Sisolak: Las Vegas Super Bowl will be ‘something everyone will try to emulate’

The NFL’s annual championship game, Super Bowl of parties, is headed here, and fast. The NFL announced Wednesday that Las Vegas and Allegiant Stadium would host Super Bowl LVIII (the Roman numeral looks a little like the Augustus Tower at Caesars Palace) Feb. 11, 2024.

Minutes after that announcement, Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak, instrumental in establishing the city’s efforts to land the Raiders and build the stadium, unleashed the hyperbole.

“The Super Bowl puts other major events to shame,” Sisolak said, having worked free from a media gaggle at the base of the Al Davis Memorial Torch. “Whether it’s the Kentucky Derby, the Indy 500, the NCAA Championships, the Stanley Cup, World Series, the Super Bowl is the premiere event that you want to have.”

Sisolak expects Vegas to be in rotation for future Super Bowls once the city passes its, um, audition in 2024.

“I am confident that they’re gonna pull off a Super Bowl here that’s going to be like no other,” Sisolak said. “It is going to be something everybody’s going to try to emulate.”

Yes. A half-billion dollars in economic impact for our region makes a governor running for re-election pretty excited.

The arrival of the Raiders has prompted the NFL to deliver the Pro Bowl and NFL Draft to Las Vegas. The Super Bowl cements the city’s relationship with the league. The league likes to go big, Las Vegas has long proven it can stage massive events (duh) with its history of hosting 300,000-plus for New Year’s Eve and, just this month, tens of thousands of National Finals Rodeo fans over a 10-day period.

Anticipate superstars to line up to play the Super Bowl halftime show. Many are already headlining Vegas, have recently, or are scheduled to. Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Bruno Mars, Aerosmith, Maroon 5 (here on NYE at Cosmopolitan), ZZ Top, Boyz II Men, Christina Aguilera, Shania Twain, Usher, J. Balvin, Janet Jackson with Justin Timberlake (you remember them), Jennifer Lopez and The Weeknd are all among the stars who have played Las Vegas and also the Super Bowl.

Such incoming stars include Billy Joel and Metallica at Allegiant Stadium in February. Adele, in what is at the moment the Super Bowl of residencies at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace, should be on anyone’s wish list. So are Carlos Santana, Michael Buble, Sting, Luke Bryan, Carrie Underwood, Michael Buble and Sammy Hagar. Cirque du Soleil, Spiegelworld (maybe Gazillionaire can perform the coin toss), the “America’s Got Talent Live!” crew … the list seems endless.

The Raiders have already this season placed a high priority on Super Bowl-quality halftime entertainment. That roster has been highlighted by Santana, Hagar, Ice Cube with Too Short, Steve Aoki, Rev. Run from Run-DMC, Ludacris and Marshmello. Gladys Knight, Neal Schon and Vanessa Hudgens have performed the national anthem. Criss Angel performed a straitjacket escape 100 feet above the field, after being buckled in by Raiders owner Mark Davis.

Suffice to say, Vegas can put on a show.

“You’re going have a plethora of entertainment at this event. It will be be amazing,” Sisolak said. “How the host committee is going to be able to whittle it down to just a few is going to be a challenge. But it’s going to be a long Super Bowl. It’s going to be more than just four quarters when you come to Las Vegas.”

No doubt. As we say, expect it to be epic.

John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. His “PodKats!” podcast can be found at reviewjournal.com/podcasts. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on Twitter, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.

For more about Super Bowl LVIII at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, visit lvrj.com/SB58.