's commitment to diversity is also unwavering,
and it extends beyond the stadium workforce. Although there
were specific benchmarks in our community benefits agreement,
our commitment was never in doubt, given our philosophy and our
values. We actually exceeded the requirements in the agreement
with over 60 percent of stadium operator employees being
minority and female workers on event days. And the upcoming
Super Bowl will create additional opportunities through the
Business Connect Program, which includes a commitment that
businesses contracted for the event must be at least 51 percent
minority, women, veteran, LGBTQ, or disability owned.
Outside of the stadium walls, we have been hard at work
since arriving in Las Vegas supporting youth sports, veterans
organizations, mental health, and countless other local
efforts, and since relocating to Las Vegas, we have given over
$7 million to support local causes. Our players have also taken
an active role in appearances in the community, especially with
young students and athletes. As we are committed to inspiring
the next generation, they know the importance of the role that
the Raiders play and showing our kids as what--as to what is
possible.
The ability to inspire youth in our community and to
maximize their potential is one of the most vital roles we
play. We do this because we understand that our commitment to
excellence includes our dedication to the next generation and
to the community as a whole. Our success story would be much
different without the advocacy and support from our
congressional delegation and, of course, you, Senator Rosen who
understand firsthand the vital role that travel and tourism
plays in the health of our State's economy. Ensuring the ease
of travel to our State through support for our infrastructure
and working to make the visa process more efficient are both
essential to ensuring access for our growing international
football fandom.
Thank you so much for your steadfast support and helping us
continue to grow the vibrant sports industry here in Las Vegas.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Douglass Morgan follows:]
Prepared Statement of Sandra Douglass Morgan, President,
Las Vegas Raiders
Good morning Senator Rosen and Members of the Committee:
Thank you for inviting me to share with you the incredible success
story of the Las Vegas Raiders and Allegiant Stadium. It's hard to
believe that five years ago, Allegiant Stadium was still under
construction. We were eagerly anticipating our first game in the
stadium, and planting roots in the community to ensure the benefits
that come with this world-class facility are accessible to all. When
the pandemic hit, no one could have imagined we would have our first
season as the Las Vegas Raiders with no fans in the stands, and no
additional concerts or events to round out the stadium schedule.
Despite those obstacles, here we are five years later with results
that show Nevada made an undeniably solid investment in our state's
economic future. The Las Vegas Raiders and Allegiant Stadium have
opened the door to a broad new global audience, and events we never
would have dreamed we could host in our city. Taylor Swift and Beyonce
sold out our stadium for two shows each. K-POP band BTS was an
overwhelming success. This summer we hosted the sold-out CONCACAF
soccer semifinals. And perhaps the most exciting event is on the
horizon, when we host Super Bowl LVIII in February.
Since opening in 2021, Allegiant Stadium has welcomed more than 3
million visitors from more than 122 countries. Outside of Raiders
games, those additional events we needed to bring to round out the
calendar have grown exponentially each year, with 25 in 2021, growing
to 41 in 2022. We have 31 events or concerts on the calendar for this
year. These events bring meaningful revenue to the state. Since 2021,
they generated nearly $29 million dollars in Live Entertainment Tax
alone.
We have also seen that these are incremental visitors, and not just
visitors who were already coming to Las Vegas and added us on to their
itinerary. Since Allegiant Stadium opened its doors, 89 percent of
stadium attendees said the event they attended was the primary reason
for their visit to Las Vegas, and 54 percent of stadium attendees said
they traveled for the event they attended. We estimate that 1.52
million incremental visitors came to the destination to attend an event
at the stadium. That was clear with events like Taylor Swift and BTS,
which brought in a very different demographic to our stadium and the
destination.
We're happy to have been a part of creating additional demand in
the market. That's not only a significant economic impact for the
state's coffers, but for all the businesses in town who reap the
indirect economic benefits of our tourism industry. The Raiders
organization has committed to supporting local and disadvantaged
businesses since we entered the market, and we're proud of the impact
we've had in that space. Since the stadium opened, over 20 percent of
the food and beverage revenue has been generated by local businesses.
And over $500 thousand dollars of the Allegiant Stadium Food and
Beverage Program has contributed to local nonprofit organization
revenue. The stadium, Raiders games and all of the additional events
have a combined impact and reach far beyond our walls, benefiting a
broad cross-section of our community.
The Raiders commitment to diversity is unwavering, and it extends
to the stadium workforce. Although there were specific benchmarks in
our Community Benefits Agreement, our commitment was never in doubt
given our philosophy and values. We actually exceeded the requirements
in the agreement, with over 60 percent of stadium operator employees
being minority and female workers on event days. And the upcoming Super
Bowl will create additional opportunities through the Business Connect
program, which includes a commitment that businesses contracted for the
event must be at least 51 percent minority, woman, veteran, LGBTQ or
disability owned.
Outside the stadium walls, we have been hard at work since arriving
in Las Vegas, supporting youth sports, veterans' organizations, youth
mental health and countless other important local efforts. Since
relocating to Las Vegas, we have given over $7million dollars in
support to local causes. And our players have taken an active role in
appearances in the community, especially with young students and
athletes. They want to inspire the next generation, and they know the
importance of the role they play in showing our kids what's possible.
The ability to inspire youth in our community to maximize their
potential is one of the most vital roles we play. Since 2018, our
players have volunteered nearly 1,300 hours in the community--and that
includes many months when COVID limited those efforts. Again, we do
this because it will bring up the next generation. It gives youth a
concrete image of what they can be.
Our success story would be much different without the advocacy and
support from our congressional delegation, and you Senator Rosen, who
clearly understand first-hand the vital role travel and tourism plays
in the health of our state's economy. Ensuring the ease of travel to
our state through support for our infrastructure and working to make
the visa process more efficient are both essential to ensuring access
for our growing international football fandom. Thank you for your
steadfast support in helping us continue to grow the vibrant sports
industry in Las Vegas.
Senator Rosen. Wow. Thank you, Ms. Morgan. I really
appreciate that, and I will tell you that, I know a lot of
Swifties and lots of members of the Beyhive, and they are
having a great time, and, really, it is great because we are
diversifying the Las Vegas fan base as well. They see that
there are so many other things to do when they get here, so
that is, I would say, building for the future, so thank you for
your--for your leadership.
Next, I would like to introduce Ms. Mary Beth Sewald,
president and CEO of the Vegas Chamber. It is the largest
business support organization in Nevada focused on helping
Nevada businesses succeed and create jobs. As president and
CEO, Ms. Sewald leads the Vegas Chamber in its strategy of
supporting local businesses and pursuing initiatives to boost
job growth, a robust economy, and a vibrant community.
Prior to her leadership at the Vegas Chamber, Ms. Sewald
served as the president and CEO of the Nevada Broadcasters
Association, and prior to that, she served as general manager
of the NBC affiliate in Reno, KRNV. Ms. Sewald was recognized
as Nevada's first woman to be named television general manager
in 2003 and was inducted into the Nevada Broadcasters
Association Hall of Fame in 2009. She currently serves on the
board of directors for the Nevada Military Support Alliance,
City National Bank, the Congressional Award of Nevada, and the
Nevada Broadcasters Association Foundation.
Ms. Sewald, thank you for your leadership in our community
and your dedication to building a stronger Nevada economy. I
recognize you now for your opening remarks.
STATEMENT OF MARY BETH SEWALD, PRESIDENT AND CEO, VEGAS CHAMBER
Ms. Sewald. Thank you so much, Senator, and, again, I echo
everyone's sentiments. Thank you so much for your leadership.
It has made a profound impact on us. Thank you so much, and
thank you to the other members of the Subcommittee as well.
I think I might be the only person on the planet who has
not had the opportunity to see Taylor Swift, so----
[Laughter.]
Senator Rosen. I did not get to see her either, but I
know----
[Laughter.]
Senator Rosen,--we will go together.
Ms. Sewald. Yes, we will go together. Thank you.
The Vegas Chamber was founded in 1911. That is far before
my time, quite obviously, but it is the largest and most robust
business association in the entire State of Nevada,
representing 70 different industry sectors. Vegas Chamber
members employ approximately a half million Nevadans, and 85
percent of Vegas Chamber members are small businesses, which we
define as having 50 or fewer employees. The Small Business
Administration estimates that Nevada has 283,000 small
businesses employing about 503,000 workers.
The mission of the Vegas Chamber is to promote a strong and
diversified economy by helping attract new businesses, enabling
existing businesses to expand, and supporting an excellent
quality of life for Nevada's workers. Before the COVID-19
pandemic, Las Vegas welcomed 42 million visitors per year. In
2022, that number decreased to about 38.8 million visitors. Why
do I say this? Because tourism means local jobs. Our tourism
industry supports about 229,000 direct jobs and about 359,000
total jobs. Last year, Nevada's tourism industry supported
$12.6 billion in direct wages for employees and had a total
wage impact of $20.1 billion. This economic activity supports
small businesses in our community who, in turn, employ
thousands of Nevadans. Our small businesses benefit
economically from our large tourism sector, providing good-
paying jobs and careers, and many of our members at the Vegas
Chamber work to support women-and minority-owned businesses by
providing procurement opportunities and supplier diversity
programs as well.
One of the most impactful transformations in our tourism
industry, bar none, has been the development of the sports
tourism sector of our economy. In less than a decade, we have
seen the construction of the T-Mobile arena, Allegiant Stadium,
and Las Vegas Baseball Park, which has added to our existing
inventory of sports and entertainment venues. These venues and
the teams and events that they host create immense
opportunities for local workers and small businesses.
Allegiant Stadium was the result of Senate Bill 1 of the
30th Special Session of the Nevada State Legislature. The
legislation that came from that legislative session required
that at least 15 percent of stadium project construction be
awarded to local small businesses, and that all phases of the
project operate pursuant to a broad-based community benefits
plan. In fact, 23 percent of Allegiant Stadium's construction
was awarded to local small businesses, with $293 million in
contracts awarded to 168 local small businesses. Further still,
more than $80 million was awarded to 41 women-and minority-
owned businesses. Perhaps equally as important, the Raiders
Community Benefits Plan called for 38 percent of the project's
construction workforce to be minority and female. That number
ended up being 63 percent.
