Bye-bye, Orlando. Hello, Las Vegas.
After five years of holding the final competition of its five-stop series in Orlando, the Dew Tour is heading to Las Vegas, where it hopes to create a signature destination event in the desert.
The tour’s organizers, Alli Sports, signed a one-year deal with Las Vegas Events, the Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority and the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino to hold the Dew Tour Championships Oct. 14-17 at the Hard Rock. The Dew Tour typically commands mid-six-figure deals to bring its events to a city.
The event is expected to be announced today.
Orlando joins at least four cities that
the Dew Tour has visited and then
cut from its lineup.
With the move to Las Vegas, the NBC- and MTV-owned Dew Tour becomes the latest sports property to bring a showcase event to the desert city. Local groups such as Las Vegas Events have increased efforts in the last few years to bring major events to the city by offering dollars to the NHL, PBR, NASCAR and others to bring their awards shows and competitions to town. The effort is designed to help the city, which was particularly hard hit by the recession, continue to attract tourists.
The Dew Tour offers the city significant TV exposure and the chance to reach a new demographic, said Pat Christenson, president of Las Vegas Events. He expects the Dew Tour to return in future years and begin to build ancillary events such as an action sports convention that could occur at other Las Vegas hotels.
“We have rodeo, we have motorsports and we have other events,” Christenson said, “but this gives us the ability to work with NBC and Alli to really grow a whole new category of event for us.”
The Dew Tour plans to promote the event with a new marketing campaign called “Dew Vegas.”
The event represents a shift for the tour from a more spectator-focused championship event to a more made-for-TV and destination championship event. It will host the park competition in the Hard Rock Hotel’s music venue, the Joint, and is considering setting up the vert ramp on top of the hotel’s pool.
“The priority here will be on the cool look and feel of the venue,” said Dew Tour General Manager Chris Prybylo. “There’s a lot of space around the Hard Rock and it’s going to create some great viewing. We’ll still get the general fans in and around Vegas, but we’ll also get a lot of the core, action sports fans from Southern California.”
 Dew Tour Schedule |
| Event | Dates | City | Facility |
| Skate Open | June 25-26 | Boston | TD Garden |
| Nike 6.0 BMX Open | July 23-25 | Chicago | Museum Campus |
| Wendy’s Invitational | Aug. 12-15 | Portland | Rose Quarter |
| Toyota Challenge | Sept. 16-19 | Salt Lake City | EnergySolutions Arena |
| Dew Tour Championships | Oct. 14-17 | Las Vegas | Hard Rock Hotel & Casino |
The Hard Rock is no stranger to action sports. It hosted one of skateboarder Danny Way’s biggest stunts in 2006 when he dropped into a vert ramp from the casino’s giant guitar. It also serves as the official host hotel of the Monster Energy Supercross Finals.
Dew Tour officials are looking to sell a title sponsorship for the event. PlayStation, which previously title-sponsored the Orlando event, has stepped back to an associate-level sponsorship.
Existing sponsors will be able to activate in a new market, but they likely will reach fewer spectators on site in Vegas. The event will be ticketed but isn’t expected to host the more than 50,000 fans in the sponsor village that typically turned out over three days in Orlando.
“We’re still planning to do real numbers, but Vegas provides a lot of other opportunities from a promotional level that could make up from any real attendance drop we have,” said Alli Sports President Wade Martin.
Since its inception in 2006, the Dew Tour has visited and dropped at least five cities, including Louisville, Denver, Baltimore, San Jose and Orlando. Martin believes by visiting new cities the tour can build its fan base by exposing the product to more people.
“We’ll certainly draw a local fan base and expose them to the product,” he said. “But Las Vegas is more about creating a year-end destination event for action sports fans and the action sports community.”
