COMMENTARY: Rossi Ralenkotter helped make Las Vegas what it is today

Rossi Ralenkotter loved his family. He loved Las Vegas, too. For newcomers in Southern Nevada or the hospitality industry, you may not recognize the name. You should. And you should know what he did for the Las Vegas travel and tourism industry.

More than anything, Rossi — who died Oct. 10 at age 78 — helped Las Vegas thrive during his 45-year career at the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. He was a leader who organized the collective efforts to brand Las Vegas and helped create the iconic “What Happens Here, Stays Here” campaign. Today, the initiatives and programming used to market Las Vegas are the normal course of business. Rossi established or helped build many of those programs, and all these initiatives were based on research where he got his start at the convention authority. He created the “visitor profile study” 50 years ago to understand what consumers wanted when they visited Las Vegas and to gauge their overall experience.

He used that same research to help the industry navigate the Great Recession, when travel and tourism ground to a standstill. That included pitching Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, then the board chair of the convention authority, to appear on ABC’s “Good Morning America” with two showgirls. And by sending his sales team out on the road to meet face-to-face with clients, he greatly increased the town’s tourism, meetings and conventions.

Rossi played a lead role and worked closely with the resort industry and airport officials to expand the reach of Las Vegas to international markets and increase airlift. Besides growing market share, Rossi knew, based on convention authority research, that international travelers often spend more and stay longer than domestic leisure travelers. It was another evolution of Las Vegas as a travel destination that further propelled our standing as an industry leader. Also, Rossi had the vision for the many different expansions of the convention center to keep it ahead of the competition.

Rossi also saw the emergence of Las Vegas as a sports destination. He helped bring new events to Las Vegas that were the precursor to professional sports teams calling Las Vegas home. Big League Weekend, two NASCAR weekends, the NBA All-Star game, Las Vegas Bowl, NBA Summer League, PGA Tour golf, U.S. Bowling Congress National Tournaments, and college football and basketball conference championships. These were all samples for professional sports leagues to view Las Vegas differently and prove that we were ready for prime time.

Rossi would always say, “It’s not a matter of if, but when” Las Vegas will have a pro sports team. He was part of the negotiations to bring the Raiders to Las Vegas, including the funding for construction of an NFL-quality stadium. And when the National Finals Rodeo was flirting with the idea of moving to Florida, Las Vegas Events called Rossi to help negotiate a new deal. In fact, Rossi was part of the initial group — along with Mayor Bill Briare, Benny Binion, Herb McDonald and Ralph Lamb — which had initially brought the NFR to Vegas.

Rossi also played an instrumental role in securing Las Vegas to host the third and final televised U.S. presidential debate in 2016 at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. More than 70 million people watched the debate that once again showcased Las Vegas to the world. It further reinforced that Las Vegas means business, and why Las Vegas became the No. 1 convention and trade show destination in North America and has been for more than 25 consecutive years — a streak that started when Rossi and his team started selling Las Vegas to trade show producers and corporate meeting planners around the country. His work brought the International CES show to Las Vegas, as well as the aftermarket auto show SEMA, fashion trade show MAGIC, National Association of Broadcasters, National Hardware and the construction and specialty equipment show CONEXPO-CON/AGG, to name a few.

He was a stalwart within the tourism and hospitality industry and assumed leadership roles when federal policy began impacting our business. He represented Las Vegas on the U.S. Travel Association Board of Directors and Brand USA, and Las Vegas took a lead role when the industry established National Tourism Week. His focus always was on the frontline service industry workers because he felt they were and are the backbone of Las Vegas hospitality.

People reached out to Rossi for a variety of reasons. Sometimes it was to pitch an idea. Other times it was to gain insight. And many times, it simply was to see what was happening in the market. When Elvis Presley died in 1977, Dick Clark called Rossi to ask how Las Vegas was taking it. Rossi had that credibility and connectivity with people.

I will miss him as a colleague. I will miss him as a friend. And we all should be grateful for his many contributions in making Las Vegas what it is today.

Michael Gaughan is a lifelong friend of Rossi Ralenkotter. He and his family have been in the gaming industry for six decades.