In cooperation with the Las Vegas Super Bowl Host
Committee, the NFL's Biz Connect Program has already identified
approximately 200 small, women-, and minority-owned businesses
that are pre-qualified as contractors and subcontractors for
the big game. And Formula 1's Las Vegas Grand Prix Project has
been a model of diversity, equity, and inclusion. The database
of small businesses qualified during the construction of
Allegiant Stadium and the Super Bowl are the starting point for
future projects, and Formula 1 has made a 10-year commitment
and is investing hundreds of millions of dollars in our
community.
In the next several months, new projects will open, like
the Sphere, Formula 1's Las Vegas Grand Prix, and Super Bowl
LVIII. These large-scale international events benefit our small
business members that are in construction, food services,
restaurants, security, public safety, IT, and marketing, just
to name a few. For example, Jonathan Alvarez is the founder of
Protective Force International, which is a Las Vegas-based
private security company. Jonathan is hiring and training
employees just as fast as he possibly can because of the
increased demand for his company's services for events like
Formula 1 and the 2024 Super Bowl. Another example are Patricia
and Justin Yin. They are the owners of Clean and Green
Landscape, which is a small business here in Las Vegas. Their
selection by the Super Bowl's Biz Connect Program ``marked a
significant turning point for our company and our family. This
opportunity has been profoundly impactful on both our business
and our personal journey.'' Dr. Priscilla Johnson is another
woman-/minority-owned small business in Las Vegas. She and her
young son founded an eco-friendly cleaning product company
called Cocoa Shoals. She started at local farmers markets back
in the day and said that the business landscape in Las Vegas
has become ``the cornerstone of a transformative opportunity,''
giving her the chance to work with these major sports brands
that could absolutely redefine their entire lives. That is
absolutely outstanding to be able to say.
The fact is that without these sporting events, our small
businesses, which are absolutely the fabric of our community,
they would not have any chance at all of economic opportunities
like this that they now have. That is why we must continuously
invest in our future. I firmly believe that the core of that
economic success is our small business owners and our
entrepreneurs in our entire community.
So with that, I thank you again, Senator Rosen. Thank you
again for all you do for our community. Thank you very much.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Sewald follows:]
Prepared Statement of Mary Beth Sewald, President and CEO,
Vegas Chamber
Good Morning,
My name is Mary Beth Sewald, President and CEO of the Vegas
Chamber. Thank you, Committee Chairwoman Maria Cantwell and a special
thank you to Subcommittee Chairwoman, Nevada's own, Senator Rosen for
inviting me today before the subcommittee. I also want to thank Ranking
Member Ted Budd of the Subcommittee.
The Vegas Chamber was founded in 1911 and is the largest business
association in the state of Nevada, representing 70 different industry
sectors. Vegas Chamber members employ approximately a half million
Nevadans and 85 percent of Vegas Chamber members are small businesses,
which we define as having 50 or fewer employees. The Small Business
Administration estimates that Nevada has 283,000 small businesses,
employing about 503,000 workers.
The mission of the Vegas Chamber is to promote a strong and
diversified economy by helping attract new businesses, enabling
existing businesses to expand, and supporting a good quality of life
for Nevada's workers.
Before the COVID-19 Pandemic, Las Vegas welcomed 42 million
visitors per year. In 2022, that number was about 38.8 million
visitors.
Why do I say this? Because tourism means local jobs. Our tourism
industry supports about 229,000 direct jobs and 359,000 total jobs.
Last year, Nevada's tourism industry supported $12.6 billion in direct
wages for employees and had a total wage impact of $20.1 billion. This
economic activity supports small businesses in our community, who--in
turn--employ thousands of Nevadans.
Our small businesses benefit economically from our large tourism
sector, providing good-paying jobs and careers. Many of our members
work to support women and minority-owned businesses by providing
procurement opportunities and supplier-diversity programs.
One of the most impactful transformations in our tourism industry
has been the development of the sports tourism sector of our economy.
In less than a decade we have seen the construction of the T-Mobile
Arena, Allegiant Stadium, and Las Vegas Baseball Park, which has added
to our existing inventory of sports and entertainment venues.
These venues and the teams and events that they host create
important opportunities for local workers and small businesses.
Allegiant Stadium was the result of Senate Bill 1 of the 30th Special
Session of the Nevada State Legislature. That legislation required that
at least 15 percent of stadium project construction be awarded to local
small businesses and that all phases of the project operate pursuant to
a broad-based community benefits plan.
In fact, 23 percent of Allegiant Stadium's construction was awarded
to local small businesses, with $293 million in contracts awarded to
168 local small businesses. Further still, more than $80 million was
awarded to 41 women and minority-owned businesses. Perhaps equally
important, the Raiders' community benefits plan called for 38 percent
of the project's construction workforce to be minority and female--that
number ended up being 63 percent.
In cooperation with the Las Vegas Super Bowl Host Committee, the
NFL's ``Biz Connect'' program has already identified approximately 200
small, women and minority-owned businesses that are prequalified as
contractors and subcontractors for the big game, and Formula 1's Las
Vegas Grand Prix project has been a model of diversity, equity, and
inclusion.
The database of small businesses qualified during the construction
of Allegiant Stadium and the Super Bowl are the starting point for
future projects, and Formula 1 has made a 10-year commitment and is
investing hundreds of millions of dollars in our community.
In the next several months, new projects with open like Sphere,
Formula 1's Las Vegas Grand Prix, and Super Bowl LVIII. These large-
scale international events benefit our small business members that are
in construction, food services, restaurants, security and public
safety, IT, and marketing.
For example, Joanathan Alvarez is the founder of Protective Force
International, which is a Las Vegas-based, private security company.
Jonathan is hiring and training employees as fast as he can because of
the increased demand for his company's services for events like Formula
1 and the 2024 Super Bowl.
Another example are Patricia and Justin Yin. They're the owners
``Clean & Green Landscape'' a small business here in Las Vegas. Their
selection by the Super Bowl's ``Biz Connect'' program ``Marked a
significant turning point for our company''. This opportunity has been
profoundly impactful on both our business, and our personal journey.''
Dr. Priscilla Johnson is another woman, minority-owned, small
business in Las Vegas. She and her young son founded an eco-friendly
cleaning product company, ``Coco Shoals''. She started at local
farmer's markets and says the business landscape in Las Vegas has
become the cornerstone of a transformative opportunity giving her the
chance to work with these major sports brands that could ``redefine
their entire lives''.
The fact is . . . without these sporting events, our small
businesses, which are the fabricate of our community would not have the
economic opportunities that they now have. That is why we must
continuously invest in our future. I firmly believe that the core of
that economic success is our small business owners and entrepreneurs.
I want to thank you for your leadership on this important issue and
for the honor and opportunity to provide testimony today before this
Subcommittee.
Senator Rosen. Thank you, and I also sit on the Small
Business and Entrepreneurship Committee, and for those of you
who do not know, 99 percent of businesses in Nevada are
actually small businesses, as you have heard Ms. Sewald talk
about. And our business community is robust, and it is thriving
because of the collaboration and commitment from everyone in
our community to pull together, and I think that is really
special.
And now, to round out our panel, here we sit at the Las
Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. Our final witness is
testifying here today, Mr. Steve Hill, who is the president and
CEO of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. As I
said, it is an amazing venue where we are holding this hearing
today. I know he is going to tell us all about it.
Mr. Hill moved to Las Vegas in 1987 to start Silver State
Materials, a concrete sand and gravel supplier, and actually
grew to one of the largest in the country. And so during his
time with Silver State Materials, and Nevada is the Silver
State, for those of you who do not know, and is, I think, maybe
how you got that name?
[Laughter.]
Senator Rosen. Mr. Hill, of course, was very active in our
community, serving as chairman of Service First Bank of Nevada,
chairman of the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce, commissioner on
the Nevada Commission on Economic Development, and chairman of
the Boys and Girls Clubs of Las Vegas. In 2011, Mr. Hill was
appointed director of the newly-established Governor's Office
of Economic Development--we call it GOED--by Governor Brian
Sandoval, and he brought numerous businesses to our State. Mr.
Hill has also served as chairman of the Southern Nevada's
Tourism Infrastructure Committee, which led to the approval of
both the $1.5 billion expansion and renovation of the Las Vegas
Convention Center, and the $2 billion Allegiant Stadium,
currently home to the Las Vegas Raiders. He has helped build
Las Vegas, literally and figuratively, into the sensational
city that it is today.
I am thrilled that he is here to share his knowledge and
expertise with the Subcommittee. Mr. Hill, thank you for being
here, and I now recognize you for your opening remarks.
STATEMENT OF STEVE HILL, CEO AND PRESIDENT, LAS VEGAS
CONVENTION AND VISITORS AUTHORITY (LVCVA)
Mr. Hill. Thank you, Chair Rosen, and welcome to the Las
Vegas Convention Center. You have been here a number of times.
We are thrilled to have you every time. I want to thank you and
the members of the Committee for the work that you do, but I
want to thank you for the leadership that you have provided to
the Committee and for the tourism industry. This subcommittee
has brought a focus to the tourism industry that really had
been missing, and this has helped fill a void, it has helped
this industry make progress, and we all very much appreciate
that.
It is an honor to be here today. It is an honor to be here
with these panelists, and I look out in the room. Welcome to
all of you to the convention center as well. There are many
leaders in our industry in this room today, who would be great
at this table, too, so it is an honor to be a part of this and
to represent the hundreds of thousands of people who work in
this industry in this great city.
You know this, but tourism is the economic engine of not
only Las Vegas, but of Nevada. We have worked, and I have been
on the other side of this, trying to, and successfully at some
level, diversifying the economy of Nevada. That has worked over
the past several decades, but it is important that this
industry continue to thrive. If it does not, all of Nevada
suffers. We saw that during COVID. We set a record for
unemployment for any State since unemployment had been recorded
back into 50s, for our unemployment rate in April of 2020. It
was 30.4 percent. When this industry suffers, this entire State
suffers, and when this industry thrives, this State thrives as
well.
The diversification of this industry has really accelerated
over the past decade or so. The meetings and trade show
industry, which is so critical, has continued to grow. During
the pandemic, our city collectively added about 30 percent to
the meeting space. That was in response to customer demand.
People wanted--people, their meetings, trade shows want to be
in Las Vegas. This city recognized that, so we have increased
our meeting square footage from an 11-and-a-half million square
feet to 15 million square feet. Entertainment has become a
central attraction to our city, and sports has, obviously, as
everyone has mentioned, been a big part of our growth recently.
I do think it is important to point out that there is a
long history of sports in Las Vegas. There were people who set
the stage for us, from boxing, from UNLV 30 years ago, winning
a national championship in basketball, in golf over the years.
