Richard N. Velotta
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VEGAS INC coverage
We’re entering some uncharted waters with a big event coming to town this month.
Anyone who remembers the weekend the National Basketball Association All-Star Game was at the Thomas & Mack Center in 2007 knows that a high-profile, flashy event doesn’t necessarily guarantee financial success for the city’s tourism industry.
The NBA All-Star Game, the first ever staged in a city that doesn’t have an NBA team, was marred by four shootings and 403 arrests after rowdy crowds and fights spilled onto the Strip after the game. Many resort execs said they wouldn’t put out the welcome mat for the NBA in the future if that kind of crowd was going to show up.
This weekend, a first-ever-in-Vegas event lands here when the Electric Daisy Carnival debuts at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The electronic music rave is part Woodstock, part amusement park and part Burning Man festival. Last year, an estimated 185,000 people attended a two-day event at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
Past events have been marred by drug use and the emergency evacuation of attendees to hospitals. Last year, a 15-year-old girl died of a suspected overdose. That death prompted LA’s Coliseum Commission to consider banning all raves at its facilities. This year’s event, the 15th according to promoter-developer Insomniac LLC, will have “six massive stages, 200-plus artists and performers and thousands of beautiful people.” One-night tickets go for $100 and all three days will cost about twice that.
Promoters say the event will run from 8 p.m. to sunrise each day, and they’re stressing a zero-tolerance policy on drug use. There’s a long list of items attendees are prohibited from bringing. The city’s tourism community appears to be taking a cautious approach to welcoming the Electric Daisy Carnival. Even though tens of thousands of people are expected to attend, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority has taken a pass on promoting the event.
The city’s resort community seems to be thinking that it doesn’t anticipate making money from carnivalgoers in casinos because many will be under 21. In fact, room rates are being jacked up in listings that are part of Insomniac’s Electric Daisy Carnival website.
Some seem to be taking the approach of “We really don’t want you here ... unless you’re willing to pay ridiculously high room rates.” Why else would the Wynn be advertised at $700 a night, the Venetian at $501 and Caesars Palace at $484? But some apparently didn’t get the memo. When I checked the site for rates on June 13, the Four Seasons rate ($176 a night) was less than the Riviera’s ($206 a night).
The Nevada Taxicab Authority this week will consider a request from Frias transportation group to allow additional cabs during the festival, figuring there would be a scramble for rides to the speedway.
On one hand, I could see the need if several cabs are making the long trek from the Strip to the track. That could leave the Strip area short when people need cabs to restaurants and shows.
But something tells me that the crowd going to this event doesn’t typically ride in taxis. I could be way off base on this, but if I were driving to Vegas from Southern California for a music festival, I don’t think I’d take a cab to the venue. Maybe I’d catch a ride with friends who also have a car, but would I pay an additional $100 for a cab ride, the approximate cost of a round-trip taxi trip from MGM Grand to the speedway? I don’t think so.
Colleagues have told me the Electric Daisy Carnival crowd will frequent the city’s nightclubs. I’m not sure when they’d do that if the event runs from dusk to dawn. Maybe they’d be up for the pool parties—if they’re over 21.
As of this writing, representatives of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees were still wrangling with Insomniac about using local laborers to set up the carnival venue. Hopefully, that’s been resolved and local workers will get the jobs.
The Electric Daisy Carnival is going to be something new for Las Vegas. I hope it’s a smash hit that makes tons of money for local businesses and becomes something we look forward to having here every year, like the National Finals Rodeo.
We’ll find out this weekend.