Final Four Las Vegas Sites Selected, Mandalay Bay Convention Center Abandoned
Las Vegas will host the 2028 NCAA March Madness Men's Final Four at Allegiant Stadium. While it's been known since the NCAA announced Sin City as the 2028 host city nearly two years ago, local officials decided this week where the Finals' annual fan fest and other events will take place.
NCAA Fan Fest is held in conjunction with the men's Final Four each April. Fan festivals are typically held in large convention centers and provide fans with the opportunity to play interactive games, shop for apparel, eat and drink, and meet athletes and celebrities.
This was announced by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA), which commissioned the NCAA to bring the highest-stakes sports tournament to Sin City with an order to host it in November 2022. The coveted semifinal contract and the 2028 championship game were announced this week at Fan Fest in the West Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center.
The West Hall is a $1 billion facility and is the newest addition to the Las Vegas Convention Center. Completed in late 2020.
The convention center's old lobby, owned and operated by the LVCVA, is currently undergoing a $600 million renovation. The North, Center and South Concourses will be modernized and a new parking lot will be created at the Vegas Loop Station in front of the Concourse.
Citywide Activities
Unlike Las Vegas when it hosted Super Bowl 58 in February, when the NFL championship fan experience was held at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center, just steps away from Allegiant Stadium, planning officials worked with the Final Four and fans Keep your distance firmly. The reason is to relieve heavy vehicle and pedestrian traffic on the south end of the Las Vegas Strip during the Super Bowl in February.
The Four also accompanies multiple music festivals. The Final Four planning committee this week proposed hosting live concerts at the Thomas & Mack Center at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and on Fremont Street in downtown Las Vegas.
According to planning officials, the goal is to make the Final Four a citywide event, stretching from the south end of the Las Vegas Strip all the way north to Fremont Street in downtown.
The final four games will all be played at the Allegiant, home of the NFL's Las Vegas Raiders, which is being converted to host college basketball games. The game has a capacity of over 70,000 fans.
The long road to Vegas
The NCAA refused to host major events in Southern Nevada for decades because of the prevalence of sports betting. In May 2018, after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a federal law limiting single-game sports betting in Nevada — a landmark ruling that allowed nearly 40 states to legally conduct sports betting — college sports governing bodies Relaxed opposition to Las Vegas.
Nearly six years later, the NCAA introduced sports betting as the gambling industry's growth increased interest and viewership. But that doesn’t mean NCAA officials aren’t keeping a close eye on the impact of sports betting on its student-athletes and the integrity of their games.
At the forefront of player safety is the NCAA's desire to ban prop betting on individual college athletes. Most states prohibit bookmakers from allowing such bets, but Nevada still allows bettors to bet on certain points, such as how many points Purdue center Zach Eddy will score in a single game.
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Source: www.casino.org
