Las Vegas’ tourism authority is set to spend millions of dollars to sponsor future NBA and college football events in Southern Nevada.
At Tuesday’s Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority board of directors meeting votes to approve a $1 million sponsorship to host this year’s NBA Cup semifinals and championship game and nearly $2.7 million to sponsor the Vegas Kickoff Classic for 2027 through 2030 are on the agenda.
The NBA Cup finals is returning in December to Las Vegas for the third-straight year. The event takes place Dec. 13 and 16 at T-Mobile Arena. The NBA Cup is the culmination of the NBA’s in-season tournament, where all 30 teams play group matches in their respective groups on select dates throughout the season, leading to the quarterfinals that kick off the knockout round of the series. The group play and quarterfinals games are played at home arenas of NBA teams.
The final four teams left in the tournament then meet in Las Vegas, where the top two teams in the east face off and the top two teams in the west will meet, with the winners of each semifinals game meeting for the NBA Cup championship.
Last year’s two-day event, headlined by the championship game between the eventual 2025 NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder and the Milwaukee Bucks, drew 17,300 visitors to the city, generating 19,000 incremental room nights, according to the LVCVA. Last year’s championship game won by the Bucks averaged nearly 3 million viewers on ABC. This year’s games will be streamed on Amazon Prime.
The LVCVA sponsorship will afford the agency advertising, marketing and hospitality opportunities tied to the event.
Vegas Kickoff Classic
The LVCVA board will also vote to approve sponsoring the Vegas Kickoff Classic to host multiple one-off NCAA football games between 2027 and 2030 at Allegiant Stadium. The deal with ESPN Productions, which owns the series, will be for $2.65 million spread out over the four years.
The 2024 Vegas Kickoff Classic between USC and LSU drew a crowd of 58,428 fans to Allegiant Stadium, with 86 percent of those attendees hailing from out of town, according to Las Vegas Stadium Authority data.
The matchups for the next four Vegas Kickoff Classic have already been set and include:
-2027: Miami (Florida) versus Utah and North Dakota State against Montana State.
-2028: BYU versus Oregon State.
-2029: Montana versus South Dakota State.
-2030: Arkansas versus Texas Tech.
Contact Mick Akers at makers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2920. Follow @mickakers on X.