We are standing on their shoulders. UFC is a remarkable story
over the past 20 or 25 years in this community. NASCAR, golf,
all of those happened prior to the professional teams that have
come just over the last number of years. What Bill Foley has
done and the success that the Golden Knights have had is
remarkable. Mark Davis' commitment to come to Nevada, to bring
the NFL and the Raiders to our city, and to build Allegiant
Stadium and to invest a billion-and-a-quarter dollars into our
city has made a huge difference. I have said often that we
would not have Formula 1 if we did not have Allegiant Stadium.
We have proven what we can do because of Allegiant Stadium, and
it has doubled what we had originally projected from a
performance standpoint.
So it is important for us to have these reasons for people
to visit Las Vegas, both domestically and internationally, but
it is also important that that experience be as seamless as
possible, and Mr. Hornbuckle mentioned these topics, but I want
to reinforce them. Visa clearance, expediting that, and we
appreciate your help in not only pushing that issue, but
pushing the expedited opportunity for visa clearance for people
who are going to attend meetings and trade shows here. They
would not be able to without that. That has been a problem that
has cropped up over the last number of years. It needs to get
fixed. As we try and bring, long-haul flights, international
flights back, it is difficult to do, and they do not know if
they are going to have passengers who can clear the
requirements that it takes in order to be on those planes to
fly. It is an obstacle to overcome that is really important for
us.
I-15 clearly is an issue. We want to thank you for your
support for Brightline. That is a critical next step. The
Federal money that has been made available in the Rail Fund
that has not been spent over a number of years is there and
available, and if that is committed soon, this project will
happen, and it is really important. It is not only important
for Las Vegas and the visitors that come here. It takes cars
off that road. That is a big part of the supply chain to the
United States, the entire Western United States. This will help
States from all across the country if this project happens, so
we appreciate your support there. We have more work to do in
that corridor, but it is a problem that we are working on. We
appreciate your partnership there and your leadership. I know
we will make progress.
Thank you for the opportunity to be here today. I look
forward to continuing to work with you.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Hill follows:]
Prepared Statement of Steve Hill, CEO and President, Las Vegas
Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA)
Thank you, Chairwoman Rosen and Ranking Member Scott for inviting
me before the subcommittee today to speak on the economic impacts of
the sports and entertainment economy in Las Vegas. I also want to thank
Chairwoman Cantwell and Ranking Member Cruz of the full committee. We
appreciate the work of your subcommittee and the spotlight it puts on
the importance of the tourism industry.
Tourism and hospitality are vital to the U.S. economy, and in
Nevada this industry and the people it employs are central to the
state's prosperity. In fact, Las Vegas relies more on a single
industry--the tourism and hospitality industry--than any other city.
Las Vegas continues to diversify its economy; the city has made
progress. But tourism remains our economic engine and our largest
regional employer. Directly and indirectly, tourism employs 26 percent
of all Las Vegans--and provides tax revenue that funds approximately 35
percent of the state's budget. Approximately 39 million visitors spent
$44.9 billion in Las Vegas in 2022 and had an overall economic impact
of $79 billion. While visitor counts did not quite reach pre-pandemic
levels, the amount spent on tourism-related activities reached new
heights. Our city is a case study of the economic progress a
destination can make when its public and private organizations are all
invested and work cooperatively to reach a singular goal. Clearly, it
is crucial the Las Vegas tourism industry continues to thrive.
Las Vegas became a tourism town in the 1930s when Hoover Dam
workers traveled on the weekends to play in the city's casinos. The
industry began its real growth when to draw visitors to Las Vegas
during the slow weekday periods, the legislature agreed to finance the
construction of the Las Vegas Convention Center. As the Resort Corridor
expanded, the convention center--the only building large enough to
accommodate both the largest trade shows and the largest sports
events--became the entertainment nerve center of the city, hosting the
earliest boxing matches, basketball, and rodeos.
As Las Vegas has expanded to accommodate every type of traveler,
our destination has become one of the world's premier meetings and
conventions destinations. The 150,000-square-foot convention center Las
Vegas opened in 1959 is now 2.5 million square feet, hosting some of
the largest meetings and trade shows in the world. Trade show producers
choose Las Vegas because our destination is purpose-built for their
needs, with entertainment and world-class dining all along our eight-
mile stretch from the south end of the Strip to Downtown. In fact,
according to Trade Show News Network, Las Vegas has been named the No.
1 Trade Show Destination in North America for over 25 years. Combined
with our resort partners' spaces, our destination now totals 15 million
square feet of convention space, up from 11.5 million in 2019. Our city
also has more than 150,000 hotel rooms and event venues totaling
590,000 seats.
Last year, 5 million people attended conventions, spending $7.5
billion, supporting $2.1 billion in wages, and contributing to an
overall economic impact of $13.2 billion. And we continue to grow: In
2021, the Las Vegas Convention Center added 750,000 net square feet--
our new West Hall--and is now investing $600 million to renovate 1.9
million square feet of our legacy campus.
Las Vegas has a rich history of delivering sports and entertainment
to a global audience. This community has expertise in hosting events
spanning back to the Rat Pack era, countless Elvis appearances, and
blockbuster boxing matches. Those were the types of events that set the
stage for what happened next. UFC, headquartered in Las Vegas, was
founded nearly 30 years ago and has grown that organization and sport
as a whole into a multibillion-dollar business. In the mid-1990s, the
first NASCAR race took place at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. In 2004,
Las Vegas welcomed the NBA Summer League, which continues today. In
2017, Bill Foley brought the Vegas Golden Knights, Las Vegas' first
major professional franchise. The NFL's Raiders and WNBA's Aces have
followed. This city is also on the verge of welcoming MLB's Athletics.
Minor league teams in a wide range of sports, including baseball,
continue to drive demand for local and visitor dollars. Importantly,
sports-related activities extend well beyond the high-profile nature of
professional sports as exhibition, youth, and other sporting events
play a key role. Turning specifically to entertainment, Las Vegas is
synonymous with some of the most well-known bands, acts, and talent to
perform. In fact, concert residencies of today were started by Liberace
right here in Las Vegas in 1944. Headliners continue to fill seats
throughout the Las Vegas Valley, and high-profile performers such as
Rolling Stones, Taylor Swift, BTS, Elton John, and Bad Bunny packed
Allegiant Stadium.
Sports and entertainment activity falls within the broader tourism
industry and has been a key driver of our post-pandemic recovery; the
profile of visitors and their propensity to attend sports and
entertainment events has changed forever. During 2022, approximately
one out of 10 visitors cited attending a special event or sporting
event as the primary purpose of their trip to Las Vegas. Additionally,
30 percent of visitors attended a show and six percent attended a
sporting event while in town. At the same time, 16 percent of visitors
watched a sporting event while in town at a sportsbook, watch party or
on television.
Allegiant Stadium has propelled the sports and entertainment
industry in Las Vegas forward. Since its opening in 2020, the venue has
hosted nearly 3.2 million attendees across a wide range of events,
including NFL games (1.1 million), UNLV football games (174,000),
concerts (1.0 million) and other events (0.9 million). Among notable
ticketed events, more than half of attendees during the past year
indicated they were from out of town, with over 80 percent of those
visitors indicating that the event was the primary reason for their
travel. Actual visitor counts for the stadium exceeded initial
estimates by 19 percent and the number of incremental visitors (those
that would not have come but for the stadium) exceeded early
expectations by 93 percent. Between greater visitor counts and elevated
spending levels, economic activity more than doubled and job counts
increased by a third from original estimates. During the past year, the
visitor impacts sourced to those travelers alone equate to $1.8 billion
in economic activity, $440 million in wages, and 7,900 jobs.
Growing Las Vegas into a premier sports destination has laid the
groundwork for our coming special events. The Formula One Las Vegas
Grand Prix in November is estimated to have an economic impact of $1.3
billion in its first year, $360 million of which will be wages paid to
local workers. The Super Bowl, which Las Vegas will host in February
2024, is forecast to have an economic impact of over $600 million and
will support over $200 million in local wages. We're preparing to host
the inaugural NBA In-Season Tournament, an event that will draw
thousands more winter visitors. And in the last year, we secured the
NCAA Men's Final Four for 2028. We are attracting more and more
international sports fans with recent events such as Concacaf's Nations
League Finals in June, which was estimated to bring $39 million in
direct visitor spending to the city in only three days, with an
estimated overall economic impact of $68.4 million.
The LVCVA's research shows that Las Vegas visitors stay longer and
spend more when they come to see sports. Our guests who attend a show
or other entertainment activity indicate they spent nearly $310 per
trip specifically on those activities--a 785 percent increase from the
prior year. In fact, the visitor who attends a sporting event in Las
Vegas spends, on average, 25 percent more than other tourists.
Sporting events can also drive incremental visitation and economic
activity among travelers who may not otherwise have planned to visit or
were even willing to consider Las Vegas as a destination. Sports has
provided an entirely new reason to visit Las Vegas, expanding our
portfolio of offerings and our potential customer base.
The largest impediment to attracting visitors and large events to
Las Vegas, both internationally and domestically, is the travel
required to get here.
Internationally, travel to the United States for first-time, non-
immigrant visitors is often contingent on obtaining travel visas. As
the country continues its post-pandemic recovery in terms of
international visitation, wait times for B1 and B2 visa interviews,
which can span well over one (1) year in certain key markets such as
Brazil, Mexico, and India, are preventing visitors from visiting Las
Vegas. U.S. Travel Association reports that the United States will lose
close to 6.6 million visitors in 2023 due to visa interview wait times
and that over 65 percent of visitors from the key markets will travel
elsewhere rather than wait for their visa interviews to travel to the
United States.
We appreciate the efforts that Chairwoman Rosen has initiated to
assist with the visa processing issues affecting our potential visitors
and large events. The Omnibus Travel and Tourism Act, which the
Chairwoman co-sponsored and which passed late last year through the
2023 Omnibus Appropriations bill, will undoubtedly help alleviate visa
processing delays as it establishes a senior Federal official position
within the Commerce Department to focus specifically on travel and
tourism. Additionally, Chairwoman Rosen has assisted in establishing a
program through the Visa Business Office which coordinates expedited
visa interviews for confirmed attendees of large tradeshows and
conventions. As we seek not only full recovery of pre-pandemic
international visitation numbers, but growth from them, we need to
lower visitor visa wait times to less than thirty (30) days, while
modernizing national security measures with new and available
technology, so that the visitors who want to visit the United States,
and Las Vegas specifically, can get here.
