Las Vegas Adds Another Professional Sports Team To NHL, NFL With WNBA Relocation
By Barry Janoff
October 17, 2017: Las Vegas is getting yet another professional team, this time from a familiar source.
The WNBA and NBA Board of Governors Tuesday unanimously approved the relocation of the San Antonio Stars to Las Vegas.
According to WNBA President Lisa Borders, MGM Resorts International will own and operate the team, which will begin play in Las Vegas for the 2018 season.
Financial terms were not shared.
According to Lilian Tomovich, MGM Resorts International chief experience officer and CMO, “We are delighted to welcome the WNBA as our newest partner in professional sports. We appreciate, now more than ever, the league’s confidence in Las Vegas and believe the team will be a tremendous addition to the city.”
There was no indication whether or not the team would change its name from Las Vegas Stars, which appears to be tailor-made for its new home.
The NBA has had an on-going relationship with the city, including hosting the 2007 All-Star Game, pre-season games and the Las Vegas Summer League, which dates back to 2004.
The USA Basketball Men’s and Women’s Team have trained and played exhibition games in Las Vegas, including preparations for several Summer Olympics.
The NHL added the expansion Vegas Golden Knights this season and the NFL's Oakland Raiders are scheduled to relocate to Las Vegas in 2019 or 2020.
The UFC has its headquarters in the city and holds numerous events in the T-Mobile Arena.
The MilB Las Vegas 51’s have called the city home since 1983. This week, team owners got the go ahead to build a $150 million stadium when the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority signed a 20-year, $80 million deal for naming rights.
The WNBA team’s home arena will be the 12,000-seat sports and entertainment complex Mandalay Bay Events Center, in the the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, which has hosted major concert and sports events since opening in 1999.
Unfortunately, the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino was the site of the tragic event on Oct. 1 when a gunman on the 32nd floor of the hotel opened fire on a crowd attending the Route 91 Harvest music festival in an area near the resort, which resulted in the deaths of 58 people and another 546 injured.
"We appreciate, now more than ever, the league’s confidence in Las Vegas and believe the team will be a tremendous addition to the city.”
This will be the second WNBA team owned by a firm aligned with a casino and gambling, joining the Connecticut Sun, owned by the Mohegan Sun entertainment center under the auspices of the Mohegan tribe.
“We are thrilled to bring the first major professional basketball team to Las Vegas,” Borders said in a statement. “This city and MGM Resorts are synonymous with world-class entertainment. With its culture of diversity and inclusion, MGM Resorts is an ideal fit for the WNBA.”
MGM Resorts International has named Bill Laimbeer as the team’s president of basketball operations and head coach. Laimbeer is a two-time WNBA Coach of the Year who led the Detroit Shock to three WNBA titles.
As a player, Laimbeer played 14 NBA seasons and won back-to-back titles with the Detroit Pistons in 1989 and 1990.
The Stars franchise was part of the WNBA’s inaugural season in 1997, playing in Salt Lake City as the Utah Starzz before moving to San Antonio prior to the 2003 season.
The team has been in a three-year funk on the court, going 22-79 since 2015. The team has one of the top young stars in the WNBA in guard Kelsey Plum, who was drafted by the Stars last season out of Washington.
The league said that season ticket holder deposits would be accepted beginning in early November.
Las Vegas Gets Some Respite From Tragedy With Pro Sports
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