LAS VEGAS (KSNV) — "It's going to be the pinnacle for Super Bowls," said Steve Hill, President and CEO of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA). "The NFL probably won't say this, but we want them to feel like we want to come every year," he added, as he prepared to speak as a panelist at a Vegas Chamber gathering inside The Orleans to help small businesses around the valley take advantage of what's expected to be a massive economic windfall for the local economy.

"The combination of the NFL brand bringing the Super Bowl to Las Vegas, and our brand," Hill added, "there's just nothing like it."

And, according to Vegas Chamber president Mary Beth Sewald, the goal is to make sure the economic benefits continue long after Super Bowl 58 is in the history books. "The small business community needs to benefit long after the event happens," Sewald said. She described the purpose for the panel discussion in simple terms. "We are connecting the smallest businesses in Las Vegas and across the state with things like the Super Bowl so they can get connected, and they can actually do business together."

Small business owner Shaundell Newsome was among the hundreds of guests at the luncheon, and knew exactly what he wanted to learn. "I want to hear about how we make all of these things connect to the community. How do small businesses get to participate," he said.

"One of the things I think is really exciting is that there's the Business Connect Program, which it looks like we're gonna have opportunities not only to participate in what's happening in the Super Bowl, but beyond that, in many other sports," Newsome said he also believes small businesses will have the ability to profit in the future because of the network being set up for the Super Bowl. "They're going to keep a database and keep us on track with those, and then reach out to some of us that have successfully participated in the procurement activities."

Las Vegas Super Bowl Host Committee president and CEO Sam Joffray says his team is carefully studying the economic impact Super Bowl 57 had on the Phoenix metropolitan area and using it and other economic data to start projecting how much Las Vegas could benefit from the game next February.

Joffray says there is definitely new economic momentum as the nation becomes more removed from the COVID-19 pandemic and shutdown. "We came back from Phoenix after watching Super Bowl 57 there and study within a number of different groups of our committee members and contingencies," Joffray said. "Looking at all the different data points from Super Bowl, especially how they compared post-COVID from Los Angeles to Tampa, it was a very unique Super Bowl in Los Angeles, kind of a rebirth. And then we really saw that swell happening in Phoenix."

Based on that projection, Joffray says the economic impact, conservatively, on Las Vegas could be between $600-800 million and could easily go higher.

"I think that once you take what is quantifiable and what we study, and what we track from the number of hotel rooms and rates and restaurant spending and vendor spending, taxes generated," Joffray said. "You take that as direct economic impact and the indirect economic impact on top of that. I think we could easily see a billion dollars."

Small businesses interested in participating in the host committee's Business Connect program can visit lvsuperbowlhc.com.