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Las Vegas’ metrics and makeup make it virtually unlike any other market in America.
Photo by: GETTY IMAGES
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LAS VEGAS
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Income profile (annual):
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■ Household median: $51,552
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■ Household, 60th percentile: $64,358
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■ Household, 80th percentile: $99,285
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■ Median, family of four: $71,727
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■ Discretionary, family of four (rank): $3,438 (60th)
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■ MSA population (rank): 2.11 million (29th)
■ Since 2010: +8 percent
■ Major pro team: NHL expansion franchise to begin play in 2017-18
■ Nearest teams: In Los Angeles, 270 miles away
■ TV teams: Dodgers, Angels, Giants, A’s, Diamondbacks, Padres, Lakers, Clippers, Sacramento Kings, L.A. Kings, Ducks
■ TV households (rank): 736,700 (40th)
■ Metro GDP (rank): $103.3 billion (36th)
■ Fortune 1000 HQs (rank): 8 (30th)
■ Employment profile: Driven by tourism and hospitality, Vegas has more than twice the concentration of personal care and service jobs as other markets of similar size, largely because that’s where about 35,000 of the city’s gaming jobs are categorized. Thanks to its strip hotels and nearby resorts, it also has double the concentration of building and grounds maintenance jobs as other markets and over-indexes by 75 percent in food prep and serving jobs. Orlando and San Antonio have similar clusters in those areas, but at far lower rates, making Vegas unlike any of the other markets we examined.
■ Places to play: Opened in April, the $375 million T-Mobile Arena is slated to become home to the Vegas Golden Knights NHL expansion team beginning next season. Nevada legislators also have approved $750 million in public funding toward a $1.6 billion stadium built to attract an NFL team — likely the Oakland Raiders, or possibly the San Diego Chargers.
— Bill King
Appraisal
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Along with the bright lights and late nights for which it is known, Las Vegas appears to have the population base, economic heft and even a large enough corporate base to support one pro franchise.
Though critics cite the size of the TV market as a concern, it actually comes in slightly higher than the median of the seven markets that are home to one team. Its GDP is higher than those of five markets that have one team and two markets that have two teams. Vegas also is home to eight Fortune 1000 companies, or twice as many as the typical one-team market and about the same number as Baltimore, Kansas City and Indianapolis.
Long seen as the city that couldn’t sniff a chance at a pro sports team because it allows sports wagering, it broke down that barrier with the NHL.
Those all are positives.
On the down side, Vegas will be the second-smallest local TV market in the NHL, a league that lacks the national rights payout that the NBA provides. When you tack on about 260,000 TV households in Reno, it will look a lot like the smallest one, Buffalo, which when
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combined with nearby Rochester comes in at 1 million. The other 23 U.S. teams in the NHL have access to at least twice that many TV homes when you add in their extended regional footprints. That’s a steep hill to climb.
Even more worrisome are the market’s income levels and employment profile. Discretionary household income — $3,438 a year for a median family of four — is the second lowest of any market with a major pro team. The market that ranks last, New York, makes up for that with a heft that Vegas can’t match. The top 20 percent of households in Las Vegas combine for about $25 billion in annual income. That same percent in New York accounts for $394 billion.
As for the job profile, at least 260,000 of 900,000 jobs in Las Vegas are on the service side of the hospitality industry, in casinos, hotels, restaurants and clubs. Those jobs tend to include night and weekend hours, which could make the market play even smaller than its economic metric might predict.
Vegas is unlike any market that is anywhere near its size in the U.S., if not the world. Its ability to successfully host even one major pro team — never mind two — is as unpredictable as any roll of the dice or turn of a card.
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