The 19th title game, known as ArenaBowl XIX, will be staged at noon June 12 at the Thomas & Mack Center.

It's the first time that the AFL is conducting its championship game at a predetermined site and not at the arena of a team that has battled its way through the playoffs.

While the AFL's outdoor cousin, the National Football League, has distanced itself from Las Vegas and its casino element, the indoor league has embraced the city and will stage several of its events within earshot of a bank of slot machines.

The AFL has committed to a three-year contract with Las Vegas to stage the game here and because of the certainty of knowing the venue well in advance, the league has the advantage of being able to plan a variety of activities in conjunction with the game.

AFL officials met in Las Vegas last week with local officials to begin hammering out specific details for a long weekend of activities that is expected to generate between 15,000 and 20,000 hotel nights and deliver a nongaming economic impact of $10 million.

While those figures aren't grandiose when comparing them to revenue generated by events such as the National Finals Rodeo or the Nextel Cup NASCAR race or even conventions such as the National Association of Broadcasters or MAGIC Marketplace, ArenaBowl XIX will come at a time when there was little on the Las Vegas calendar.

"It's another opportunity to bring people to Las Vegas during a soft part of the calendar," said Pat Christensen, president of Las Vegas Events, when announcing the package at a recent Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority meeting.

The LVCVA, committed to drawing visitors to the city's resorts, backed Las Vegas Events as an official promotional partner of the AFL and ArenaBowl XIX.

In his presentation to the LVCVA, Christensen gave local tourism executives a taste of how the AFL intends to work with the gaming industry by presenting the league's first marketing piece on the game, a mini-movie called "Rumble in the Montecito."

In it, two of the league's high-profile owners, Hall of Fame quarterback John Elway and rock musician Jon Bon Jovi, square off in the Montecito Casino, the fictitious hotel of NBC television program, "Las Vegas." The cast of the show appears in the movie that has been shown in movie theaters, on television, on airline flights, in arenas, over the Internet and as part of bonus material on two DVD releases.

"The movie has really been well received," said Chris McCloskey, senior vice president of communications for the AFL in New York. "In fact, John (Elway) and Jon (Bon Jovi) were filming for the season finale of 'Las Vegas' this past week. The game is going to get a mention on the show."

Other season-long promotions that put Las Vegas in the spotlight have occurred in AFL arenas nationwide since the season began in late January. Sporting goods manufacturer Spalding, which produces the custom ball the AFL uses, is in the middle of a 13-week Fan of the Year promotion that will offer a trip to Las Vegas for two for the game.

Clear Channel Radio, a division of Clear Channel Entertainment, another of the official promotional partners of the league and the game, has been promoting ArenaBowl XIX and Las Vegas as has NBC and the Fox Sports Network, which carries regional games.

Several teams in key Las Vegas markets have been pushing the game, including the Los Angeles Avengers, which McCloskey said is marketing special packages to attend the game.

Southwest Vacations, the tour-packaging arm of Southwest Airlines, and FunJet Vacations, another packaging operation that sells Las Vegas visits, are developing special deals for the game.

McCloskey said there already have been more than 6,000 tickets sold for the game, even though the Las Vegas marketing push isn't scheduled to be at full throttle until May 16.

"Last year at this time, we had zero tickets sold because we didn't even know where the venue was going to be," McCloskey said. "We haven't even begun marketing it yet, but that's the advantage of having the neutral-site location."

Attendance at AFL games has been on an upswing. In 2001, the league drew an average 9,100 fans per game. By 2004, that had climbed to 12,024 per game. This year, McCloskey said attendance has been right around the 13,000 level.

McCloskey expects the game -- and several other activities planned in Las Vegas in the days leading up to it -- to draw curious local fans. While Las Vegas has played host to major golf tournaments, boxing matches, gambling events, car races and college bowl games, McCloskey noted that ArenaBowl XIX is the city's first opportunity to have a professional team sport championship in town. He expects Major League Baseball and other professional sports teams will be paying attention to fan interest.

He said he'll be interested in seeing how the business community responds, noting that several activities are scheduled at resort properties with large venues.

The MGM Grand has been designated as the headquarters hotel for the weekend.

"This follows the MGM Grand tradition of providing world-class sporting events," said Yvette Monet, a spokeswoman for MGM Mirage, which operates the 5,000-room hotel. "This event will give us exposure in major national markets across the country."

As the home base for the event, the MGM Grand will be the location for several business meetings for the league while officials are in town.

In addition, a "radio row" will be set up at an undetermined location at the MGM Grand for some 20 radio stations to conduct interviews with players, coaches and league officials leading up to the game.

The MGM Grand Garden Arena also will be the venue for the ArenaBowl XIX ArenaBash, a concert the night before the game, June 11, featuring Grammy Award-winning Maroon 5.

Another Las Vegas property with an arena will be the venue for sponsor Champs Sports' ArenaBowl XIX ArenaBattle, a skills competition among the AFL's top athletes.

The event Friday night, June 10, at the Orleans Arena will include a celebrity flag football game in addition to the skills competition.

"We're very excited to host one of the events," said Tayra Lagomarsino, director of arena marketing at the Orleans Arena.

Lagomarsino said the Orleans, which provides the home ice for the Las Vegas Wranglers professional hockey team, focuses primarily on concerts, circuses and ice shows geared to the locals market. But with relationships with the Professional Bull Riders Association and, now, the AFL, the Orleans is climbing onto the national stage.

Other local events are planned in conjunction with the game:

• On Thursday, June 9, national sponsor ADT, the home and business security company, plans the ADT ArenaBall Awards Show at The Joint and Body English at the Hard Rock Hotel. It's the only event that already is sold out.

• The ArenaBowl XIX Partner Summit, a closed event for sponsors and partners, is planned June 10 at The Joint.

• Another closed event scheduled June 11 is the ADT ArenaBowl XIX Golf Invitational at Bear's Best golf course in Las Vegas.

• ArenaBowl XIX Fan Fest, a free live entertainment, interactive event for fans, is scheduled Friday and Saturday at the Fremont Street Experience downtown and will shift to the Thomas & Mack Center on game day.

• A pre-game VIP tailgate party, a closed event at the Cox Pavillion, adjacent to the Thomas & Mack Center.

McCloskey said the game itself will be like other major sports championships, in that it will include high-profile pregame, post-game and halftime acts and a variety of entertainment.

Since the AFL is more receptive to gaming than other sports leagues, the event opens opens itself to additional tie-ins and advertising opportunities. However, McCloskey said every AFL team that plays the local league entry, the Las Vegas Gladiators, is warned about issues involving gambling and professional sports before they arrive in Nevada.

"When the Gladiators moved from New Jersey to Las Vegas, we went through a thorough investigatory process," McCloskey said. "We felt good that we could handle it (having a team in a state that allows legal sports betting).

"We have a former FBI agent who works in security who addresses every team that comes in before they play the Gladiators to discuss the gaming aspect," he said. "Las Vegas regulates its gaming better than anybody, so we felt that we could still put a team in there and have a championship game with unquestioned competitive integrity."

Richard N. Velotta covers tourism for In Business Las Vegas and its sister publication, the Las Vegas Sun. He can be reached at (702) 259-4061 or by e-mail at velotta@lasvegassun.com.