Las Vegas sets sights on hosting NCAA basketball tourney games

By Bryan Horwath

Monday, March 4, 2019 | 2 a.m.

While Las Vegas has long been a hot spot for March Madness viewing parties, it was, until recently, barred from hosting NCAA tournament games.

Last year, the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s Board of Governors announced the temporary lifting of its longstanding rule banning NCAA championship events from taking place in states where single-game betting is allowed.

The move came shortly after a May 2018 Supreme Court ruling overturned a federal law (the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992) that barred most states from allowing gambling on collegiate and professional sporting events.

Though the NCAA has stressed the move has not yet been made permanent, there’s nothing currently on the books that would ban Nevada from being an NCAA tournament site.

“Championships can now be played where there’s single-game betting,” said Stacey Osburn, a spokeswoman for the NCAA. “Prior to that ruling, it wouldn’t have been possible, but, now, it’s up to the various bids that go out.”

While men’s basketball sites have already been chosen through the 2022 tournament, 2023 and beyond are up for grabs. Las Vegas, which later this month will again host the West Coast Conference, Pacific 12 Conference, Western Athletic Conference and Mountain West tournaments, seems like an ideal landing spot.

“We’ve had a lot of success with conference championships here in Las Vegas,” said Jeremy Aguero, principal at Applied Analysis and one of the leaders of the Las Vegas Stadium project. “Those types of things have laid the foundation. Look, we have 147,000 hotel rooms and the second-busiest destination origination airport in the country. This community was designed to host these types of events.”

While UNLV is taking the lead in the basketball bid process, Las Vegas Events and the LVCVA are also involved. Osburn said host cities must have host schools or conferences. In June, the Mountain West Conference Board of Directors unanimously approved a resolution that urged the NCAA to make its single-game betting rule change permanent.

Pat Christenson, president of Las Vegas Events, said more will be known on the next steps of the application process this summer during what the NCAA calls a “bid portal” period.

He said Las Vegas Events and the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority put together a bid last year, though the timing of the NCAA’s betting rule change didn’t allow it to move forward. Christenson said Las Vegas also plans to bid for a men’s hockey Frozen Four and an NCAA wrestling championship.

“We’re optimistic,” Christenson said. “I think the relationship between the NCAA and Las Vegas has been improving a lot in the past two or three years. We think we’re an attractive destination and there aren’t all that many options for regionals in the West.”

It’s unclear as to which round of basketball tournament the NCAA, if it does choose Las Vegas for a site, would eye Las Vegas for. Christenson said it’s possible that games could be played at either T-Mobile Arena or UNLV’s Thomas & Mack Center.

“Specific to men’s basketball, working alongside local and regional leaders, we intend to be aggressive in submitting attractive and competitive bids to host a preliminary round or regional site,” UNLV athletics director Desiree Reed-Francois said in a statement to the Sun.

If Las Vegas eventually receives a men’s basketball Final Four, however, the NCAA would likely want it to be played at the larger 65,000-seat Las Vegas Stadium, which is expected to be finished next year, and used by the NFL Raiders and UNLV football.

“If it’s a sports activity, Las Vegas is going to come after it,” Aguero said. “(Las Vegas stadium) was designed to host events like a Final Four. A Final Four might work or it might not work, but I do know that the venue will be as good as any venue where the Final Four has ever been.”