former Chicago Bears star linebacker Brian Urlacher will be among those playing in the inaugural Westgate Resorts Celebrity Classic golf tournament April 23-26 at the Las Vegas Country Club.
Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2020 | 2:18 p.m.
During his playing days, former Chicago Bears star linebacker Brian Urlacher said he didn’t think about Las Vegas as a realistic home for an NFL team.
But the Raiders’ move to Las Vegas is “great for football,” said Urlacher, who played for the Bears from 2000 to 2012.
“The games are going to be crazy,” said Urlacher, who was at the Las Vegas Country Club today to help announce the inaugural Westgate Resorts Celebrity Classic golf tournament April 23-26.
“I’ve been coming here for 20 years for fun,” he said. “I can’t imagine being on the Raiders and playing here and living and trying to stay off the Strip.”
The Raiders are scheduled to play their first game at Allegiant Stadium this year after moving from Oakland, Calif.
“I never would have thought, during my playing days, that there would be a team in Las Vegas,” Urlacher said. “This is a great market. I’m sure more teams — the NBA or baseball — will want to come here now. People like to have fun, and what better way to have fun than go to a football or baseball or basketball game in Vegas?”
Urlacher and former Raiders quarterback Jay Schroeder, who was also at today’s event, are two of about three dozen sports and entertainment figures who will play in the golf tournament.
A former college All-American at New Mexico, Urlacher played his entire 13-year career with the Bears. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2018.
Richard Siegel, Westgate’s executive vice president, said he’s wanted to host a golf tournament for years.
The 54-hole tournament will feature a $200,000 purse, Westgate officials said. They plan to make the tournament an annual event.
“We picked the busiest week ever in Vegas to do this event and that was by design,” said Siegel, noting the tournament coincides with the NFL Draft. “Everyone will be in town. The media will be here. We have a lot of celebrities committed already and we hope to have some big names.”
Others scheduled to play include former hockey player and TV personality Jeremy Roenick, former pro baseball player Kevin Millar and NFL kicker Robbie Gould.
One of the keys to making the tournament a reality was hiring Bryan Ingrande, a former executive with Diamond Resorts International, to oversee it, Siegel said. Ingrande persuaded his friend Urlacher to participate.
“I love playing golf and it’s going to great to be in Vegas during the weekend of the draft,” said Urlacher, who lives in Arizona with his family.
“I retired in 2012 and I haven’t gotten bored yet,” he said. “I spend a lot of time with my family and I ride my mountain bike almost every day. Other than chasing my kids around, I also play a lot of golf, and my wife and I travel quite a bit.”