Domestically, travel is also a major impediment to visitation.
Southern California remains the top feeder market for visitors to Las
Vegas, accounting for twenty-seven percent (27 percent) of visits to
the destination. Ground transportation through Interstate-15 proves
problematic for our visitors with 20+ mile backups common for return
drives to California following holidays and major events. The proposed
Brightline West high-speed rail project connecting Las Vegas and
Southern California will help alleviate highway crowding that may deter
visitors and remove an estimated three million vehicles and over 700
million vehicle miles from this important artery. We ask that the
United States Department of Transportation fully fund the project.
The nearly 70 miles of planned underground Vegas Loop tunnels
funded privately by The Boring Company will transport guests from their
resorts to venues all over the city and will also be part of that
solution.
Tourism works, grows, and thrives in Southern Nevada thanks to the
collaboration among all our private and public partners including our
local, state, and Federal elected leaders and their staffs, public
safety officials, and our resort partners.
Thank you, Senator Rosen, for your leadership and unwavering
commitment to the tourism industry. We are also grateful to our entire
Nevada Federal delegation who understand the impact tourism has on
local and U.S. economies. Thank you again for inviting the LVCVA to
tell the Las Vegas tourism story.
Senator Rosen. Wow. Thank you. Again, tourism is a top
economic driver. We do need an all-of-the-above approach, from
our broadband, our infrastructure, our workforce, our labor
workforce, our STEM workforce, every other kind of workforce,
our visa processing, and, of course, investment for our small
businesses.
So with that, we are going to turn it over to some
questions, and let us talk a little bit about what you all are
actually doing and what we can do going forward. So, you know,
we want to keep bringing marquee events to Las Vegas, and
according to UNLV's Center for Business and Economic Research
and UNLV Sports Innovation--I do not have to tell anybody
here--Las Vegas is increasingly becoming more and more of a
sports destination with the capacity to seats hundreds of
thousands of fans in professional sports arenas. That indicates
an impressive potential for sports employment.
So each of you are industry leaders with many years of
experience, so, Mr. Hornbuckle, I am going to start with you.
Can you help us understand the process of getting marquee
events and large sporting events to come to Las Vegas? And we
will start with you, and then we will go on to Mr. Hill and Ms.
Sewald.
Mr. Hornbuckle. Thank you, Senator. The process, and I
think Steve said this well, and it was said maybe collectively,
it truly takes a village. And I think when people think about
Las Vegas now as a destination and a place to bring something
like the Super Bowl, or Formula 1, or many of the other things
we have had the privilege of hosting, you know, our hotels run
93 percent. So the infrastructure that is already here, the
proximity to rooms, the ease and convenience of transit and
activity is a world renowned, so what is important about us is
protecting that and trying to make it better.
So to me, Las Vegas knows how to do these things, and it is
proving it over and over, and with the exception of maybe
Formula 1, which is a little disruptive, and it will continue
to be, I might add, but it will be an amazing catalyst. The
opportunity to put an event, which I would arguably say is an
operative, is the second worst weekend of the year for us, and
put an event that I can speak to our properties, will be 4X the
revenue stream, a normal event weekend, and normal weekend
would be, never mind the second worst weekend of the year, is a
stellar economic--between it and Super Bowl, we are talking
about $2 billion of economic activity. Our pre-bookings into it
are the biggest thing for Formula 1 we have ever seen in our
history by a wide margin. And so we are extremely excited by
what that brings, but it does take everyone pulling together.
And I think what is relevant maybe to you and where you can be
helpful----
Senator Rosen. I just want to ask you before you finish,
what----
Mr. Hornbuckle. Yes.
Senator Rosen.--what can Congress do, and then I will add
that onto the other questions as well.
Mr. Hornbuckle. Yes. Well, I think what is relevant,
particularly for this committee and your committee members, you
know, as I have gotten involved through tourism with Secretary
Raimondo, it has quickly come to my, not attention, but my
understanding, a whole-of-government approach is needed when it
comes to tourism. It just is. What happens in Commerce, it
needs all of the other departments, whether it is
Transportation or Homeland Security, to participate.
And so what can be helpful, go back to--starts with visas,
starts with the journey here. It starts with safety and
security around these events. Obviously, we at MGM resorts are
extremely focused on that, given the god awful thing that did
happen October 1. And so making sure that not only the
community is ready to host these, but particularly on those two
events. And I will bring to your attention there is for the
Super Bowl, something called a Special Events Accessibility
Rating.
Senator Rosen. A SEAR.
Mr. Hornbuckle. SEAR.
Senator Rosen. We call it the SEAR rating.
Mr. Hornbuckle. It is a 1. We are petitioning to get
Formula 1, which, to me, has far more logistical moving parts
across a broad spectrum of the city, to at least a 2, which
will give us some economic funding, some coordination from some
of the national agencies that we so rely on to host these kind
of events. And so anything I think you could do there would be
very appreciative and hopefully be meaningful for us as we go
forward. You know, Steve has been the architect of many of
these broader deals, and so I want to thank him for his
leadership on that, and, presumably, he could better tell some
of the story on how they kind of came together.
Senator Rosen. And that is what I was going to say. Mr.
Hill, how do we get the marquee events here, large sporting
events, and what can I do to help?
Mr. Hill. Well, thank you, Chair Rosen. Thanks for the kind
words, Mr. Hornbuckle, and, as you say, this is a--you know,
this is something Las Vegas does. We have had decades of
practice. We have thousands of workers who know how to put
these events on. It is--if the opportunity is there, the folks
who are putting on these events see how much it means to them
to be in Las Vegas. And so I often say, and I completely mean
this, I have the easiest product in the world to sell. We just
often get the answer to the phone and then work with the entire
community to figure out how to put the event--bring it here,
and put it on. It is also somewhat easier in Las Vegas for a
couple of reasons. This city was built as a platform for
events. The airport is right there. All these hotel rooms are
within a 4-square-mile area. You can--the experience around the
event is so much better because of the logistics in Las Vegas,
then--it has the opportunity to be in other great cities, but
in other great cities, when you go to these fantastic events,
that is what you do that day. It is--it is work to get there,
it is a fantastic experience, and then it is work to go home,
and it takes the entire day, where here you can surround that
with so much more, and it is just such an advantage for Las
Vegas.
The other is our industry is typically more consolidated
and has a long history of working together. Understanding that
when we all come together and support Las Vegas, we can compete
for the customer after they have come, but let us all work
together to bring them. That is a different environment and it
has different leadership here than we see in many other cities.
And so that has been very helpful as well.
I will point out a couple of things, a little bit
repetitive from Mr. Hornbuckle, but in thinking about bringing
events here, we are not only--they have to think about bringing
the visitors here, but the event itself, and particularly, for
example, CES or the National Association of Broadcasters. Those
exhibitors come from all over the globe, and it is not only the
people that are coming. It is all of their freight, all of
their workforce, everything that supports them being here. So
it is not just people moving. It is the freight movement as
well, but it is the certainty of, you know, if they are going
to have 10 people man a booth, they need to be able--if they
are going to sign up and pay for that space, pay for the booth,
pay to set it up, they need to know that their workforce is
going to be able to clear the visa process as an example. And
that uncertainty is slowing the growth, or the recovery,
really, of the media and trade show industry. That would be
very helpful.
I want to thank you for moving the FAA reauthorization
forward recently. That was critical. The reliability of flights
in our airport matters tremendously. So those types of efforts
and partnerships really matter.
Senator Rosen. Thank you, and, Ms. Sewald, you know, we
think about the small businesses. It takes--as we think about
conventions or some of our vendors in different places that it
takes to support these major events, what is the process for
our business community to help here, and what can we do here to
help in Congress?
Ms. Sewald. Well, thank you Senator, Rosen. Yes. Yes,
ma'am. You know, I would--I would echo what Mr. Hornbuckle said
and Mr. Hill. It does take everyone. I come at it from a
slightly different approach. I am on the board of the LVCVA, so
I knew that Steve was going to say, you know, he has the
easiest job in the world, but, truly as a board member, a lot
of times we sit back and watch him and his team work because
they are tremendous at what they do, and it is truly
astonishing. So first, I just wanted to say that about Steve
and his entire team.
We do have a world-class global community here. Our small
businesses are the fabric of that community, and for a lot of
them, it means the world for them to have access to other
world-class global organizations like the Raiders, like Formula
1, and like the Super Bowl. The Biz Connect Program at the
Super Bowl Super Bowl Host Committee is probably, which I
mentioned in my testimony, that is probably one of the most
impactful projects that has ever come along for our local
business community here. And so for them to get engaged through
our Chamber, through other chambers across Southern Nevada, has
been probably the most impactful thing for them, and it truly
is life changing.
Senator Rosen. Thank you. Before we move onto another
topic, I am going to ask each one of you, and we will start
with Mr. Hill and go back down to everyone, quickly, like you
said, now we are planning these things. We have not done it
before, so what are the challenges you did not expect that
arose, and what are some of the best practices, that you are
using that maybe I should be hearing about and we can partner
with you to be sure we potentiate those best practices. So we
will just go down the road quickly, please.
Mr. Hill. Yes. Thanks, Chair Rosen. I will mention
Formula--a couple of things about Formula 1 first, and I want
to start by echoing Mr. Hornbuckle's request for assistance on
the SEAR rating. It matters. It is a theme. Security around
major events is a much more complex topic than, most people
would think about. It was much more complex than I realized
before getting involved with this, and the Federal Government's
assistance is critical. Obviously, the Federal Government is
monitoring bad actors across the globe. They are looking at
these events. Having access to that information is a part of
that SEAR process. It is really important that that Federal
resource is provided to this city as we move forward.
Everything around transportation is more difficult than it
seems for an event of 60,000 or a hundred thousand. We have
events here that have 120,000, 160,000 people come. The
assistance that we get, from a transportation standpoint, is
exceptionally helpful. People think about that typically in
terms of ground transportation, but everything around the
airlines, including pending pilot shortages and shortages there
that are very difficult to recover from once they get started
because it takes so long. So thinking about how to expedite the
workforce issues is important, too, and I may have stolen your
thunder on that one. Sorry.
[Laughter.]
Senator Rosen. That is okay. You can steal my thunder.
