LAS VEGAS (KLAS) – Game-changing opportunities just landed in the hands of 150 local businesses that want to work Las Vegas’ first-ever Super Bowl.
Alvin Wedlow caught this opportunity on Monday. He owns Wedlow Maintenance, a janitorial team of 22 employees, which has cleaned Las Vegas carpets, floors, walls, windows, and parking garages for over two decades.
“We’re going to have to get a lot more workers,” Wedlow said inside his North Las Vegas business Tuesday morning. “For Super Bowl, you’re looking at probably 150 people to 200 people just to clean the stadium.”
Wedlow Maintenance is one of 150 Las Vegas businesses across 30 different disciplines selected for the Super Bowl LVIII Business Connect Program, a roster of local businesses the Super Bowl LVIII Host Committee presents to NFL vendors looking for subcontractors. Wedlow was chosen to represent janitorial services.
“I love cleaning floors. I love what I do,” Wedlow said with a grin. “This program is going to open doors because now they have a pool. They say, ‘Okay, we see (Wedlow Maintenance). We’ll give him a call.’”
The program, a partnership with the NFL and host committee, also requires eligible businesses to be at least 51% owned by a minority ethnicity, woman, disabled person, LGBTQ+ member, or veteran.
Myisha Boyce, chief community engagement officer for the host committee, calls acceptance into the program “step one” in receiving an NFL contract.
“(Finalists are) going to be introduced to buyers and procurement representatives,” Boyce said Tuesday morning. “Not only did they meet the basic criteria of the program, but then they showed and proved they are ready to provide the goods and services at the highest levels.”
For the next 10 months, Boyce says program participants will engage with the NFL through capacity building, mentorship, and networking workshops and events to best poise themselves to earn a contractor from a vendor. These contracts are for a variety of events, whether before, during, or after the big game.
“They already have, kind of like, a gold stamp on them, for, ‘they really should get a second look,’” Boyce said. “It gives them leaps and bounds above their competitors because they have the platform of Business Connect.”
Boyce acknowledges that NFL vendors are not required to choose their subcontractors through the program, but that program acceptance indicates they will be listed in the resource guide. The guide is then used as a recommendation list for services that are given to major sporting games, concerts, and other events after Super Bowl.
Additionally, Boyce adds more businesses will be selected to join the program in the coming weeks after further evaluation.
“Even for those that were not accepted into Business Connect, I really want to leave them with the note that there’s going to be ongoing opportunity in Las Vegas beyond Super Bowl and leading up to Super Bowl,” Boyce said. “Their information is in the database. We’re absolutely combing that database on a regular basis outside of the NFL Business Connect.”
Another representative for the host committee said the full list of 150 businesses will not be published publicly.
