Vegas, baby! NASCAR awards show moving to Sin City
Big news out of Vegas today, as the Las Vegas Review Journal is reporting that NASCAR and the Vegas Convention and Visitor's Association have reached a tentative agreement to bring the Sprint Cup awards banquet to Vegas. Go climb a rope, New York City!
Still in negotiations are the length of the contract to have the awards in town; the LVCVA wants three to five years, plus -- as you'd imagine -- a whole ton of Vegas publicity in all the advertising and media about the awards. Yes, yes, "what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas," we get it.
NASCAR, pointedly, will not commit publicly on the agreement, saying "nothing's been finalized" about the ceremony, which will likely be held on Dec. 4. Still, under the agreement, the LVCVA would pay NASCAR between $500,000 and $1 million for each year under the contract, a nice bit of coin. NASCAR would have the option of selecting a venue for the event. (Please let it be Spearmint Rhino. Please oh please oh please.)
The season-ending awards banquet had been in New York City since 1981, largely as a way to increase the sport's presence in the world's largest individual market. But New York has gotten played out; expenses have grown too high, and the very cool Victory Lap around Times Square was cancelled last year because of traffic and financial gripes.
So, yeah, Vegas. Seems like a good fit, yes? Now, if only we had a slogan for this year's awards ...
(That would be your cue.)
