LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — With only so many Super Bowl opportunities to go around, some Las Vegas small businesses are looking to land longer-term and local contracts through their efforts to work the big game.
Mark Brown, for one, has been in the live entertainment industry for decades. He started DreamStone Productions in 2020 to bring DJs, tribute bands and headliners to Las Vegas and Southern California venues.
“Man, I love [performing] so much, if somebody called me right now, I will sing in a phone booth,” Brown said with a laugh Wednesday morning. “There is never an event — football, basketball, baseball, soccer, whatever — that you don’t hear music in the background.”
He wants to bring DreamStone’s “energy” to Las Vegas’ first-ever Super Bowl, and the week of events leading up to it, next February. But, if not chosen by NFL vendors to do so, he may have other prospects.
Brown was one of 45 business owners invited to pitch their services during Allegiant Stadium’s and the Las Vegas Raiders’ Gridiron Pitch to procurement officers from the stadium, local government and other Vegas agencies.
Neumiia Duncan-Reed, Allegiant Stadium human resources & community affairs vice president, describes these officers as the people who “make decisions on contract opportunities.” The annual local supplier engagement event began in 2021 as part of the stadium’s Supplier Diversity Program.
“The core and the fundamentals of this program is to increase access for opportunities,” Duncan-Reed said while overlooking the football field inside the stadium Wednesday morning. “[Participants] understand how it could lead to other things.”
To get an invite, those pitching must already have been accepted into the Super Bowl Business Connect Program, which includes 200 local and minority-owned businesses vying to receive a contract to work as a supplier during the February events.
“If I give you a project, if I give you a contract, can you deliver? Do you have the staff? Do you have the expertise?” Duncan-Reed said when asked what those pitching needed to prove to procurement officers. “Those are things that small businesses should be readily available to provide when asked about their ability and when they’re looking to secure business.”
While the opportunities may potentially span far beyond the big game, those pitching believe Super Bowl or not, there will be work for them.
“Any opportunity is better than zero,” Brown said with a laugh inside the Credit One Bank Club in Allegiant Stadium. “We’re here for a reason.”
Other businesses selected for the business connect program will meet with NFL vendors for the first time on Thursday.
