Guest post by Tanner Simkins…
Loud cars, brash fighters and a fast-paced testosterone driven Olympic sport. What do they have in common? A weekend in Las Vegas. The city known for big and bold will have a rare chance to host not two but three high octane sporting events this weekend, as the UFC fight card headlined by Connor McGregor will combine with NASCAR, the HSBC Rugby Sevens and even the West Coast Conference Tournament event to bring literally several hundred thousand fans of action this weekend, a great start for a month, with Madness on the horizon, that is already one of the busiest for Vegas on the calendar.
“As a city that always looks to go big, having three events like this is a great way to again show the sports world that the city is serious about events with very passionate fan bases,” said Chris Lencheski, a longtime sports marketer and professor at Columbia University who is now also in charge of a high speed sport, the IHRA. “If I’m Vegas and I’m trying to lure the NHL, the NBA or even MLB to my city, I can point to a weekend like this where literally thousands are descending for live sports to show that the capability and the enthusiasm is there for success.”
NASCAR will pull over 100,000 fans in for the weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the Kobalt Tools 400, while the HSBC Sevens Series, which will have the best nations in rugby from around the world in the last U.S. stop before the Rio Olympics, will draw record crowds of close or over 80,000 to Sam Boyd Stadium. Then at the MGM Grand Arena you have Holly Holm taking on Meisha Tate in the undercard to the McGregor-Nate Diaz matchup, while Gonzaga, BYU and St. Mary’s will fill college hoops at the Orleans Arena.
It is an interesting time for Las Vegas, a city on the rebound away from The Strip, a city which, as legalized sports betting inches closer to reality across the country, is trying to find its way into the mainstream through the allure of a new arena and the specter of either expansion or relocation for the NHL. With every league short of the NFL, from MLS to MLB whispering about the gold being brought in through professional sports relocation, no one has yet to bite, and existing teams, like those from the AFL faded into the morass of red tape while Triple A baseball, an affiliate of the New York Mets, struggles to find a market in the hot Nevada summer.
Of all the events this weekend, the rugby event is the most intriguing from a business perspective. The group that owns the event, New York-based United World Sports, may have found lighting in a bottle with a rare global event in a city that is All-American, a sport that now has Olympic ties nonetheless. Sevens rugby is perfect for the millennial generation; the game is fast, high on scoring and can be learned pretty quickly, and the U.S., which has struggled on the global stage with traditional 15’s rugby, has quickly become a strong squad both in men’s and women’s Olympic Sevens. NBC has bought into the hype as a partner for both this event, and the Penn Mutual Collegiate Rugby Championships which will be played in Philadelphia in June. While many talk about eSports, Sevens Rugby could be a comer with the right financial backing in the future, and it is certainly one to watch.
However this weekend in Vegas, even with the anticipated full house for rugby, the stage will be shared with a host of events, all of which combined may show that Vegas, a show town, a betting town, may finally be ready to be a team sports town. Are the odds long? Not as long as they once were, and for sure the major leagues will be watching this week as a diverse sports audience from around the world drops and tunes in to all things sports in Nevada.
