NASCAR’s year-ending awards celebration could be moving from New York to Las Vegas.
The Sprint Cup postseason awards banquet, a fixture in Manhattan since 1981, will be moved to Las Vegas for this season, NASCAR.COM has learned. The change already has been approved by NASCAR and is awaiting only final approval from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, a taxpayer-funded entity that has championed the move west.
“Las Vegas presents some very interesting options,” NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston said, “but nothing has been finalized.”
LVCVA president Rossi Ralenkotter confirmed the tentative agreement to move the annual event from downtown New York, where it has been held for the past 27 years, and make it a citywide event centered on the Strip.
The sides have yet to settle the length of the contract; Ralenkotter wants a deal of three to five years. Also to be determined is the degree to which Las Vegas will be included in advertising and media references to the event.
The LVCVA would pay NASCAR between $500,000 and $1 million for each year of the contract, Ralenkotter said. NASCAR has the option of selecting the venue for the banquet, likely to be Dec. 4.
The event honors the top 10 drivers from the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship.
“Every key person in our industry—top executives from NASCAR, sponsors and our superstar drivers and crew chiefs—attends the banquet,” speedway president Chris Powell said.
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