By ALAN SNEL
It was bound to happen.
On Tuesday night, the Vegas Golden Knights and the UNLV Runnin’ Rebels basketball team will go head-to-head with 7 p.m. starts.
And their venues will be across from each other on the Strip.
The Golden Knights play the Anaheim Ducks at T-Mobile Arena, while the UNLV hoopsters take on Oral Roberts at MGM Grand Garden Arena tomorrow evening.
Meanwhile, the cowboys, horses and Western lifestyle vendors are rolling into Sin City this week for the start of the National Finals Rodeo at Thomas and Mack Center Dec. 7. Thomas & Mack Executive Director Mike Newcomb tells LVSportsBiz.com that the dirt for the NFR was installed Sunday, which meant the Runnin’ Rebels moved a mile to the west to play at MGM Grand Garden Arena.
And the world’s second richest equestrian event behind the Breeder’s Cup — the World Series of Team Roping — comes to South Point Dec. 11. The arena chief at South Point — Steve Stallworth — also noted Western lifestyle vendors are filling 150,000 square feet at South Point to sell horse saddles, boots, and every Western lifestyle product.
Las Vegas was already a big-league sports town before the Golden Knights hit the ice this fall, but their presence of more than 40 home games means their games will be going head-to-head against other sports-related events in town.
There’s little doubt that there are Las Vegas sports fans who enjoy going to both UNLV basketball and Golden Knights hockey games. But they also draw two different demographic groups — the folks who can afford to pay an average of $88 for a Golden Knights ticket, and fans who will pay one-fourth to one-half of that to watch the Runnin’ Rebels.
Wait until this summer, when the new WNBA team that moved to Las Vegas from San Antonio called the Stars start playing and share calendar dates with the Las Vegas 51s Triple baseball team and the new United Soccer League team called the Las Vegas Lights FC.
LVSportsBiz.com will be attending both the Golden Knights and Runnin’ Rebels Tuesday night for sports-business coverage of both. So, look for coverage tomorrow night.
— In other LVSportsBiz news:
- A gamer pirated the UFC 218 event with some creative techniques. Yahoo with the story here.
- At Saturday’s UNLV basketball game against Arizona, LVSportsBiz.com noticed the Thomas & Mack Center’s tequila station was empty. But arena chief Mike Newcomb said the station will be well stocked when the NFR fans come for opening night Thursday, Dec. 7.
- Contact LVSportsBiz.com founder/writer Alan Snel at asnel@LVSportsBiz.com