Las Vegas earns national recognition as a top sports event destination

LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — The Las Vegas sports scene has rapidly grown since the arrival of the Golden Knights, the Entertainment Capital now considered the Sports Entertainment Capital.

Sports Business Journal, a nationally regarded publication, picked Vegas as its top sports city of 2024 in the category of event hosting.

Nick Walters reports how the recognition is being celebrated as part of the growth of Las Vegas:

That recognition was celebrated Tuesday night at the Legacy Room at Circa Casino in Downtown Las Vegas. Presidents of local teams and representatives of both teams and events gathered for a panel speaking event hosted by SBJ.

"The number of events, the number of teams, and our reputation have all exploded over the last number of years," LVCVA president Steve Hill said. "Las Vegas is the only city in the world that has the ability to treat 50 or 60,000 people like a VIP all at the same time."

Las Vegas has gotten its own NHL, WNBA, and NFL teams since 2017 with an MLB team on the way and an NBA team rumored to be on the horizon. It's now home to an annual race on the Formula 1 calendar.

Southern Nevada has been the host to major sports and entertainment events in recent years, including the Super Bowl and WrestleMania, along with drafts for the NFL and NHL.

"Look, I love gaming, it's clearly been great for the city," Raiders president Sandra Douglass Morgan said. "But, seeing the diversification, whether it be with sports and other things coming in, it gives our community something else to root for. Instead of an event coming in and leaving, there's homegrown teams now."

"This is what all of you somehow accomplished," said new Golden Knights president John Penhollow, who came from the Minnesota Vikings. "You took the busiest street, maybe in the world, and you decided 'we're going to build an arena. We're gonna build a football stadium. We're gonna build something called a Sphere."

"We're bored, so we're gonna put an F1 race in the middle of that busiest street ever," Penhollow continued. "Then we're bored, so we're gonna build a baseball ballpark. It's insane to think that all happened in a compressed amount of time. And we're not done."

Allegiant Stadium is set to host the College Football National Championship in 2027 and the Final Four in 2028. The A's plan to open their new ballpark on the Strip in 2028.

"The building is gonna be spectacular, you're gonna love it," A's president Marc Badain said. "You're gonna love coming here, and then it's up to us and a lot of the folks in this room who are here from the Athletics organization to make it a great game day experience."

While Las Vegas lacks an NBA team, it has a heavy NBA presence as the host of the Summer League and the NBA Cup Finals.

The idea of an expansion team coming to town continues to be a popular notion and a logical next step for Vegas' buzzing sports scene.

"At some point in time, it's likely there will be a franchise," Clark County Commissioner Jim Gibson said. "Right now, we know the NBA and we work with them."