David J. Phillip / AP
Kansas players celebrate a win over North Carolina after a college basketball game in the finals of the men’s Final Four NCAA tournament, Monday, April 4, 2022, in New Orleans.
Published Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2022 | 9:54 a.m.
Updated Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2022 | 5:03 p.m.
Las Vegas was already considered a landing spot for the NCAA Tournament, as hordes of visitors congregate here during the third week of March to watch and wager on the games.
That visitor traffic will take on a different meaning in 2028.
College basketball’s most notable weekend is heading to Las Vegas, as the NCAA announced today that the Final Four will be contested at Allegiant Stadium in 2028.
The NCAA also announced that Ford Field in Detroit will host the Final Four in 2027, while Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis will get the 2029 event and AT&T Stadium in Dallas will get the 2030 event.
"We are excited to bring the NCAA’s premier championship to Las Vegas, a city that for a number of years has hosted numerous championships from several member conferences," Chris Reynolds, athletics director at Bradley and the chairman of the site selection committee, said in a statement. "The feedback from leagues, the fans of their teams and the media covering the events staged there has been overwhelmingly positive, and we are confident we’ll get the same reviews when the Men’s Final Four is played at Allegiant Stadium."
Having the $2 billion, 65,000-seat Allegiant Stadium, home of the NFL’s Raiders and UNLV football, has paved the way for Las Vegas to attract many marquee events. That includes the 2024 Super Bowl.
"The Raiders are thrilled to welcome the NCAA and college basketball fans from around the world to Las Vegas and our home at Allegiant Stadium," Sandra Douglass Morgan, president of the Las Vegas Raiders and Las Vegas NCAA Final Four bid team, said in a statement. "Our facility is a state-of-the-art, ideal venue for world-class sporting events."
The effort to bring the event here — during a slow time in early April after the rush of visitors for the initial week of March Madness — featured tourism leaders and UNLV and the Raiders officials.
Las Vegas, which annually hosts NCAA conference basketball tournaments at various venues, was previously named a host site for a 2023 NCAA Tournament regional and the 2023 NIT championship.
"Our city has been a hub for basketball on all levels for many years and now to welcome one of the premier events in all of sports is a culmination of how Las Vegas has truly become the sports and entertainment capital of the world," Erick Harper, UNLV’s athletics director and a member of the Las Vegas Final Four Bid team, said in a statement.
The road for Las Vegas tourism officials to secure a Final Four for the city has been years in the making.
"The Final Four is one of the marquee events in sports and we are thrilled to have the opportunity to be the host in 2028," said Steve Hill, CEO and president of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. "The excitement of Final Four basketball combined with the energy of Las Vegas will create an unforgettable experience for teams and fans alike."
In 2019, Hill and a group of other officials traveled to the men’s Final Four in Minneapolis.
That, Hill said, was the first time that representatives from Las Vegas had been invited to a Final Four as a potential host city.
“Obviously, there’s a pandemic that may have slowed efforts for a bit, but we’ve been working on this for over three years,” Hill said.
Hill said Las Vegas officials are also in pursuit of a College Football Playoff championship game, which would undoubtedly be played at Allegiant Stadium.
The college football national championship game will be played in Los Angeles next year. In subsequent years, the game will take place in Houston, Atlanta and Miami.
"We have the triple crown right now — Formula One, the Super Bowl and the Final Four — but we're after the grand slam, and that would include the college football national championship," Hill said. "They're working through the logistics of expanding the playoffs and that, in one way, shape or form, I think will allow Las Vegas to participate in that process. I hope that will be the case."
Las Vegas also will be host to the men’s NCAA ice hockey Frozen Four in 2026, which will take place at T-Mobile Arena.
The announcement is further proof that the NCAA has softened its stance on sports betting, which for decades led it to shy away from considering Las Vegas for championship events.
That’s significant considering the NCAA stayed away from hosting games here until the early to mid-2000s, when Steve Stallworth of the Orleans Arena spent two years working with university officials from Kansas and Florida to have the schools play here in 2006. Florida was the defending national champion and Kansas was ranked No. 1, bringing a standing room-only crowd for a back-and-forth game that went into overtime.
"I knew we could do college basketball and do it well," Stallworth, now with the South Point Arena, told the Sun in 2019.
It was the first college game contested on a property with a sportsbook. But not the last.
By 2009, the West Coast Conference moved its tournament to the Orleans Arena. Now, the Western Athletic Conference (Orleans) and Pac-12 Conference tournaments (previously MGM Grand Garden Arena, now T-Mobile Arena) are also in Las Vegas and close to sportsbooks.
Henderson also began hosting the Big West Conference basketball tournament this year. The conference will again host the Big West’s men’s and women’s basketball tournaments next year at the Dollar Loan Center.
Of today’s announcement, Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman offered the following tweet shortly after the news was released: “Yes! So excited to welcome the 2028 men’s Final Four to Las Vegas. There is no better place to host a major sporting event than Las Vegas!”
In a separate statement, Jim Gibson, chairman of the Clark County Commission, said, “The excitement of the Final Four is a perfect match for this vibrant city. Las Vegas — UNLV that is — has been to the Final Four, but the Final Four has never come to Las Vegas. It’s clearly time.”
The UNLV men’s basketball team made it to the Final Four under coach Jerry Tarkanian in 1990 and 1991. The team won the national title in 1990 in Denver.
The 2028 Final Four will undoubtedly have a positive economic impact on the Las Vegas area.
Ahead of the 2021 men’s Final Four, Indianapolis tourism officials predicted the event would have an economic impact of about $225 million, despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since 1990, Indianapolis has hosted the men’s Final Four seven times and will next have it in 2026.
"That (2021) event obviously looked very different when it happened, but that’s the latest estimate we have as it pertains to the event," said Brett Kramer, a spokesman for the Indiana Sports Corp, a leading organization in ongoing efforts to bring top tier sporting events to Indianapolis. "By the 2027-2030 bid cycle, we anticipate that ($225 million) figure to grow."
The Final Four weekend, set for April 1-3, 2028, is more than the national semifinals and championship games. It also includes fan experiences, autograph sessions, giveaways and a coaching convention. Even the practice sessions are sold out.
