Parade of College Basketball Tournaments Starts in Las Vegas This Week With West Coast Conference At Orleans Arena
By ALAN SNEL
LVSportsBiz.com
LVSportsBiz.com photos by J. Tyge O’Donnell
It’s that time of year in Las Vegas when the basketballs will be flying in Orleans Arena, Thomas & Mack Center and T-Mobile Arena and Las Vegas Events is paying the West Coast Conference, Mountain West Conference and the Pac-12 a total of $1.3 million to stage their hoops tournaments in Las Vegas.
The West Coast Conference — the league with national powerhouse Gonzaga — is negotiating with Orleans Arena and Las Vegas Events to renew its conference tournament deal to return to Las Vegas, WCC Commissioner Gloria Nevarez told LVSportsBiz.com Friday night. The WCC is in the final year of its current agreement.
“Our fans have made it a pilgrimage to come to Las Vegas,” Nevarez said. “It’s affordable and accessible.”
And don’t forget the Western Athletic Conference also comes to Las Vegas, following the West Coast Conference at Orleans Arena.
Las Vegas serves as a central location for the four college basketball conferences, providing effective venues and lodging infrastructure for the college basketball teams. Plus Las Vegas Events, the LVCVA tourism agency’s non-profit arm that works to get events, pays hundreds of thousands of dollars to three of the four conferences to come to Las Vegas.
Las Vegas Events pays the West Coast Conference $300,000, while doling out $500,000 each to the Pac-12 and the Mountain West. The MWC uses the home arena of UNLV, but converts the venue into a neutral site by installing Mountain West branding and signage while covering up the UNLV Runnin’ Rebel references in the gym.
Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) stats for January show visitorship is up slightly from Jan, 2019 to Jan, 2018.
The West Coast Conference is all-powerful top-ranked Gonzaga and the Dwarfs. Dickie V. — Dick Vitale — is rolling into Orleans Arena Monday when the Zags and their faithful from Spokane, Washington will take over the venue. ESPN will be broadcasting the Gonzaga game Monday evening. Gonzaga has won every single WCC tourney since 1999 with the exception of San Diego twice (2003, 2008) and Saint Mary’s (2010, 2012). The Gonzaga Bulldogs have won 30 straight games against WCC foes and have appeared in 54 consecutive AP Top 25 polls.
Friday night Pepperdine radio play-by-play man Al Epstein broadcast his 1,035th consecutive Waves hoops game in his 34th season — making him an ironman in college basketball radio broadcasting. Pepperdine defeated LMU Friday night so Epstein will be back for at least one more radio broadcast at Orleans Arena. “I have the women’s game to do, too,” Epstein told LVSportsBiz.com after the Waves of Malibu, Calif. beat the LMU Lions.
Here’s what a wave looks like it if it came to life as a two-legged mammal.
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