Ms. Sewald. Yes. I would--I would echo what Steve said, but
also Congress supporting initiatives like Brand USA, National
Travel and Tourism Office. Those are things from a tourism
standpoint that we--absolutely would be very impactful for our
destination. Also, we have talked a lot about I-15 and funding
Brightline, the project that we had our press conference this
week. We are very hopeful that that will happen as well.
You know, and drilling down to a more local level, at the
Vegas Chamber, our members still consistently tell us that
workforce continues to be a problem. And so while we are very
excited at the demand and the influx of and the increase in
tourism and so forth, keeping up with that demand remains a
challenge for our local employers. And so I think that is one
of the areas--one of the key areas where the Vegas Chamber is
working with our partners at Workforce Connections to help
shore up those challenges.
Senator Rosen. Thank you. Ms. Douglass Morgan, please.
Ms. Morgan. Thank you, Madam Senator. I would have to echo
Mr. Hill and Ms. Sewald's comments as well. Obviously,
improvements and making sure that they are expedited with
respect to I-15 so people can kind of come in and out of the
stadium would be of great importance, the Brightline Project as
well, and just making sure that our international airport
continues to be top notch. As we plan for the Super Bowl,
obviously transportation concerns are, are top of mind to
making sure that some of the people maybe that have never come
to Vegas before have a great experience. So I would just echo
their comments with respect to that.
Senator Rosen. Mr. Hornbuckle?
Mr. Hornbuckle. Thank you, Senator. Echoing the same but
focusing on workforce for a moment, it is not just small
business, I can assure you. We spent most of last year 5,000
employees short, give or take, if we had had our druthers. We
have managed that number down in half, and now we are managing
our programs, our people, and our service based on what we can
and cannot do when it comes, and that is a normal circumstance.
When it comes now to staffing up for something like the Super
Bowl or any of these events, it is an ongoing struggle.
And so one of the things and where you can be helpful, and,
ultimately, obviously, the Committee and Congress in general,
Senators Klobuchar and Moran put together a visa bill, which I
think, in the context of keeping visa--the permitting program
and how you can still do this alive for another year or so--I
know there are security issues tied to that, but I think is
critical. It just gives the underpinning of people, resource,
and focus, particularly in the service sector. Hospitality is
about a million-and-a-half jobs short, probably down to a
million at best case scenario right now.
So we never rebounded from COVID, full stop, and so the
industry and--look, we have the good fortune of running places
like Bellagio, where it is an attractive place for an employer
to get employees, and we struggle there. And so you start
getting down to some of the smaller venues, some of the smaller
hospitality contingents throughout the country, and
particularly here in Southern Nevada, it is a challenge. And so
any help with even helping and keeping that program alive could
be meaningful for another year or so.
Senator Rosen. Thank you. Those are really good things to
think about. One of my other committees is a Homeland Security
Committee, where we work on what we call the SEAR ratings for
special events, and also on what we call our Urban Area
Security Initiative, or UASI grants. Those are the formulas for
funding for big events like you might see on New Year's Eve
here at--in Las Vegas, where the whole Las Vegas Strip is
closed down, or now we are going to have Formula 1, is very
similar, the Super Bowl, and other large events. So improving
those ratings, we have been working on that, trying to improve
our formula overall so that all of Las Vegas is recognized in
this way to be sure that we have the resources we need to put
on a safe, fun, and, I will say, fabulous because it is
fabulous Las Vegas--a fun, safe, and fabulous event, so thank
you for those. And of course, we have a lot of things--Travel
America, our one-stop-shop for people coming in, visa--we will
continue to work on those issues.
But I want to focus a little bit now, we got Formula 1, we
got the Super Bowl, and, so we are going to talk a little bit
now about attracting our visitors to sporting events because
the value of the Las Vegas Raiders, I think it has increased,
just a little bit. And, actually it is 76 percent over the past
3 years since the team's relocation from Oakland, California.
Its value grew from $2.9 billion in 2019 to $5 billion in 2022,
and last year, I am pleased to say overall attendance at
Allegiant Stadium, like you have talked about, topping in
around 1.7 million. And so, Ms. Douglass Morgan, I know you
talked about in your opening statement, you know, the positive
impacts the Raiders have had, if you want to talk about that a
little bit more. But really, now that you are here in this job
and part of this community, of course born and raised here, how
do sports teams attract new residents to our state?
Ms. Douglass Morgan. Yes. Thank you for the question,
Senator, and I have been here since I was 2, so it is pretty
much raised. But, you know, these are--absolutely, these are
things and opportunities now that I have been able to have a
little over a year with the team to see what true impact it has
on our Nevada community, and it does not just include Southern
Nevada. It is northern as well.
We have--I cannot help but mention Bo Bernhard and the
great partnership that we have at UNLV and their sports
innovation group, and really giving students here a pipeline to
actually have more exposure in the sports management
opportunities. Those are things that I did not have as a child
here. I knew that there were opportunities, obviously, in
hospitality, and if there were other things, I would have to go
out of State for that. We are actually offering a pipeline now
for children and students to have a career in sports, physical
therapy, our physicians. There is an entire operation obviously
that goes into running an NFL team, and we have been able to do
that with respect to our football team.
With respect to our events and concerts, there are
obviously careers in stadium operations and gaming experiences.
And so just seeing people having another opportunity for other
job opportunities, which is why it is so important to diversify
our economy, has been great and really personally fulfilling
for me as well. Being able to come and go to a Raider game and
walk over the Hacienda Bridge, thanks to Bill, and go to an
Aces game, and then being able to have someone--a family
experience all of that in one day is something that we did not
have 10 years ago. And I think that appeal definitely would
help hopefully continue to grow our Southern Nevada resident
base.
Senator Rosen. And let us not forget our world-class
restaurants as you are working up an appetite going from event
to event, right?
Ms. Douglass Morgan. Mm-hmm.
Senator Rosen. So I am going to ask the remainder or three
of you on the panel, Mr. Hill, Hornbuckle, and Ms. Sewald, just
briefly, a few sentences, again, the economic impact of sports.
We hope a few more things are coming, but, we have got plenty
here to be proud of and lots of fun things to do.
Mr. Hill. Chair Rosen, the economic impact of sports has
been dramatic and has been one of the driving reasons that we
have done so well coming out of COVID. It supports directly
40,000 jobs in this community, big companies, small jobs, and
that is why we do it, you know. What we do in the tourism
industry, ultimately, is for this community. It is to provide
great jobs, it is to provide a great quality of life, and there
is no place better to do that than here in Las Vegas.
Senator Rosen. [technical issue] emphasize economics of
sports.
Ms. Sewald. Thank you, Senator. It is so true, and when I
look around this room alone, too, I see people who have had
opportunities, like Shaundell Newsome of Sumnu Marketing. He
has had opportunities to work with Super Bowl, Super Bowl Host
Committee. Things like these would never come across the stage
if not for the work of the LVCVA, Mr. Hill, and having the
influx of the sporting events that we have. The Raiders, we
could not be more proud of them. It really has put our small
business community on the global stage, and it truly does
change lives for the better. And so we hear these stories every
single day.
Senator Rosen. Mr. Hornbuckle?
Mr. Hornbuckle. Maybe just a macro thought. You know, most
sporting events are 3 hours, give or take. People do not come
to Las Vegas for 3 hours. They come for 3 days, and just think
of the extension on that, and that is how people think about
it.
Senator Rosen. Mm-Hmm.
Mr. Hill. When I first started, 85 percent of people said,
why are you going to Las Vegas? I am going to gamble. Today,
Steve, that number is than 10 percent. Like, when he does polls
every year, the vast majority of them come for an event, which
is a 3-day event, irrespective of how long the actual sports
takes place. And so that economic driver, when you can go into
T-Mobile on a Tuesday night, and the Canadians are in or the
Winnipeg Jets, and you can see as many red or blue jerseys as
you see black and gold, you know it is working. I love it. I am
not so sure Bill Foley does.
[Laughter.]
Mr. Hornbuckle. I am not so sure. Like, the Denver Broncos
bring a lot of people last time I checked. There are local fans
who still like the Broncos. Maybe you got to work on that.
[Laughter.]
Mr. Hornbuckle. But the point is there are thousands of
people who are coming for an extended stay. They do not come
for 3 hours, they come for 3 days, and that extension has just
been so meaningful to all of us.
Senator Rosen. Thank you. Well, I am going to talk about--
we have talked about the hospitality, the sports, our economic
impact on small businesses. But here we sit--here we sit at the
beautiful convention center, and we know Las Vegas ranks among
the country's top cities for our convention business. I know
you can--you talk about this all the time, but it is pretty
mind blowing to think that we have more than 15 million square
feet of meeting and exhibit space, and I think you are
continuing to grow just a little bit, right?
And so we are so proud to host CES, the most influential
tech event in the world. I am proud to lead a group of senators
there every year for the past few years, and last year, we had
over 115,000 attendees, and it exceeded even the most
optimistic projections, and I know you have more than--more to
come. Last year, I believe you secured 14 new trade shows to
take place. New trade shows. That is in addition to the ones
you already have through fall of 2029, including companies like
Nike, Fabtech, and Money20/20. So how do you go about the
process of talking nationally and internationally to people
about who we are, what we have, how we have grown, and how you
can have a great 3 or 4 days here as an add-on to your
convention?
Mr.Hill. Chair Rosen, thank you for that question.
Senator Rosen. And how can I help you make that even
better? We will just give you --that is a two-part question for
you.
Mr. Hill. Thank you. We are not only among the top trade
show cities in the United States, we are by a long way the top
trade shows city and have been for 27 straight years. We have
42 of the top 250 trade shows in the country here in Las Vegas
between the three main--major convention centers. We have three
of the top nine convention centers in the United States, all in
Las Vegas. Again, it is an easy product to sell.
The people who have meetings, trade shows, recognize what
Las Vegas does for them. We have great sales teams. We work in
great partnership with not only our resort partners, but Metro
and Clark County Fire, everything in this community, the
airport, the RTC, that it takes to put these shows on, and we
work together to attract those shows to Las Vegas. The city has
been exceptionally successful.
What we talked about earlier, making that trip easy,
comfortable, seamless is really where our partnership with the
Federal Government really meets. And so, you know, the
international recovery that we talked about is important, the
transportation infrastructure, the support from a security
standpoint are all exceptionally appreciated, and even more
would be helpful.
Senator Rosen. I know we are going to talk about this
later, but we did pass into law, through my committee and our
tourism omnibus, the creation of a new position, the assistant
secretary in the Department of Commerce, that is going to take
all of these factors into consideration, whether it is visa,
transportation, IT, workforce, labor, STEM, sports, small
business, security. And so we know that all of that matters,
and we will continue to work with you on that.
