Change of scenery welcomed by NASCAR (cont'd)

You won't hear much of that in Las Vegas, where NASCAR has a more than willing partner in the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA), which used a site fee reportedly between $500,000 and $1 million annually to secure a three-year contract. There's also Las Vegas Motor Speedway, whose management team played a key lobbying role in helping convince NASCAR to move the event.

"You look at the Victory Lap, the drivers driving the cars down Fifth Avenue or whatever it was, and the expense involved that NASCAR had to foot," said speedway president Chris Powell. "Now you have a partner in the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority that is helping foot the bill, and the bill is not nearly as high as it was in New York. It made perfect sense. There were so many upsides to bringing the whole week to Las Vegas. The only thing you really lost is it's not New York. It's not New York in December, and there was a certain amount of cachet that went with that. But 28 years later, I think this is a proper move to make."

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Las Vegas will be a nice, refreshing thing, a shot in the arm a little bit this time of year for us and for the industry.

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BRIAN FRANCE

Powell and his boss, Speedway Motorsports Inc. mogul Bruton Smith, had been lobbying NASCAR to consider moving the event for several years. At Smith's urging, Powell wrote a letter to NASCAR chairman Brian France, and also talked with the CEO and vice chairman Jim France on a number of occasions, including last year in the lobby of the Waldorf. In 2007, Powell hosted LVCVA president Rossi Ralenkotter at the event in New York. All the while, Powell preached the message -- that New York was cost prohibitive and indifferent, that the Waldorf was growing too small, that Las Vegas could do the event the way it was meant to be done.

"Ten years ago it would have been ruled out, dismissed out of hand," Powell said. "Three and four years ago we started getting feedback that there was interest. We started to hear there was an open mind in Daytona."

It all came together quickly. As recently as last year's banquet, NASCAR officials talked openly about New York's importance to the sport and keeping the event in Manhattan in the immediate future. But everyone in the sport was feeling the effects of the down economy, and the idea of spending $500 a night on a shoe-boxed sized room wasn't very popular anymore. In early 2009 the idea of moving Champion's Week to Las Vegas began to pick up steam. By April, the deal was done.

"Las Vegas will be a nice, refreshing thing, a shot in the arm a little bit this time of year for us and for the industry," Brian France said. "It's going to save a lot of money, starting with that, which is important in this economy. But also the fact that the city of Las Vegas is so welcoming, the Wynn hotel has been incredible. My anticipation is it's going to be a fun week and attendance is going to be at an all-time high, in part because we have the capacity to expand because the venue lets us do that, and in part because I think people just want to come to Las Vegas in December."

NASCAR is taking advantage of the multitude of venues that Las Vegas has to offer. The Wynn will serve as event headquarters and host the awards ceremony itself, which is scheduled for Friday at 9 p.m. Eastern and will be televised by Speed. The Venetian will host the after party as well as Thursday's National Motorports Press Association/Myers Brothers Awards. The MGM Grand will act as the starting and ending point for the Victory Lap. Wednesday, the speedway will host a free fan-fest and a $250 charity roast hosted by Las Vegas personality Carrot Top.

Powell believes there's plenty of room for expansion, envisioning things like motorcycle rides through Red Rocks canyon and trade-show-style exhibits for sponsors. And he also thinks it will be evident to visitors that NASCAR is in town.

"The city is very excited about it," Powell said. "We've done a pretty good job out here of making people aware that championship week for the past 28 years had been at the Waldorf in New York. The hotel industry here in town is especially appreciative that NASCAR and the speedway and also the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority have worked together to bring the industry to Las Vegas. This is a town that has been hard-hit by this economic downturn, probably as bad as any city in the country outside of Detroit. So it is a wonderful thing to bring Champion's Week to Las Vegas, without question. It has reverberated in the community."

In that respect, Las Vegas has already achieved something that New York never did.