Fans Belly Up To Las Vegas Sports Buffet In City Of Stadiums/Arenas Saturday; March Madness, XFL, Lacrosse, Boxing, Even Racing+Swift
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By Alan Snel, LVSportsBiz.com Publisher/Writer
It was inevitable.
Eventually, there would be nights like this in Vegas.
The South Strip was packed with this lineup: Taylor Swift at Allegiant Stadium. UConn vs Gonzaga for a Final Four trip at T-Mobile Arena. Indoor lacrosse — the Desert Dogs — at Mandalay Bay’s Michelob Ultra Arena. And Caleb Plant and David Benavidez in a monster boxing match at MGM Grand Garden Arena.
She’s the first female solo artist to headline the NFL Raiders stadium.
It was a sellout at Allegiant Stadium for Swift Sunday, while attendance for UConn’s 82-54 rout of Gonzaga was announced at 18,119.
Over at the Plant fight, Raiders owner Mark Davis was among the announced attendance of 13,865:
Benavidez defeated Plant, 115-113, 116-112, 117-111.
The lacrosse Desert Dogs were in action and winning, meaning MGM Resorts’ three arenas — MGM Grand Garden, T-Mobile and Michelob Ultra at Mandalay — were all in action. Attendance announced at the Dogs: 5,430.
Wait.
There’s more!
The XFL Vegas Vipers played in downtown Las Vegas at Cashman Field. Over in Henderson, the Indoor Football League’s Vegas Knight Hawks were in action at The Dollar Loan Center in suburban Henderson. The Knight Hawks’ attendance: 5,246.
The Vipers lost, 29-6, to St. Louis. Attendance: 6,033.
And you car race buffs. There’s something for you, too.
Races at the Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway Saturday.
Even the baseball park out in Summerlin was in use. No sports, but there was a blood drive at Las Vegas Ballpark Saturday.
And those peppy Golden Knights fans piped up and mentioned they’re on their couches watching the Knights play the Oilers in Edmonton. The VGK defeated the Oilers, 4-3, in OT on a Nic Roy game-winner.
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Gonzaga ran out of gas after a Thursday’s classic win over UCLA. The Huskies led the Zags, 39-32, at halftime and then pulled away in the second half to salt away an 82-54 win and a trip to the Final Four in Houston for the first time in nine years. Gonzaga made only 33 percent of its shots, including only seven baskets in the second half.
It was a disappointing outcome for the many Bulldogs fans who are used to travelling to Las Vegas to watch the Zags play in the West Coast Conference tournament at Orleans Arena only two miles west of T-Mobile Arena on Tropicana Avenue.
West regional champ UConn plays the Miami-Texas winner in the national semifinal.
Before the Gonzaga-UConn game in Las Vegas, media types like “Stanford Steve” in the T-Mobile Arena media room watched the 9th-seeded Florida Atlantic Owls upset Kansas State in the Elite 8 matchup.
The FAU Owls play the winner of Mountain West Conference’s San Diego State vs Creighton in the other March Madness national semifinal.
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