By Alan Snel, LVSportsBiz.com Publisher-Writer
LAS VEGAS, Nevada— This sports tourism town hosts quite a few events.
The Formula 1 race was on Nov. 23, and workers are still tearing down bleachers with roads like Koval Lane closed at Flamingo Road.
The National Finals Rodeo is at Thomas & Mack Center with its precisely-timed shows unfolding nightly this week.
And look who has rolled into T-Mobile Arena, home of the NHL Vegas Golden Knights.
It’s the National Basketball Association’s NBA Cup, the manifestation of an in-season tournament where certain games count toward a semifinal and then a final at T-Mobile Arena.
You have to hand it to the NBA.
The league created this attraction out of thin air last season and pulled it off again in 2024.
And an Army of NBA workers and tons of production gear have poured into the arena that sits between Park MGM and New York New York.
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The semifinal games are set.
It’s the Bucks vs the Hawks at 1:30 PM Saturday followed by the Rockets vs Thuder at 4:30 PM.
The winners face each other Tuesday.
It’s not exactly an expensive ticket to get into the arena for the Bucks/Hawks game.
Get-in price is only $29 on Vivid Seats, not counting taxes, fees etc.
It’s even cheaper to attend the OKC/Houston game.
Vivid Seats has secondary market tickets starting at a mere $26.
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NBA Commissioner Adam Silver enjoys calling the Las Vegas Summer League the association’s 31st franchise.
Plus, the WNBA Aces are here — an independent franchise owned by Raiders owner Mark Davis. The Aces and Seattle Storm are the only two teams in the WNBA that are in a city without an NBA team.
And now the NBA Cup’s semis and final are in Las Vegas for a second straight season.
VGK owner Bill Foley said he’s ready to have an NBA team play in T-Mobile Arena while there are proposals for two arena/hotel projects on the north Strip and at Las Vegas Boulevard and Blue Diamond Road.
Silver, who wrote a watershed letter to the New York Times calling for sports betting’s legalization and regulation, has had four years now to look at both the NHL Golden Knight and NFL Raiders share a market of 2.3 million resident and 40 million annual visitors.
But potential NBA expansion to Las Vegas and Seattle comes against declining TV ratings as an average of about 1.8 million viewers are catching NBA games these days.
And tickets for the two NBA Cup semifinals games are both going to for less 30 buck plus fees.
Not a good sign.
Silver is coming to Las Vegas.
Let’s see what he has to say about possible expansion in the face of dropping TV ratings.
