The best Las Vegas experience is usually one that is a whirlwind. A couple of days of cards, dice, shows, and booze that goes by so fast the most vivid memory of the trip might be time spent at Harry Reid International Airport. Vegas at warp speed is the best way to go, but that does not work for the Super Bowl because there are more than 48 hours of events.
A wet and chilly week in the desert will begin on Monday. While some tumbleweeds will be rolling through radio row in the morning at Mandalay Bay Convention Center, activity will pick up that evening with Super Bowl Opening Night. Maybe Mama Kelce will bring enough chocolate chip cookies for everybody this year.
After Monday night, the week really does not slow down until the day of the game. Radio Row will be crowded on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday with the faces of the NFL past and present selling mattresses, deodorant, and more.
Night time brings the parties. Unlike the previous two Super Bowls in Los Angeles and Arizona, the game will be taking place across the street from Radio Row. The weather may be in the mid 30s every night, but the activity will be hot on the Vegas strip. People will have to actively choose to stay inside their hotels. There will be no slow nights or 15-mile trips.
The old saying is that 48 hours in Las Vegas should be the limit. That will not be an option for NFL media. Some may be able to get out of the city in three days, but most will be spending close to an entire week in the land of arcades for adults. Six days of the ladies in the flamingo hats asking for pictures, and guys flicking those cards that offer adult entertainment that, for the right wager, will always come up a winner.
I enjoy Las Vegas as much as most red-blooded Americans. A few hours in the poker room with free drinks, a couple of two-for-one buffets, and VIP attendance to a party that someone else is footing the bill for, I am as happy as I was at Disney World with an autograph book and a turkey leg in 1992.
However, I must say that I do largely agree with the 48 hours being the standard length for a Vegas trip. It is just enough time to experience all that the strip has to offer before getting sick of it after spending too much money. A 72-hour trip is risky. That opens up the possibility of a bad day. One bad day in Las Vegas can cast a cloud over the entire trip.
An entire week there is a daunting proposition. Fortunately, for the media, they have work that takes up half of every day. That can stave off some Vegas burnout, but a potential six or seven nights there still sounds exhausting. A week of that recycled casino-hotel air might have me hitting 400-yard rage-filled drives at TopGolf.
Las Vegas is one of the best cities in America for fun. I have been there for those 35-degree desert nights and it is still a blast. I also am well aware that it is a place meant for a good time, not a long time. Las Vegas is best experienced as a 100-meter dash. Come roaring out of the blocks, don’t let up for a second, and be done quickly. Treat the strip as a mile run, and you will be tired of life by the time you make your return trip to Harry Reid.
Best of luck to the media and other workers out there who have to spend double the recommended amount of time in Sin City. I very much appreciate the effort, and hope lady luck is with you all at the tables and slots
