Aces Aviators UNLV 

Wilson, Otzelberger Make Pitches To Make Basketball Big-Time Again In Las Vegas

Alan Snel ,
A’ja Wilson tosses her first pitch before the Aviators game Friday.

By Alan Snel

LVSportsBiz.com

 

A’ja Wilson is a gifted 22-year-old basketball player from South Carolina and and T.J. Otzelberger is an intense 41-year-old basketball coach from Milwaukee and their paths intersected on a pristine baseball field in Summerlin Friday.

 

They may have different backgrounds, but their missions are the same — make professional and college basketball dominant in a market that is growing more crowded with all types of sports options from minor league baseball played in a sparkling new venue to an NHL team that — for now — rules the Las Vegas sports market.

 

Wilson and Otzelberger threw out the first pitches for Friday’s Las Vegas Aviators-Albuquerque Isotopes game, which, by the way, was yet another sellout at the ballpark in Downtown Summerlin. (Summerlin master developer Howard Hughes Corporation owns the Aviators, the ballpark and Downtown Summerlin; talk about vertical integration.) A packed ballpark of 10,132 watched the Aviators lose, 5-4, to the Isotopes in 10 innings.

Aviators mascot pays its respect to Aces forward A’ja Wilson.

 

Wilson’s Aces play their season-opener Sunday at 5 p.m. at Mandalay Bay Events Center,  while Otzelberger arrived March 28 via helicopter to Thomas & Mack Center to start a five-year contract in an attempt to revive a once-great national college hoops program.

 

LVSportsBiz.com caught up with both Wilson and Otzelberger to find out how they will excite a market about their respective basketball teams. First, Wilson, who talks about the Aces and Sinclair Broadcasting cutting a a deal to have 16 of 17 home games broadcast on local channel MyLVTV..

And here’s Otzelberger discussing how his visits around the community can translate into more interest and ticket sales for UNLV basketball.

 

Wilson’s boyfriend, former Dayton basketball player Josh Cunningham, was on the ball field with the Aces forward Friday and he also met Otzelberger. Unfortunately for the new UNLV hoops coach, Cunningham’s college basketball eligibility is done.

 

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LVSportsBiz.com will be reporting Saturday from Cashman Field, where the Las Vegas Lights FC are playing the Tulsa Roughnecks at 7 :30 p.m. and will be at the Mandalay Bay Events Center Sunday for the 5 p.m. Aces-Los Angeles Sparks game. Look for our photos on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, too.

A’ja Wilson, after her first pitch.

 

 

Alan Snel

Alan Snel brings decades of sports-business reporting experience to LVSportsBiz.com. Snel covered the business side of sports for the South Florida (Fort Lauderdale) Sun-Sentinel, the Tampa Tribune and Las Vegas Review-Journal. As a city hall beat reporter, Snel also covered stadium deals in Denver and Seattle. In 2000, Snel launched a sport-business website for FoxSports.com called FoxSportsBiz.com. After reporting sports-business for the RJ, Snel wrote hard-hitting stories on the Raiders stadium for the Desert Companion magazine in Las Vegas and The Nevada Independent. Snel is also one of the top bicycle advocates in the country.

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