But job growth, we are here to talk--we heard the Vegas
chamber talking about it. We know we have a lot of jobs that
are still open. We want to continue to grow jobs, diversify our
economy, and so there has really been a significant job growth
because of the sports events. And researchers at UNLV
conservatively forecast a 12.4 percent increase in employment
within performing arts, spectator sports, and related
industries for 2022 to 2030. This equates to nearly 3,000
permanent jobs by some estimates and indicates a promising
future for job seekers, for individuals interested in career
paths in sports economy.
Like I said, it takes a physical therapist. You talked
about a lot of the jobs, but it takes IT, marketing. There are
a lot of things that happen behind the scenes. And so this is a
question maybe for all the witnesses if you think you have
something to say about it. I am going to start with you, Ms.
Douglass Morgan. Elaborate a little bit more on the types of
jobs that people might not think that come because of the
sports or entertainment, maybe the people who build the shows,
all of that that really are--they come here because of our
sports economy.
Ms. Douglass Morgan. Sure. Thank you, Senator Rosen, and I
kind of briefly touched on this in my--in my prior remarks, but
the kind of new jobs that are going to be and that have been
created by our sports economy are truly limitless. And there
are additional ones every day as technology continues to kind
of--we use that to immerse with the customer service experience
in the stadium, and I am sure at the arenas at T-Mobile as
well. So every single industry is really impacted.
For us, we look at sports therapists, architects,
engineers, construction management, event planners, and the
list could truly go on and on. And the best part, again, is
being able to show these to our Southern Nevada and Nevada
residents as well, and giving them exposure to these potential
job --different job opportunities.
Senator Rosen. Thank you. Events planner. Maybe you can get
married at one of the sporting events. You can sure get
engaged.
Ms. Douglass Morgan. Oh, we have----
Senator Rosen. You put them on the big screen, right?
Ms. Douglass Morgan. Engaged, married, just hopefully not
divorced.
[Laughter.]
Ms. Douglass Morgan. But everything actually, yes, we can--
we can host type of any event, yes.
Senator Rosen. Put it on the kiss cam.
Ms. Douglass Morgan. Yes.
Senator Rosen. You have the kiss cam, right?
Ms. Douglass Morgan. Yes, absolutely.
Senator Rosen. There you go. Yes, please, the jobs.
Mr. Hornbuckle. Look, what we need to as an industry,
because we do suffer from this, is present this industry that
has better career track and career pathing for people because
it is real.
Senator Rosen. Mm-hmm.
Mr. Hornbuckle. I will take MGM Grand as a hotel. There are
418 different job categories.
Senator Rosen. Wow.
Mr. Hornbuckle. Four hundred and eighteen, from attorney
to--okay. I mean, just think about it, 400 different job
categories. So there is not probably a job--I mean, everything
from animal--we have we thousands of different of things people
do. Tiger training, yes, exactly.
[Laughter.]
Senator Rosen. What is the most unique job that--the tiger
training. Okay. There you go.
Mr. Hornbuckle. Yes, marine--we have a marine biologist
because we have turtles. And so anyway, so it is fascinating,
very fascinating, and so you can literally do anything in this
town, period, full stop. Where we need help is making sure that
entry-level people understand the--look, I started as a busboy
in this community. Forty-five years later, I am not. There are
huge opportunities within this industry. Getting Brand USA,
back to how you can help, and keeping it funded to do a better
job with and promote not only tourism here, but the opportunity
of, you know, what work can do for a career and career
development, I think is critical. And so any continued help
with that would be essential.
Senator Rosen. A call out to all marine biologists. Even in
the desert, you can have a job. I do like that one. There you
go. Do you want to--I know, Ms. Sewald, you have talked about
it a bunch, and then, Mr. Hill, if you have anything to add
about kind of the different jobs people might not expect that
support these new sports industry. I had a lot of
entertainment, but sports is--big sports, like we have, pretty
new.
Ms. Sewald. Yes, Senator. There are a lot of new
opportunities on the horizon, and researchers are forecasting
about a 12-and-a-half percent increase in job opportunities.
Senator Rosen. Yes.
Ms. Sewald. So while it is wonderful to have those new
opportunities----
Senator Rosen. Right.
Ms. Sewald.--like we have pointed out, the need for that
talented workforce is something that we are absolutely going to
have to solve for. But other opportunities include a growth in
new enterprises like coaching, for example. You know, coaching
instruction, that industry or a portion of the industry alone
has increased by about 150 percent. And so there are so many
entrepreneurial opportunities that go along with that, and so
we are really excited about that piece of it in--at the Vegas
Chamber as well because we have a lot of people asking us about
those very things, what are the opportunities and how can we
take advantage.
Senator Rosen. Las Vegas loves to be an incubator for
entrepreneurs. That is for sure. Anything? I know. Do you hire
a marine biologist, Mr. Hill, or maybe, maybe not. I do not
know. That is the most unique one I have heard so far.
Mr. Hill. We will leave that one to Mr. Hornbuckle.
[Laughter.]
Mr. Hill. When you look at what happens in Las Vegas, in
any one of the major properties, as an example, the general
manager of the MGM is like the mayor of a pretty decent sized
city. It is--you know, you have got 6,000, 8,000, 10,000
employees. You have 10,000 guests, 12,000 guests at a time.
There may be more. Everything happens. The same thing happens
in this building here when we have 40,000, 50,000, a hundred
thousand people. It is--it is a big place. Every type of job
that you would be interested is available in Las Vegas.
Sports brings all the jobs that have been mentioned. A lot
of what sports is about is the content, the media, the
broadcasting, the production, the social media aspects of this.
We are the intellectual center of endgame betting, which is
this virtuous circle that creates fans. My wife is now an NFL
fan because she plays fantasy football, you know. All of those
things matter, and there are jobs around all of that.
Senator Rosen. If you play fantasy football, do your teams
compete on that? I do not know. I maybe would not suggest be a
fan of her team. I think you are better off there.
[Laughter.]
Senator Rosen. But what I want to ask you now, of course,
all of this does not happen without transportation. Of course,
we are a unique city because we were really built for being a
resort town, right? So we have an airport close by, and a
fairly small footprint compared to some of the other larger
cities. And so I want to talk a little bit with all of you
about transportation because the large influx of visitors, we
probably plus up and go maybe down in the mid-week and up on
maybe the weekend where these events might take place.
We have a challenge of providing reliable transportation
options to move people around the city. And one of the efforts
to address the Strip's frequently clogged traffic is the Vegas
loop. It is right here at the Las Vegas Convention Center. It
is an all-electric, zero-emission, high-speed underground
public transportation tunnel. It is a system that carries
people in Tesla cars. And we know Vegas Loop is expanding
throughout the Strip downtown to Allegiant Stadium and the
airport with, I believe, about 81 planned stations. Maybe they
have added some more. You could correct me there.
Another option we have, people see it above ground, the Las
Vegas monorail, which connects lots of Las Vegas with the
Convention Center, some of the--our big resorts. And so, Mr.
Hill, Mr. Hornbuckle, Ms. Sewell--Sewald, excuse me--what do we
need to do better? How ow can we help, me, at the Federal
level? I know that you work in partnership with our
transportation community to be sure we get everybody over to
Allegiant Stadium, to the T-Mobile here, there--here, there,
and everywhere, I guess I am going to say that. So I guess we
will start at the end with you, Mr. Hill, please.
Mr. Hill. Thank you, Chair Rosen. I will say that Las Vegas
does this better than most any place else for a couple of
reasons. Again, we are built as a platform for this, so while
it can be a little frustrating to be in----
Senator Rosen. Mm-hmm.
Mr. Hill.--maybe traffic for a couple of miles, it beats
being in traffic for 20----
Senator Rosen. Mm-hmm.
Mr. Hill.--which is virtually impossible here in terms of
our visitors getting to events. And you see when T-Mobile
opened and the Golden Knights played there, when Allegiant
Stadium opened and the Raiders played there, for the first few
games it was, it was a little bit of a tangle, but we learn
quickly, and it is a pretty seamless experience at this point.
Senator Rosen. Mm-hmm.
Mr. Hill. We are going to tax it a little bit over the next
number of months. Just as an example, in a 3-and-a-half month
stretch, from the beginning of November until the middle of
February, we have SEMA here with 160,000 people, and then we
have Formula 1 with a similar number of people. In December, we
will have the rodeo. We will have the first in-season NBA
tournament played when the rodeo is also here. Early in
January, we will have CES and another 150,000 people, then we
will have the Super Bowl in the middle of February.
No place in the world can do that, and it is--it is a
testament to how we move people around here. We are proud of
The Boring Company system. We are excited to see it expand. We
are proud to be the owners of the monorail and actually have it
be profitable. It is doing well enough that we are looking for
ways to extend the years of operation there.
Senator Rosen. Well, that is what I said. How can I help,
thinking outside the box----
Mr. Hill. Yes.
Senator Rosen. And, like, we are going to bring--hopefully
bring that Brightline train d
Mr. Hill. Yes, absolutely.
Senator Rosen. I will ask you.
Mr. Hill. Yes. Thank you.
Senator Rosen. Let us know.
Ms. Sewald. Yes, ma'am. Thank you, Senator. I just wonder
if we should call Bill ``Mayor Hornbuckle'' now.
[Laughter.]
Senator Rosen. I was--I was planning to when I called on
him next.
Ms. Sewald. Sorry.
Mr. Hornbuckle. No, it does not pay enough. Thank you.
[Laughter.]
Senator Rosen. Mayor of MGM we will call him.
Ms. Sewald. Yes, and, I mean, I have to echo, I would say
considering the challenges, we know what they are, but we have
a world class airport. We have the loop. We have the monorail.
Senator Rosen. We want to be forward thinking, right.
Ms. Sewald. Congratulations to Steve and the team for
monetizing that monorail because I think there was a time when
there was question about that, so congratulations again on
that. You know, we are--we are also working on our relationship
and leveraging the value of the Regional Transportation
Commission. RTC is a--is a huge benefit for us, so any way that
we could bolster the RTC is probably going to be another way
that we could facilitate additional travel options.
Senator Rosen. Mm-hmm.
Ms. Sewald. Yes.
Senator Rosen. Perfect. Please.
