Figure 1 Vegas can now boast sports among its many attractions
There used to be a time when Las Vegas was virtually shunned by the professional major sports leagues in the US. Although the city hosted some of the biggest boxing bouts throughout the latter part of the 20th century, the idea of an NFL team calling Sin City home was out of the question.
It is fair to say that attitudes have changed. The US Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act in 2018 helped make Las Vegas more palatable to the sports governing bodies. But, by that time, there was already an NHL team in town.
Now there is a whole host of sportsbooks Las Vegas betting online sites to choose from and the city itself has become a mecca for sports teams. We are going to look at how this happened, what the situation is now, and what we can expect next for sports in the entertainment capital of the world.
Pre-Major League Sports
City officials and other interested parties had been lobbying to bring a major league sports team to Las Vegas for decades but the NFL, in particular, were very against the idea, apparently worried about the connection to betting. Nevada, at the time, was one of the few places where it was legal in the US.
Boxing never seemed to have a problem though and a number of the big casino resorts hosted world championship fights. College football and basketball were big in the city, especially in the 1990s, but the prospect of a pro team calling the place home seemed remote even into the 2010s.
NHL Leads the Way
Of all the major league sports to become the first to have a Las Vegas franchise, hockey initially seems to be the most unlikely. But the NHL had already aggressively pushed into markets not traditionally associated with the sport and in 2017 the Vegas Golden Knights were unveiled as an expansion team.
Incredibly the Golden Knights reached the Stanley Cup finals in their very first year of existence, ultimately losing to St. Louis in the championship series. But, just seven years later, the team became the first team from Las Vegas – or even Nevada – to win a Big Four championship. It is now consistently one of the best in the NHL.
WNBA Arrives
The immediate success of the Golden Knights fuelled speculation that a whole host of professional major league teams would descend on Las Vegas. NFL and NBA moves or expansion teams seemed most likely but it was the WNBA that became the next league to boast a Vegas franchise.
The owner of the San Antonio Stars agreed to sell the team to a Las Vegas-based group and it was announced that the Las Vegas Aces would begin play at the start of the 2018 season. In what seems to be a pattern for Vegas teams, success came quickly and in 2023 it won the second of its back-to-back championships – the first WNBA team to do so since 2002.
Football Comes to Vegas
Bringing hockey and basketball to Las Vegas was a big deal but football is by far the most popular sport in the country and the success of the existing teams in the city – and the way the local fans took to them – obviously spurred the NFL into action. There had been XFL and even Canadian Football League teams in the past but an NFL team would be a major breakthrough.
After returning to Oakland from Los Angeles in 1995 there had been a lot of talk of the Raiders becoming the new Las Vegas team – and in 2017 the owners agreed the move. The team continued to play in Oakland until the new stadium was built but in 2020 debuted as the Las Vegas Raiders. There has been just one season with playoff action so far but the move has otherwise been an unqualified success.
America’s Past-time
With hockey, football, and basketball already securely in place, there was a lot of talk about baseball and an NBA team completing the set. But there had also been a history of Major League Baseball investigating the possibility of moving one of its poorly performing franchises to Las Vegas.
Both the Montreal Expos and the Arizona Diamondbacks had been linked with a move but it is the Oakland Athletics that now seem to be on their way. Its controversial owner lobbied hard for the team to head to Nevada and it looks like the A’s will now be starting the 2028 season in Las Vegas.
Minor League and College Teams
The speed of Las Vegas becoming a pro sports town has been incredible. In fact, even though the city has the smallest market for one with three teams from the Big Four leagues, it is also the fastest ever to acquire them when previously there had been none.
But there has been minor league baseball in the city since the early 1980s and the late 2010s saw a lot of activity in the hockey, soccer, and lacrosse leagues too. The UNLV Rebels has also put the city on the map as far as NCAA sports goes, with the men’s basketball program becoming particularly well known,
Figure 2 Oakland is now set to lose its second major league sports team to Las Vegas
The Future of Sports in Las Vegas
The stream of major league sports teams arriving in Las Vegas shows no sign of slowing down. The A’s will bring baseball to the city in 2028 and now there is a lot of talk of the NBA completing the big four set. The league seems ready to expand to 32 teams, with Seattle and Las Vegas the likely new franchises.
With countless tournaments and exhibition games played in Vegas, the NBA will not want to miss out on the benefits of having a team in the city. Even Major League Soccer seems open to the possibility of basing a team here. It has all happened remarkably quickly but there is simply no doubt now that Las Vegas is definitely a sports town.
