September 2020 Could Deliver Mother Lode Of Sports Weekends In Las Vegas: ‘This Would Be Unbelievable’

By Alan Snel

LVSportsBiz.com

Las Vegas tourism and sports leaders are working on creating the mother lode sports weekend in late September 2020 that is aiming to include a Golden Knights preseason match, UFC fight show, NASCAR race and Raiders Monday Night Football game from Sept. 25-28, 2020. Even a UNLV football game is being discussed as part of the mix.

The local public tourism agency — Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority — has promoted something in the past called the ultimate sports weekend in March that included a Golden Knights game at T-Mobile Arena and NASCAR race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

But this proposed monster sports weekend for September 2020 is raising the bar even higher because the NFL Raiders will be a new Las Vegas sports team thanks to a $1.9 billion stadium project that will also house the UNLV football team next season.

“This would take it up a notch,” said Peter Guzman, president/CEO of Las Vegas Latin Chamber of Commerce who enjoys visiting Las Vegas Motor Speedway. “This would be unbelievable.”

Here’s the game plan. The Big Boys of NASCAR are going racing at Las Vegas Motor Speedway Sept. 27, 2020, which sparked Speedway executives to think about making it part of a massive sports weekend that could potentially include a Golden Knights preseason game on the Friday before the Sunday NASCAR race and a UFC night event on that Saturday, said Kevin Camper, Speedway executive vice president for sales and marketing.

And here’s the weekend clincher: Camper is hoping the Raiders and the NFL would include a Monday Night Football game for Monday, Sept. 28, after the Sunday NASCAR race.

Even UNLV Athletic Director Desiree Reed-Francois has been included as part of the talks with the aim of blending a UNLV football game into that late September weekend, Camper said.

Camper discussed the sports weekend idea during an LVSportsBiz.com interview Friday when we discussed the marketing of Sunday’s South Point 400 at the Speedway. Here is that interview.

Camper mentioned in the interview that the NFL schedulers have not set the game dates for 2020. He’s hoping the Raiders, a team that has played many Monday Night Football games, would look to have a home game on the Monday after Sunday’s NASCAR event at the Speedway.

UFC, a tenant at T-Mobile Arena, could stage its fight show on the Saturday night before the Sept. 27 car race, Camper figured. And the Golden Knights could launch the power sports weekend with a preseason game on Friday night, which would require a fast arena turn-around from hockey to MMA for a potential Saturday night UFC event Sept. 26.

Who knows, maybe the WNBA Las Vegas Aces could be in the playoffs next season and play a home game that same weekend?

For now, Sunday will be a busy sports day in Las Vegas. The Vegas Golden Knights launch their preseason at T-Mobile Arena at 1:30 p.m., the Aces host the Chicago Sky in a playoff game at Thomas & Mack Center at 2 p.m and the South Point 400 NASCAR race starts at 4 p.m. to finish under the lights at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

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