Ms. Douglass Morgan. Great segue. I was actually going to
highlight that we have instituted our Game Day Express that
solves for transit and parking to Allegiant Stadium. We have
also worked with other transportation providers, whether it be
taxi and ride share companies as well, to kind of ensure that
we are having a good, smooth common ingress and egress to
Allegiant Stadium. But the Game Day Express from the Regional
Transportation Commission has definitely been an amazing
partnership between the Raiders and them, again, another
government entity, but very forward thinking and making sure
they are--they are really enhancing the overall Game Day
experience for the--for the fans that are at the stadium.
Senator Rosen. Yes. I know a lot of people that take that
Game Day Express, too, and they have other similar programs
for, I believe, T-Mobile and other events. It is a--it is a
game changer on game or concert day. How's that? So mayor of
MGM, Mr. Hornbuckle.
Mr. Hornbuckle. All right. Do not start. Please do not
start that.
[Laughter.]
Senator Rosen. No, we will not.
Mr. Hornbuckle. Please.
Senator Rosen. Mr. Hornbuckle, please. You know what?
Mr. Hornbuckle. Thank you. Thank you, Senator.
Senator Rosen. You know what? How do we help get people
around, and what are you thinking about because I want to fund
innovation in transportation.
Mr. Hornbuckle. Look, I think the community does a very
good job and will continue to do so on local transportation.
Obviously, the vision around what is happening underground here
and ultimately extend down the Strip --
Senator Rosen. Mm-hmm.
Mr. Hornbuckle.--I think is fascinating to watch. I do not
think it is a hundred percent figured out, and that is kind of
the interest and the fun in it, but I think it will be
meaningful over the long haul. Yes, I would continue to stay
focused on helping us get folks here.
Senator Rosen. Mm-hmm. Okay.
Mr. Hornbuckle. So, I mean, even think about McCarran.
McCarran is doing 45,000, 48,000--million visitors, thousand.
You know, the capacity of that thing is 55,000 or 56,000, and
then it starts getting a little shaky. It does not happen
overnight. That is a decade from now, if you started today, to
really do anything that is impactful. So thinking about
McCarran.
Senator Rosen. Mm-hmm.
Mr. Hornbuckle. Thinking about an alternate to all kinds
of--you know, you cannot move the airport, nor do you want to,
but what else can be done? Obviously I-15 we hammered on.
Brightline is important. And then go back to some of Steve's
comments and the earlier comments, Convention is essential to
this community now. I can speak for corporate America, meaning
the business that comes to us via Convention, by and large,
with exception of Mandalay, it is down about 10 points still,
and it has not fully recovered from COVID. And in this
community, we rely heavily, heavily on tech because it is
obviously--not obviously, but----
Senator Rosen. Mm-hmm.
Mr. Hornbuckle.--Northern West Base, whether it is Seattle
and/or down through California, and that business, you all can
pick up the paper and see what is happening within that sector.
And so picking up 10,000 people and, hey, let us go to Vegas
for the weekend, is not high on that agenda right now. And so
keeping us as a first-class destination that has just the ease
of in and out is just so critical to us.
Senator Rosen. Mm-hmm.
Mr. Hornbuckle. And the same with international. We are not
fully recovered there, most notably China. I know there are
some initiatives to begin to open up air back and forth on a
bilateral basis.
Senator Rosen. Mm-hmm.
Mr. Hornbuckle. Really important to, I think, this
community in the long haul. In that instance, it is not
necessarily the magnitude of visitors. It is the quantum of
economics they bring----
Senator Rosen. Mm-hmm.
Mr. Hornbuckle.--that is really important to us. And so
just helping and continuing to help, as you have been from the
outside, on those key initiatives is where I think your office,
your committee, and, ultimately, Congress can help us the best.
Senator Rosen. Well, thank you, and I--you just talked
about the tech sector, so you do not even--you did not even
realize that is a segue into my next comment. And I could start
again, I guess--actually, I could go down the line. I know that
all of you might be using different platforms and innovative
new technologies for your organizations to attract the events,
to support the events. And we think about the tech industry, of
course, so critical to so much of what we do. Of course,
important we have really good broadband, that we have that good
working Internet and robust everywhere across the country,
especially here in Nevada. But do any of you want to talk about
the tech side of what some of this means and some of the, maybe
interesting or--aspects that you are working on?
Mr. Hornbuckle. Maybe I will kick it off.
Senator Rosen. We will go back that way. How's this?
Mr. Hornbuckle. Oh, I am sorry.
Senator Rosen. No, that is all right. I figured I will just
go back and forth this way.
[Laughter.]
Mr. Hornbuckle. For us, the digital platform has become
critical. So now, arguably, when you land at the airport--well,
you get in a day before. Do you want to check in electronically
on your phone? The answer is yes. Do you want to use this as
your registration and room key? Hopefully answer is yes. And so
by the time you hit the elevator in your room, you go like
this, and you are let into your room.
Senator Rosen. Vacation begins.
Mr. Hornbuckle. Vacation begins at home, and so the
opportunity to set that tech----
Senator Rosen. Mm-hmm.
Mr. Hornbuckle.--to keep the environment here ripe for
employees to want to come here, to make sure we have in play
when it comes to tech industry--it is a sector we could and
should not have historically needed to grow into is one side of
it. The other side of it is our industry, and Steve alluded to
this, sports betting has become a huge content draw for Raiders
or anyone else for that matter, new eyeballs, new focus, new
people. Many of Las Vegas' companies are behind it in a
significant way, whether it is domestic or here in the local
community, but, most notably, domestically and even
internationally in our case, making this environment ripe for
that. It is a place that this community and our industry ought
to own, and, frankly, we have let things like that get away
from us to places like Atlantic City and New Jersey. So getting
the State refocused on being tech savvy and tech friendly in
every way, shape, or form.
Senator Rosen. Yes.
Mr. Hornbuckle. This community ought to own the notion of
tech anything to touch gaming, it just ought to, and so helping
us stay focused on that would be exactly that helpful.
Senator Rosen. Yes. Creating innovation and
entrepreneurship and all of that, especially for our small
businesses that help our large businesses----
Mr. Hornbuckle. Yes.
Senator Rosen.--I am key to supporting that. Please.
Ms. Douglass Morgan. At Allegiant Stadium, we are
definitely encouraging new innovative technology, from being
able to order food and beverages from your seat through our--
for our partnerships with some biometric companies actually
being able to allow a purchase of alcoholic beverages from your
seats as well. We have implemented a lot of just touchless
concessions where you can--and I had to go through it myself
because I did not believe it, but you just kind of--you pick
up, you know, a bottle of water, a bag of chips. You walk right
through. You really do not have to interact with anyone. And we
initially implemented that on our upper levels in the upper
bowls, and it was so popular that we are bringing in all the
way down throughout the stadium.
Senator Rosen. Mm-hmm.
Ms. Douglass Morgan. So constantly looking at ways to
engage and enhance the customer experience, obviously wanting
people to get back in their seats and still enjoy the game or
the entertainment we have to offer. So, you know, I am just so
proud of our stadium and the investment that the community has
given in it, but also the investment with respect to broadband,
Wi-Fi, and just making sure it is a connected stadium as well.
I think the Super Bowl coming is definitely going to help with
that. From the other teams that I have talked to, anytime it is
there, you know, we want to make sure it is, again, the best
show on earth, and that is definitely the going to be a benefit
that our stadium will receive after the game.
Senator Rosen. And reducing the time people wait in line so
they can have more fun.
Ms. Douglass Morgan. Yes. Mm-Hmm.
Senator Rosen. I think everybody's all for that. Would you
have anything to add about the--some of the interesting
innovation platforms or tech that you are using, hoping to use
that people should know about?
Ms. Sewald. Yes, ma'am. We have all seen in the--in the
news a lot lately, and this is something that is a high
priority for the Vegas Chamber, and that is AI, artificial
intelligence.
Senator Rosen. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Ms. Sewald. We plan at Preview Las Vegas this year in
January, we will have a large section of the program focused on
AI.
Senator Rosen. Mm-hmm.
Ms. Sewald. So that is something that we are focused on and
we are looking at. We are getting some member interest in----
Senator Rosen. Mm-hmm.
Ms. Sewald.--educating themselves about it and learning
more so that they can use that. In terms of the LVCVA, and I
will let Steve speak to this as well, we use a lot of
technology to market the destination.
Senator Rosen. Mm-Hmm.
Ms. Sewald. Kate Wick, I get to serve on the marketing
committee, and we use a ton of social influencers, social
media, and so forth. So I think that has also made a big--
probably a really big dent in the whole process for the
destination to really maximize the social media platform.
Senator Rosen. Mm-hmm. So STEM education and good
broadband.
Ms. Sewald. Yes, absolutely.
Senator Rosen. Okay. I got it.
Mr. Hill. Kate is in the audience, so I ought to let Kate
come up and answer part of this question.
[Laughter.]
Mr. Hill. But certainly the way that we have marketed Vegas
over the last decade or two has changed pretty dramatically. It
used to be print and television, and now it is largely social
media. It is also largely personalized, and the ability to
understand what our customers want----
Senator Rosen. Data, right. Mm-hmm.
Mr. Hill.--and connect them to what they are looking for
just keeps improving, and that will be a part of artificial
intelligence as well. I will mention that there are real
opportunities in technology to make the travel experience
seamless.
Senator Rosen. Mm-Hmm.
Mr. Hill. All the biometrics that are available there, the
improvement of those, the implementation of those. You,
Senator, mentioned the waiting in line concept.
Senator Rosen. Yes.
Mr. Hill. Basically, any place----
Senator Rosen. No one likes waiting in line. No one.
Mr. Hill. Any place that somebody is waiting in line is an
opportunity for technology to solve that problem because that
is not what anybody--you are right. That is not what anybody
wants to do, so we are focused on that here, but we see the
opportunity for application, particularly around events and in
the travel space that will really help make everything just
more enjoyable and more efficient.
Senator Rosen. So really us in Congress helping to promote,
I would say, a lot of STEM education, engineers, innovative
thinking, these are things that are done really well with our
small business and entrepreneurship communities as they try to
imagine maybe some things that are niche for a convention or
for a sporting event, and, of course, they can be maybe scaled
up, so thank you for that.
