By Alan Snel
LVSportsBiz.com
At just after 7:30 pm Saturday, Las Vegas hit the trifecta.
The WNBA Las Vegas Aces just tipped off their professional women’s basketball game against the Indiana Fever on the Strip. Attendance was 4,581 tonight for the Aces’ thrilling overtime win over Indiana.
The Triple A baseball Las Vegas Aviators threw their first pitch against the Reno Aces at their Downtown Summerlin ballpark shortly after 7 pm. Attendance was 10,322 — the 30th sellout this season.
The Las Vegas Lights FC soccer team, one tier below Major League Soccer, hit the turf against the OKC Energy FC at Cashman Field in downtown Las Vegas around 7:30 pm for a home game, too. Attendance was 9,418 — a season best for the Lights.
It would have been impossible to make this same statement just two years in late June 2017. The Aviators were the Las Vegas 51s and they played at Cashman Field, not in a $150 million jewel of a ballyard in the western suburbs of Summerlin. And the Aces and Lights were not even around, as both teams are playing their sophomore seasons in Las Vegas.
While there’s talk of Las Vegas’ sports market expanding too quickly, each of these three professional summer sports teams have carved out unique demographic fan bases and play their games in venues scattered in three very distinct geographic areas of the Las Vegas market to generate their income.
All three teams were in action in Las Vegas Saturday night. And technically, each pro club was competing against each other for the sports fan dollar.
But in less than two years, each offers a very distinct sports product and venue setting that could appeal to the picky sports fan. Sure, there are crossover fans — especially families — that could attend any of the three teams’ games. But each team has carved out a sports niche in a competitive market.
The basketball Aces celebrated Pride Night, which is right in the team’s demographic wheelhouse because the WNBA has traditionally appealed to gay sports fans through the years. WNBA teams have also been a draw for black sports fans. The Aces play at Mandalay Bay Events Center, an 8,000-seat arena on the Strip’s south end that is the ideal size for the WNBA team. They’re owned by MGM Resorts International, the biggest hotel-casino property owner on the Strip, and draw about 4,000 fans a game. A fan can spend $24 to get into tonight’s game.
Aces coach Bill Laimbeer said Pride Night highlighted WNBA’s inclusive nature, which, he noted, is its “trademark.” Here’s Aces star forward A’ja Wilson, who scored a career-high 39 points in a 102-97 OT win over Indiana as the Aces are now 7-5:
The soccer Lights attract Hispanic fans, with an estimate of Latino backers as high as 70 percent at home games during year one. The Hispanic population is expected to increase in the Las Vegas market, so professional soccer advocates believe a proposed MLS soccer stadium at a redeveloped Cashman Center site would tap well into that market trend. The Lights play at Cashman Field in downtown, where owner Brett Lashbrook believes is the ideal home for an MLS team. While MGM Resorts is corporate, Lashbrook’s ownership is mom-and-pop in style. The Lights draw about 6,000-7,000 fans a game. You can get to a Lights game tonight for 10 bucks. The Lights lost, 1-0, to OKC Energy, and have won six, lost seven and tied four as part of their 34-game schedule.
The baseball Aviators have undergone a radical facelift in branding and fan background, attracting much more affluent fans in upscale Summerlin than they ever did when they played in downtown. The Aviators are owned by Summerlin master developer Howard Hughes Corporation, which moved the Pacific Coast League team from Cashman Field to a spectacular minor league baseball park that serves as money maker, marketing tool and Summerlin amenity for Howard Hughes Corp. The Aviators are averaging a stunning 9,480 fans a game and lead all 30 Triple A baseball teams in home attendance. To get into a game tonight, the cheapest ticket is $15.
Photo by Tom Donoghue
The Aviators also launched a new affiliation with their Major League Baseball parent, as the Oakland Athletics are the team the Aviators players aspire to reach one day. The Aviators lost, 20-9, to the Reno Aces Saturday and are 45-37 on the season.
While the Lights and Aces in their Season 2s are building on their respective inaugural seasons in 2018, the Aviators have a completely new brand, venue and fan base. At Cashman, the old 51s attracted a mixed demographic, struggling to attract a lot of suburban fans from Summerlin, Henderson and the Northwest Valley.
My how things have changed. The Summerlin ballpark crowd is more upscale and affluent because of its geographic setting in Las Vegas’ richest suburb and the ballpark team store looks like a Dillard’s specialty retail section, not like the old Cashman team store that sold minor league caps of other teams and many team souvenir trinkets. An Aviators ticket saleswoman at the ballpark ticket window explained the difference between the downtown and Summerlin ballpark locations: “You won’t get kidnapped or stabbed here.”
The soccer Lights have attempted to diversify its Latino-dominated fan base, but has struggled to attract the traditional white soccer moms to their games. But things may change. An investment group is negotiating with the city of Las Vegas about a concept of redeveloping a segment of the downtown Las Vegas Boulevard corridor that includes the Cashman Center site where the team’s soccer stadium is located. A billionaire money management and hedge fund owner would buy the Lights only if his investment group reaches an agreement with the city of Las Vegas on the redevelopment and soccer stadium plan.
Interestingly, the long economic shadow of the NHL Vegas Golden Knights is never too far away. Earlier in the day on Saturday, the Golden Knights held the final scrimmage of its Development Camp, which consisted of 43 of their young prospects playing in front of a sold out crowd of about 500 or so at City National Arena, which is literally next-door to the Aviators ballpark.
And next week, two heavyweight sports make their presence known in Las Vegas as local-based UFC stages its International Week activities capped by UFC 239 at T-Mobile Arena in a week next Saturday.
And the powerhouse NBA Summer League, complete with all 30 NBA teams plus the Chinese and Croatian national teams, comes to Thomas & Mack Center on the UNLV campus July 5-15. The 11-day, 83-game Summer League has already sold out its games for its first two days on Friday and Saturday.
Photo by Daniel Clark
Not only does MGM Resorts International own the WNBA Aces, the company also is the title sponsor of the NBA Summer League. MGM Resorts CEO Jim Murren has been lobbying NBA Commissioner Adam Silver on the merits of T-Mobile Arena hosting an NBA team on the Strip one day.
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