The Desert’s Super Moment: Vegas’ Most Important Storylines as the City Prepares for Super Bowl LVIII

Tuesday, January 30 | 12:30 PM ET

The Desert’s Super Moment: Vegas’ Most Important Storylines as the City Prepares for Super Bowl LVIII

What we will cover:

The unique aspects of hosting a Super Bowl for the first time in Las Vegas, including:

• Details from the host committee on planning and execution
• The gaming industry’s ever-expanding role in sports in the US and the spotlight placed upon it given this year’s location
• The opportunities, challenges and expectations of sponsors and others looking to make a splash before and during the game
• What we should expect from significant Las Vegas landmarks, including the Sphere

Who should attend:

• Representatives from sports teams and leagues
• Agencies and brands
• Sports media companies
• Sponsorship activation and marketing companies
• Representatives from past and future host cities

Featured speakers (Additional to be announced)

In 1995, Sam Joffray founded Concept Matters, an event and new media solutions company that has served multiple clients over the past 25 years, including the National Football League, Louisiana Superdome, Playboy Enterprises, New Orleans Saints, Dixie Beer, Pat Obrien’s, the New Orleans Chamber, the College Football Playoff Group, Howard Hughes Corporation, and most recently, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

Joffray began his work with the National Football League and New Orleans Super Bowl Host Committee in 1997, as the city began preparations to host Super Bowl XXXI. Since that time, he has coordinated media and communications efforts in the Super Bowl Media Center as an NFL vendor for the past 25 consecutive Super Bowls.

After joining the Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation staff in 2000, Joffray coordinated all communications efforts for the organization and the events it hosted. As Senior Vice President, he handled event development for the organization; managing competitive bid processes that attracted sporting events of all sizes to the City of New Orleans, including multiple Super Bowls, Final Fours, NBA All Star Games and WrestleManias. In the hosting those events and many others, Joffray held multiple event operations titles, in addition to serving as the Associate Executive Director for the 2013 Super Bowl Host Committee, and leading the Host Committees for WrestleMania XXX in 2014, and WrestleMania 34 in 2018 .After helping the LVCVA coordinate the bid to host Super Bowl LVIII, Joffray immediately accepted the role of Executive Director of the Las Vegas Super Bowl Host Committee, where he will oversee the day-to-day operations of the Host Committee between now and 2024

Lou Kovacs was named Octagon’s President of Marketing for North America in December of 2019. In the role, Kovacs oversees the agency’s North American marketing and events business, including Octagon’s sponsorship consulting, experiential marketing, analytics, digital, content, creative, and technology divisions. Kovacs also directly leads Octagon’s relationships with some of the agency’s largest clients.

An industry veteran with more than two decades of experience in sports marketing, sponsorship, and advertising, Kovacs manages a team of 400+ employees across 10 offices in the United States, working to help Octagon’s clients find the next right move in the sports and entertainment landscape.

During his tenure at Octagon, Kovacs has developed ground-breaking marketing strategies by leveraging sports, entertainment, and passion-based marketing platforms to deliver outstanding results for clients. In addition, he has spearheaded award-winning campaigns for many of the world’s leading brands in the automotive, technology, consumer electronics, beverage, and financial services categories.

From 2016 – 2019, Kovacs served as Octagon North America, CMO, where he oversaw new business and creative efforts for the agency’s robust portfolio of clients, including AB InBev, Bank of America, BMW, Cisco, Delta, Shell, Taco Bell, The Home Depot, and Mastercard.

Prior to joining Octagon in 2001, Kovacs held Business Development and Marketing positions at Global Strategies Group (GSG), and the MA Sports Partnership (MSP). While at GSG, Kovacs sold sponsorships on behalf of National Olympic Governing Bodies including USA Gymnastics and U.S. Ski and Snowboard.

Kovacs is a graduate of Hobart College, with a B.A. in English. He currently resides in Milton, Mass. with his wife and three children.

Sean McBurney, Regional President of Caesars Entertainment, oversees hotel, gaming, food and beverage, retail, surveillance, security operations, marketing and human resources for the company’s nine properties in the Las Vegas Region. While leading the company’s largest market, Sean has overseen a significant capital investment across all business verticals. Hospitality investment brought in new concepts by Gordon Ramsay, Martha Stewart, Lisa Vanderpump, Nobu, Dominique Ansel, among others. Over the last two years, Las Vegas has set all-time revenue and EBITDA records.

Sean began his career at General Motors as a mechanical engineer. While at GM, he worked in Advanced Vehicle Development at the GM Technical Center and manufacturing at the Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly plant, where he oversaw engine production.

After completing his MBA at Stanford, Sean joined the gaming industry as a President’s Associate for Caesars Entertainment in 2006. He quickly moved into Casino Marketing as Vice President for Harrah’s, Flamingo, Imperial Palace, and Bill’s Gambling Hall. During his time there, he was responsible for all VIP sales and service efforts. In 2008, Sean was responsible for integrating Caesars Rewards into the recently acquired Planet Hollywood property. He remained at the property to lead the casino marketing efforts of Planet Hollywood, as well as Bally’s (now Horseshoe) and Paris Las Vegas.

With the creation of the Caesars Enterprise Shared Service organization, Sean was responsible for the VIP efforts of 20 properties across seven states as the Regional Vice President of VIP Marketing representing more than $1 billion in gaming revenues. While in this role, he re-engineered host programs to create greater specialization in sales and service delivery, consolidated fragmented sales centers across the enterprise to better facilitate cross-market play and created a new player contact strategy to increase outbound contacts and improve sales conversion rates.

In 2012, he transitioned into operations as Vice President and Assistant General Manager for Bally’s, Paris and Planet Hollywood. There, he had responsibilities for gaming, food and beverage, security, surveillance, risk management and retail operations. In 2014, Sean became the General Manager of Caesars Palace, overseeing the company’s flagship property until his promotion to Regional President in 2020.

Sean holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Kettering University and a Master of Business Administration from Stanford University.

Registration is free. All registrants will receive a link to watch the recording once the session concludes.

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