After successful FEI World Cup, Las Vegas Events bids for 2018

McLain Ward from the United States eyes his intended course while riding Rothchild during the Longines FEI World Cup Jumping Final I Thursday, April 16, 2015 at the Thomas & Mack Center. (Sam Morris/Las Vegas Review-Journal) Follow Sam Morris on Twitter @sammorrisRJ

Gerco Schroder from the Netherlands rides Glock's Cognac Champblanc over a jump during the Longines FEI World Cup Jumping Final I Thursday, April 16, 2015 at the Thomas & Mack Center. (Sam Morris/Las Vegas Review-Journal) Follow Sam Morris on Twitter @sammorrisRJ

Patrice Delaveau rides Orient Express Hdc over a jump to a first place time during the Longines FEI World Cup Jumping Final I Thursday, April 16, 2015 at the Thomas & Mack Center. (Sam Morris/Las Vegas Review-Journal) Follow Sam Morris on Twitter @sammorrisRJ

Fresh off staging a prestigious global equestrian event at the Thomas & Mack Center, Las Vegas Events is bidding to host the FEI World Cup in Las Vegas for 2018 with the host locations for 2016 and 2107 already locked up.

The FEI World Cup, which brings together the world’s premier equestrians, attracted nearly 74,000 fans to Thomas & Mack from April 15-19 — about 9,000 more than the Las Vegas Events budgeted goal of 65,000, said Pat Christenson, president of Las Vegas Events, the events promotional arm of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

“Fiscally, the expectation was 65,000. I would have liked 80,000 or even 90,000. But bottom line is 74,000 was a great ticket sales number,” Christenson said. The ticket sales helped Las Vegas Events profit on the event, which is produced by Las Vegas Events thanks to an $8 million budget.

The FEI, Fédération Équestre Internationale, the international governing body of equestrian sports, is staging the World Cup in Gothenburg, Sweden, in 2016 and in Omaha, Neb., in 2017.

Christenston said Las Vegas Events is the sole bidder to host the 2018 equestrian event.

The FEI World Cup returned to the United States and Las Vegas this year after last being in the U.S. in 2009, when Las Vegas also the host. Attendance was 60,195 in 2009.

Christenson attributed the bump in attendance to a “pent-up demand” in the U.S. for the equestrian jumping and dressage and improved marketing through social media hype.

He said 30,000 people were following social media’s promotion of the FEI World Cup. Las Vegas Events also worked with equestrian groups and media in the U.S. to promote the event.

“This is a very affluent crowd, but very social media savvy,” Christenson said.

The event also attracts thousands of Europeans, though the exact number won’t be known for weeks until the World Cup demographic numbers are reviewed. Forty European horses that participated in the FEI World Cup and valued at $150 million have been shipped back to their homes.

Las Vegas Events has also produced the FEI World Cup in 2000, 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2009.

Contact reporter Alan Snel at asnel@reviewjournal or 702-387-5273. Follow @BicycleManSnel on Twitter.