There won’t be any visitation records set in Las Vegas for the Super Bowl weekend this year.

In what could be one of the toughest of tough comparisons with 2024, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority on Thursday projected 316,000 people would visit for the weekend, a 4 percent decline from a year ago when the city hosted Super Bowl 58.

The LVCVA gave no economic impact estimates.

Football fans for years have crowded the city for Super Bowl Sunday to wager on the game and the lengthy list of proposition bets associated with it. There was a glimmer of hope for a big turnout when the American Gaming Association earlier in the week predicted a record $1.39 billion would be bet on the National Football League championship game between the Philadelphia Eagles and the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs in New Orleans.

“No single event unites sports fans like the Super Bowl, and that excitement extends to sports betting, with this year’s record legal handle reflecting its widespread appeal,” said Bill Miller, AGA president and CEO. “This figure underscores the positive impact of the legal market — from protecting consumers to generating tax revenue that benefits communities across the country — while enhancing the game experience for all.”

While the LVCVA’s projection for a lighter crowd this year was expected, the organization that markets Las Vegas to the world said Southern Nevada resorts actually may be more crowded this year, with an 87 percent occupancy rate predicted. That’s 0.1 percentage points higher than in 2024 and is a result of two major resorts, The Mirage and Tropicana, being closed last year, reducing the number of available rooms by 3.7 percent to 150,419.

While the LVCVA projected weekend visitation, it doesn’t differentiate how many people are coming to watch the Super Bowl and attending viewing parties and how many are here for other reasons. The convention calendar for Las Vegas is light the day after the game, with three small trade shows opening their doors during or just after Super Bowl Sunday. The largest of those events is the CHAMPS Winter Trade Show, a counterculture paraphernalia exhibition expected to bring 15,000 people to the Las Vegas Convention Center’s South Hall beginning Wednesday.

Smaller trade shows also are scheduled to start Monday at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center and Aria.

Super Bowl weekend occupancy rates typically hover in the high 80s or low 90s percentage rate.

There was an indication earlier in the week that Super Bowl visitation wasn’t going to be as robust as in previous years when the Review-Journal surveyed hotel prices and determined the average cost of a room was well below 2024 levels.

Another wild card in the calculation is whether Southern California residents — Las Vegas’ biggest market with about one-third of its visitors coming from there — would be willing to make the trip to the city so quickly after a series of wildfires destroyed thousands of homes across the Los Angeles basin in January.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

Contact Richard N. Velotta at [email protected] or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on X.