'You should see it': Las Vegas wants to become a 'major league sports capital’ amid legal betting boom
The NFL Draft took center stage in Las Vegas for the first time ever last Thursday, and the city's mayor now wants the Entertainment Capital of the World to become a "major league sports capital."
"Whoever thought years ago that we'd ever have a major league sport here? And here we are with the Draft and in 2024, the Super Bowl," Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman. told Yahoo Finance Live ahead of the draft (video above). "It's amazing.”
The NFL fully immersing itself in Las Vegas comes after more than a decade of efforts from both Goodman and her husband, Oscar, the city's previous mayor. For more than 20 years, the Goodmans have wondered why major sports leagues hadn’t staked a claim in Sin City sooner.
"Can't they figure out this is the place?" Goodman said. "This is the center of excitement, entertainment, animation. What did take you so long? We saw it and if we could see it, just two simple people in this world, you should see it. That's what you do for a business."
The 2022 Draft, initially scheduled for 2020 before the COVID-19 pandemic, was just one of a slew of sporting events hitting the Vegas Strip. The 2022 Pro Bowl (the NFL's all-star game) was also held in Vegas with the NFL also planning a return to the city for the 2024 Super Bowl. A Formula 1 race that will take place on the Vegas Strip is also booked for next year.
According to Goodman, legal gambling is one of the main drivers drawing interest into the city.
“Gaming's gone everywhere,” she said. “Sportsbooks everywhere. So there's a condensation. That's what's beautiful about Vegas is it's all monitored carefully to make sure everything is legal but it's all centrics. It’s the centrics in Las Vegas where you have it all.”
Until recently, the lore of Vegas came with an asterisk in the sports world as various leagues avoided gambling culture. Following a 2018 Supreme Court decision that opened the floodgates for state-by-state legislation regarding sports wagering, 31 states and territories are now operational in sports gambling with nine more states waiting on decisions for filed legislation.
As sports fans in each state flock to newly launched mobile sports apps, the attractiveness to plant teams and events in Las Vegas has grown exponentially. The NHL’s Golden Knights landed in Vegas in 2017 while the NFL's Raiders arrived in 2020, and Goodman is confident that the MLB and NBA will be soon to follow.
"It is appalling, to be perfectly honest, that it really did take so long but we knew and when people keep calling us about other sports that might be coming whether it's the NBA or Major League baseball team, it's just a question of timing," she said.
In late March, Oak View Group announced a $3 billion plan to build an all-in-one location that includes a sports venue, lodging, and a casino in Las Vegas. The company's CEO Tim Leiweke told Yahoo Finance that the project is aimed at luring an NBA team into the city and creating a destination for entertainment seekers to attend without ever needing a trip to the Strip to complete their Vegas experience.
“If all of it comes true, it's probably one of the great points of destination entertainment for sports and music ever created, which is fortunate for us because all of that kind of came together separately," Leiweke told Yahoo Finance. "But I think if pieced together— and, again, if everything works out well — fantastic for us.”
While Oak View Group hopes to lure in the NBA with a lavish new stadium. Goodman and her husband have been more direct. According to the mayor, she’s texted NBA Commissioner Adam Silver throughout the years asking when his league is coming to Las Vegas.
“When are you coming?" she wrote. “We’re ready. We’re ready.”
Josh is a producer for Yahoo Finance.
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