Twenty years ago, long before Derek Stevens joined in the rebirth of downtown Las Vegas by redeveloping the Fitzgerald into the D Las Vegas Casino and Hotel, he was a trailblazer of a different sort.
Stevens, a Detroit Lions fan and avid fantasy sports player, and his buddies would fly into Las Vegas in early September. There would play golf on Friday, draft their fantasy teams on Saturday, and then they would watch the NFL's opening kickoff on Sunday.
"When my friends and I first started doing it, there was far less interest in fantasy sports overall," Stevens said. "Now things have really changed. I'd say eight to 10 years ago you started seeing some leagues making a guys' weekend out of it, and traveling for their drafts.
"Recently, interest in fantasy sports has exploded. The growth in the last couple years is tremendous, and it's not just guys anymore. We see a lot of women participating too."
The numbers from the Fantasy Sports Trade Association back that up. In the early '90s, when Stevens was first making his trips to Las Vegas, there were under 5 million fantasy sports players. After steady growth from 2000-2010, better technology and expanded options have led to a surge in participants over the last few years. By 2010 there were an estimated 32 million fantasy sports players. This year the figure has ballooned to 57.4 million.
So when the D opened in 2012, it was natural for the resort to reach out to fantasy players. They offer a range of packages including private rooms, food and beverage deals and either big screens for a wired draft, or the old-school draft boards with decals for every player.
The D Las Vegas offers "man cave" suites like this one for hosting fantasy football draft parties.
Now, properties across Southern Nevada are reaching out to the fantasy community, offering better and better packages including high-speed WiFi and food and drink deals, to attract fantasy leagues that are flying in for long weekends.
Another popular spot for the fantasy draft parties is Lagasse's Stadium, the massive sports bar and restaurant in the Palazzo.
"When we opened seven years ago, we found an immediate demand to host fantasy football drafts," said Gerardo "Jerry" Rodriguez, general manager of Lagasse's Stadium. "It seems our guests saw the potential of our VIP suites right away. We started to see an uptick in 2010. That's when fans started to dream bigger when it came to their drafts."
In addition to the Emeril Lagasse-crafted menu, the restaurant offers VIP suites, some of which include pool tables, Strip-view balconies and arcade games in addition to the more standard amenities like multiple TVs.
Lagasse's has seen year-over-year growth in fantasy parties of approximately 26% to 30%, according to Rodriguez. So, it's no wonder that more and more properties and venues are looking to get in on the fantasy draft action.
After noticing more interest in the parties, the Hard Rock Cafe on the Strip started marketing fantasy draft party packages for the first time this year, sales and marketing director Sara Ure said.
Like many of the venues that have jumped onboard the fantasy wave, Hard Rock is promoting its fast Internet, food and beverage packages and a sponsored draft kit.
"Las Vegas is the place for fantasy drafts because there are so many option on where you could go," Ure said. "There's restaurants like ours, sports bars, hotel suites you could even reserve space around a pool at a hotel. There are a lot of options, and this time of year it is relatively easy to travel to Vegas and find good flight and hotel rates."