I want to kind of round this out with my last question
because I am--I am proud to be--serve on many committees that
intersect with the Tourism Committee here that I hold the gavel
on in Commerce and Transportation. I am also on the Homeland
Security Committee, like I said, and on the Small Business and
Entrepreneurship Committee. But I was really pleased that the
appropriations bill that we passed in 2023 was signed into law,
in December, it included my Omnibus Travel and Tourism Act, and
like we spoke about, this kind of wraps it all up here, created
the position of assistant secretary of commerce for travel and
tourism. I am going to talk a little bit about the jobs for
everyone out --what this new secretary position is so everybody
understands it. It has quite a few things in it.
The new assistant secretary is required to increase and
facilitate international business travel to the U.S., like we
have talked about, including facilitating large conferences,
exhibitions, emphasizing rural destinations. We have beautiful,
vast public lands here in Nevada, beautiful mountains. It is
wonderful for people to take a drive out, maybe under 3 days,
and see some of that, and we want to support our ecotourism. We
want to facilitate sports and recreation events and activities
in the U.S.
The other thing that this new position will do is, for the
first time, create a national strategy that overlooks really
the--or oversees the umbrella of what it takes for our tourism
economy because as you have heard here today, it is a lot of
things. Well, maybe at the base it is broadband, IT. We need
that fiber everywhere, right? It is important. Whether you are
a large community like ours or smaller community, people want
to come here to visit. They have to have it at home. It is
about our infrastructure--our roads, our ports, our bridges,
our trains. Your vacation experience begins the minute you
leave your front door, sometimes even before if you could check
in now, right?
Having our workforce, whether it is labor to build it,
whether it is--again, we want to talk about the marketing, the
STEM, all of these different jobs, even a marine biologist and
a tiger trainer at MGM, but there are so many more jobs than
people imagine. So how do we build out our workforce robustly
to take on all of these new jobs, empower our small business
community? Again, Department of Homeland Security, how are we
sure here and somewhere, like Las Vegas, in a small area, that
we are safe? People come here. They feel safe and secure for
these large, amazing events, boosting our international
tourism, of course, and our visa process.
So I wanted to bring that up because this new position is
extremely important. Tourism is the top economic driver in
Nevada, but for the United States of America, it is a top
economic driver, I would say, in every State in this country--
in our beautiful country. And so what happens in this case in
Las Vegas, what we do in this top destination, those best
practices, maybe they do not just stay here. We get to export
them out and let others learn for that. And so can all--would
you each like to give is maybe some closing remark or comment
about what you think about how this--having this person in this
position and going forward, funding this position and thinking
about it, what do we do for a new--new airports 10 years from
now. How are we thinking not just for today, but for tomorrow,
and how does Congress, Federal Government, State and local
partner, to be sure that it lasts? So I am going to start in
the middle this time. Ms. Douglass Morgan, I will start with
you. How's that? We will go with the ladies, then we will--we
will go in the end there.
Ms. Douglass Morgan. I think having, Senator Rosen, to your
point, having someone that is dedicated and truly focused on
all of the different pieces that you just outlined in your--in
your kind of initial remarks looking forward and not just kind
of being a little reactive, and being able to kind of use the
playbook, really, that Steve and the LVCVA has already created
on what does it take to be able to have a strong, stable,
collaborative tourist destination. And I think that Southern
Nevada has really been the golden child in that.
And so having one person that is dedicated for the country
that can kind of focus on that and help and grow and build
different communities to be able to really strongly establish a
tourism economy is--would be incredibly important. I think that
I would nominate Steve Hill to do that when he is----
[Laughter.]
Ms. Douglass Morgan.--maybe not in the LVCVA because has
done an incredible job, but it really would--I do think that
Southern Nevada has been the blueprint of that, and I think
those of us that have been here for a while have taken it for
granted because when you have events like F1, like the Super
Bowl, these--the great thing about Nevada is that there is a
mentality to kind of get things done. So when you are working
with the airport, you are working with NDOT, you are working
with RTC, you are working with the private sector, everyone is
willing to go in because they know that if they are working
together, it benefits everyone as a whole. So your vision in
having that position, I think would be incredibly important,
not only to the State but to the country as a whole.
Senator Rosen. And any other thing you want to let us know
that I have not asked before I move on to round out the last
question?
Ms. Douglass Morgan. No, I just--if anything, we really
appreciate having the opportunity to tell our story and what--
and how your leadership and what you have done has really
helped us all to flourish.
Senator Rosen. Thank you.
Ms. Douglass Morgan. Yes.
Senator Rosen. Thank you. Ms. Sewald?
Ms. Sewald. Thank you. Now we have Mr. Mayor and Mr.
Secretary.
[Laughter.]
Ms. Sewald. You are giving everybody new jobs up here.
Senator Rosen. I am just telling you, you know what? I say
what happens in Vegas does not stay here. We want to export all
the good things out, and we are going to be the master plan.
Ms. Sewald. Yes, absolutely. Your vision for focusing on
this initiative, I think, is going to be critical for our
destination for our entire State and for our country as well. I
think one of the things that we are working on at the Vegas
Chamber in conjunction with the Governor's Office is things
like additional trade missions.
Senator Rosen. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Ms. Sewald. Those things are going to be highly beneficial
not only for our--you know, for our local businesses and
employers and our economy----
Senator Rosen. Mm-hmm.
Ms. Sewald.--but also for, you know, as we look ahead to
economic development and expanding our footprint here in
Southern Nevada, obviously with corporations that are--that
have a friendly water footprint and so forth, so these are--
these are things that we are looking at.
Senator Rosen. Mm-hmm.
Ms. Sewald. But I think that this position is going to be--
have an exponential benefit for the destination and probably
the entire State and country.
Senator Rosen. Mm-hmm. Really working maybe with our mayors
and governors--we do that very well here--on those trade
missions so people get educated about what they can do here.
That is something great I can help partner on too, as well. I
am not going to call you ``Mr. Secretary,'' but we will--we
will make a little--Mr. Hill, please.
Mr. Hill. The appointment or the creation of this assistant
secretary position was long overdue. Tourism is 10 percent of
the GDP in this country. The fact that we did not have an
assistant secretary over something that is that important in
the country is really an omission, and we really appreciate the
work that you did to fill that void. The Federal Government, as
you may not know, is a little tough to navigate at times.
Senator Rosen. A little.
Mr. Hill. And having a place to go, having an office that
is the focal point for our industry is really important. There
are ramifications from not having that position that we are
still trying to--and are recovering from, trying to still
recover from. For example, there has been a transportation
freight plan in this country for decades, and just until a few
years ago, the first time we had a transportation plan for
people.
Senator Rosen. Right.
Mr. Hill. And that is the type of omission that happens
when you do not have a central point of contact that can shine
a spotlight on this industry and the specific needs for this
industry, so it is really critical that that position is there.
Thank you for putting that together, and I also just want to
mention that I really appreciate Congress funding Brand USA.
Senator Rosen. Yes.
Mr. Hill. You know, putting on my old economic development
hat, economic development largely is about bringing money from
outside of your jurisdiction into your jurisdiction.
Senator Rosen. Mm-Hmm.
Mr. Hill. Tourism does that, 10 percent of our economy, and
Brand USA is the LVCVA for the Federal Government.
Senator Rosen. Mm-Hmm.
Mr. Hill. During the pandemic, they did not have funding.
Senator Rosen. I see.
Mr. Hill. And Congress stepped up----
Senator Rosen. Mm-Hmm.
Mr. Hill.--and just helped Brand USA recover, which is the
recruiting organization that we have----
Senator Rosen. That is right.
Mr. Hill.--to bring tourists internationally to the United
States, critical organization. Thank you for doing that.
Senator Rosen. Of course. Well, thank you. Well, Mr.
Hornbuckle, I am going to give you the last word about the
assistant secretary and just what you think about what we are
doing here.
Mr. Hornbuckle. Sure, and, again, thank you for getting it
here, obviously, and anything we can all do to help get it
funded, giving programming, giving budget, which is never
simple, so we respect that and appreciate that, will be
critical. You know, because of TTAB, or the tourism, I have had
the opportunity to meet with three secretaries now. One was
facilitated by your office, so thank you. So between Secretary
Raimondo, Buttigieg, and Mayorkas, the opportunity to
coordinate. Steve said it. These departments are massive in
terms of employees and remit and what they can focus on. And so
the opportunity to have someone--just forget what happens
locally, but to bridge what happens back in D.C. is--it just
does not go anywhere without that, and it--I think we have seen
some of the outcroppings because of that, so I think it is
hugely important.
I would also echo Steve's comments on Brand USA. What is
the brand USA budget, like $7 million, $5 million? It is some--
it is a de minimis amount of money.
Senator Rosen. Yes.
Mr. Hornbuckle. Steve's budget here is literally 10 times
what Brand USA's budget is, put it in perspective, and we are
talking about promoting America --
Senator Rosen. That is right.
Mr. Hill.--of which we are a major destination. And so you
are help in continuing to keep that funded is just essential,
but the assistant secretary is a priority other than visa
waiver.
Senator Rosen. Yes.
Mr. Hill. And keeping that alive could not be more
important, so thank you for your efforts there.
Senator Rosen. Well, thank you. I just I know all of you
sitting out here, I am just so lucky. We are also lucky here in
Nevada to have leaders like the one you see on the stage with
me today and some of the leaders sitting out there. I see many
friends out here and, of course, ones that could not be with us
today. I really do believe that the intersectionality of
technology, of labor, transportation, workforce, all of the
things we talked about with great fun music venues, sports
venues, world-class dining, all of those things, it matters,
our goods, our services, our transportation, our workforce. And
so I really feel like Las Vegas is in really good hands because
the four of you are here to support not just the business hat
you put on every day, but you care about the Nevada community.
And that is where the heart comes in, and that is what makes
the collaboration work be successful. So I thank you.
And so now for a little bit of housekeeping, the hearing
record will remain open for two weeks until Friday, September 8
of 2023. Any senators that would like to submit questions for
the record may do so. You might get some questions from someone
else on Commerce, but they need to do that by Friday, September
8, 2023. And so for those of you who testified today, if we do
get additional questions, we ask that your responses be
returned to the Committee as quickly as possible, and then no
later--in no case later than two weeks after receipt.
And I know we have lots more to do. We have another big
opening of another great entertainment venue coming up pretty
soon. That is just going to be another value-add to our world-
class destination. We look forward to having future field
hearings talking about all of that, and someone special is
going to open that new venue. I think it is Bono and U2, and I
have a quote from him, and I am going to close with this:
``Here's to the future. The only limits are our imagination.''
So thank you for being here. Thank you all.
This hearing is concluded.
[Whereupon, the Subcommittee was adjourned.]
[all]