Mark Davis honors former Aces stars
CUE the Eagles, a band favored by rock fan Mark Davis. He’s in it for the long run in his ownership of the Las Vegas Aces.
Thursday night was yet another magnanimous gesture by Davis, who bought the team in February. He hosted a dinner at Stripsteak at Mandalay Bay for five Aces alumni, dating to the original Utah Starzz from the franchise’s 1997 inaugural season.
The ex-players were Andrea Gardner-williams (San Antonio Silver Stars), Laquanda Barksdale (Silver Stars), Wendy Palmer (Starzz), Adrianne Ross (San Antonio Stars) and Danielle Crockrom Fontenot.
“We will be honoring the alumni all throughout the season. We’re building an
Aces alumni association, and we flew all of them in to be honored,” Davis said. “We are telling them they will not be forgotten. I’ll tell you, it brought them to tears. It was great.”
He went on, “We’ll build some real goodwill, too. I’m in it for the long run.” Davis is using a template he established in building a strong community bond with Oakland/los Angeles Raiders alumni.
The Aces and WNBA are both celebrating their 25th anniversary this year. The team would move to San Antonio in 2003, and eventually to Las Vegas as the Aces.
In generating a more citywide identity for the Aces, Davis has intimated that the team will seek a new venue and is not long for Michelob Ultra Arena. During a chat at Allegiant Stadium on May 11, after Nikki Fargas was introduced as the Aces’ new president, he said the team is reviewing spots for a new facility in Las Vegas.
The team has a lease for this season and two one-year options to continue at Mandalay Bay. “Eventually we’d like a new building,” Davis said, specifying Summerlin, Henderson and the Strip as possible sites. He also said that a 7,500- to 8,000-seat venue would be ideal.
The owner is holding that level of conversation for now.
“I’m not going to try to predict,” he said Thursday. “We’ll take it day by day.”
Route 66 for MD
Davis also turned 66 on Tuesday night. He hit the road to celebrate.
“I went to Seattle to watch the Aces game, and we won!” he said with a laugh, referring to the Aces’ 96-80 victory.
“It was a hell of a birthday present.”
Aces head coach Bill Laimbeer’s birthday was Wednesday, his 64th. The pilot of the team’s flight back to Vegas led the passengers in a callout to Laimbeer, the ex-detroit Pistons “Bad Boy” who turned back his team’s attempt to celebrate on a bus ride to the airport.
As the scene played out on the team’s official Twitter page, the pilot called out, “We also got the special request from the Las Vegas Aces, the Las Vegas representation of the Women’s National Basketball Association. They were in Seattle last night to give their coach an early birthday present — kinda reminiscent of
Mr. Laimbeer’s glorious days with the Detroit Pistons, if you’re old enough to remember his spectacular play there.”
Oh, and happy birthday, big fella.
More Celine
Celine Dion didn’t need to wait for a formal on-sale date to feel the love for her new show at Resorts World Las Vegas.
The international recording star and Vegas resident has already added 11 dates to her residency at the Theater at Resorts World. Credit the percolating, pre-sale activity for this move.
Dion’s new dates run from Jan. 19 to Feb. 5 and are more than double her original set of 10 shows in November.
Also, in a move announced hours after Dion’s expanded schedule, Carrie Underwood has grown her “Reflection” series by six dates, Covering March 23 to April 2. That call was also made after Underwood’s robust pre-sales for her first residency on the Strip.
Tickets and info for all Theater at Resorts World headlining shows are available at Axs.com.
Even if officials at the hotel and concert promoter AEG Presents had planned for this demand, the response is impressive, showing Dion’s unflagging box-office appeal. The tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Monday, with productions by Katy Perry and Luke Bryan also available.
In an interview this month, Dion said she is “super excited” to be the first resident star to play the 5,000-seat theater.
“They reached for me because I love to create a show with my team, I love to perform and I love to live here, so it gives me the best of both worlds,” she said. “I’m super excited for Vegas, honestly, to give me the chance to be a mom and an artist.”
Resorts World Las Vegas President Scott Sibella says, “The response for our artist’s release and commercial have exceeded our expectations.” Sibella refers to the announcement of the four stars’ on-sale dates and the nationwide commercial featuring all six Resorts World headliners, including DJS Tiësto and Zedd.
Dion’s premiere at Resorts World and return to the Strip is set for Nov. 5. Her opening night show is a special performance to benefit COVID-19 relief efforts.
John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. His “Podkats!” podcast can be found at reviewjournal. com/podcasts. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on Twitter, @Johnnykats1 on Instagram.