Caesars Becomes First Founding Partner Of The Las Vegas Stadium

Caesars Entertainment has signed a signature deal with the Las Vegas Raiders. Caesars will become the first founding partner of the Las Vegas Stadium, where the Raiders will play their home games.
It is the Raiders’ first deal with a gaming company, and they can expect to see some major benefits. The president of the Raiders, Marc Badain, commented:
“The Raiders are proud to welcome Caesars Entertainment as a founding partner of Las Vegas Stadium. We are honored to align with a company that shares the Raiders’ values of improving the local community and delivering exceptional customer service in creating this transformative project.”
But it isn’t Caesars’ first sports sponsorship deal.
Just days ago, the company agreed a deal with the Philadelphia 76ers (NBA) and the New Jersey Devils (NHL). Earlier it struck a deal with the Baltimore Ravens (NFL) as “Maryland’s only pa rtnership between an NFL team and a casino.”
Caesars now has deals in three of the four biggest leagues where sports bets are placed. With the NFL, NBA and NHL covered, an MLB deal could be under discussion.
Benefits for Raiders fans and Caesars patrons
Chris Holdren, Chief Marketing Officer for Caesars Entertainment, said:
“With this deep partnership, Caesars will become an essential part of the game time ritual for Raiders fans everywhere. From activations to exclusive experiences, fans of the silver and black will see Caesars as their home on game day.”
Raiders fans will see:
- Caesars “host” a branded entrance to the stadium and a drop-off zone
- Branding will be visible on digital signage, media, radio and print assets
- Caesars will host alumni, player and cheerleader appearances
Members of Caesars’ Total Rewards program will be eligible for benefits including:
- Access to the customized Caesars-branded Owners Suite at the 50-yard line of the Las Vegas stadium
- VIP dinners on the field
- Training facility events
- Fantasy camp participation
- Stadium tours
- Tickets to home games and most stadium events
The new 65,000-seat stadium should attract 520,000 people to home games each year. Current plans have the stadium opening in time for the 2020 NFL season.
Legal sports betting is driving more league and team deals
Little did the Supreme Court justices know what they were unleashing when they overturned PASPA in May of this year.
Of course, access to legal, safe, state-regulated sports betting was an obvious outcome. But the extent to which legal sports betting is driving business investment in sports teams was not so easy to forecast.
In the last month, the American Gaming Association (AGA) contracted Nielsen Sports to estimate the benefits sports leagues can expect from legal sports betting.
In total, the AGA concluded that the big four sports leagues would receive an extra $4.2 billion in revenues. The extra will come from:
- Increased fan engagement, leading to better game attendance and merchandise sales
- Additional media revenues
- Gaming company sponsorships like this one
The NFL, including teams like the Raiders, will get the lion’s share of the extra revenues. The AGA broke the figures down by league:
- NFL should see additional revenues of $2.326 billion
- MLB should increase revenues by $1.106 billion
- NHL should see an extra $216 million
- NBA will get an extra $425 million
This deal between Caesars and the Raiders isn’t the first and it won’t be the last. There are 32 teams in the NFL, and every single one of them is probably being approached by potential sports betting sponsors.