No longer barred, Vegas aims to host numerous NCAA sports events

Las Vegas is going to take a chance on hosting major college sporting events. The city is set to bid on nearly a half dozen different NCAA championship events, including women’s basketball.

The NCAA started accepting bids Monday on nearly two dozen sports championships over all three divisions. This is the first year Las Vegas is eligible to bid after the governing body for college sports indefinitely suspended a ban last year that prevented events from being hosted in states that accept wagers on single games.

George Kliavkoff, MGM’s president of entertainment and sports, said last week that his group — in conjunction with the Las Vegas Convention and Visitor Authority — plan on bidding to host women’s basketball as well as at least five other sports. Those could include the Frozen Four, wrestling and women’s volleyball championships. “We’re looking for scaled opportunities. Sports that attract lots of fans and some places we can reconfigure the way the events are held to attract more fans,” he said.

Kliavkoff thinks Las Vegas is positioned well for women’s basketball and its potential new regional format. The NCAA women’s basketball committee suggested this month changing the format for the regionals starting in 2023 by having two cities host eight teams each in the Sweet 16 instead of having four sites. “Nevada is such a great place and Las Vegas is such an excellent place to hold a championship or regional,” Kliavkoff said. “We’re uniquely positioned since we have T-Mobile Arena, MGM Garden Arena and Mandalay Bay. We have three event centers. We have knowledge how to do this.”