March Madness Sweeps Into Sin City, Three College Basketball Tourneys Receive $1.1 Million In Sponsorship Money To Stage Hoops Events In Vegas
Please subscribe to LVSportsBiz.com. We no longer can work for free and give away our original content for free. Thank you — LVSportsBiz.com
Support our advertisers like Jay’s Market at 190 East Flamingo Road at the Koval Road intersection west of the world-famous Strip
Story by Alan Snel Photos by J. Tyge O’Donnell
It’s mid-March in Las Vegas and that means only one thing — March Madness has sprung in arenas across the Las Vegas metro region.
The West Coast Conference has taken over Orleans Arena. The Pac-12 Conference is saying so long forever at its final basketball tourney at T-Mobile Arena. The Mountain West Conference, which is having a banner hoops year, is holding its tourney at Thomas & Mack Center. And the Big West Basketball Championships are calling The Dollar Loan Center arena home in Henderson this week.
The WCC — also known as the Gonzaga vs Saint Mary’s in the tourney final conference — has a deal with Orleans Arena through 2025. The Mountain West, the conference that includes UNLV, will be at Thomas & Mack on the UNLV campus through 2025, as well.
With the Pac-12 disintegrating, who will play in T-Mobile Arena in 2025? Will the Big 12 with new additions Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah — and BYU already in the conference — make a run for T-Mobile Arena in 2025? The Big 12 has already lined up Allegiant Stadium for its football media days later this year on July 9 and 10.
Las Vegas Events, the non-profit events arm of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA), is again paying six-figure amounts to sponsor the Pac-12, Mountain West and WCC tourneys:
^ Pac-12 — $500,000
^ Mountain West — $300,000
^ West Coast Conference — $300,000
