Utah and one other leaving for Big12
- Thread starter CougPatrol
- Start date
Could be simpler -
My brother opened a branch of his business at the time in Vegas in the early 2000s. Closed it abruptly soon after it had gotten established. His only explanation was ‘if anyone tells you the mob left Vegas, don’t believe it.’
Interesting. But UNLV has been there for 65 years, plays other teams in 16 sports. It's not as if we would be moving a new University or Pac-12 operations there. We would just go there to play. Can't be that threatening with us basing our BB tourneys there.
Beggars can't be choosers, and the PAC is now a beggar.
Thomas and Mack Arena is superior to many of the Pac-12 basketball facilities.
The House that Shark built.
They used to play a little roundball at UNLV that stacks up against the all time teams from the Power 5.
The House that Shark built.
They used to play a little roundball at UNLV that stacks up against the all time teams from the Power 5.
If the local businesses wanted UNLV to be bigtime, it would have happened....or would be happening. My God, if every casino in Vegas kicked in $50K/year to them, they'd be getting calls from every major conference in the Nation. Can you imagine the NIL deals they could make with Casino money?
There's something holding it back that nobody's talking about.
There's something holding it back that nobody's talking about.
Could be as simple as virtually NO ONE gives a rip about UNLV football?
If Rice makes no sense(bigger market, wealthier alums) why would UNLV?
My gut is that it's as simple as Vegas being viewed as a cow town, with UNLV not all that attractive, until recently. Then there was such an influx of pro sports that it in some ways cut against UNLV's value proposition, even as Vegas grew into an attractive market. Especially in the fall and winter, when the two major revenue sports are playing, you have hockey, football, and likely soon will have the NBA there as well.
I don't see why the mob would care about UNLV being in a legit conference as opposed to the MWC. More competition for dollars that isn't offset by getting more heads in beds? Maybe, I guess, but you would have a lot more of that with all the pro sports heading that way. Higher-profile contests coming to town would lead to more action in the casinos and other stuff.
Now it's a growing, major city with UNLV ... still not all that attractive. But two things on that front: we can bet Kliavkoff knows more about Vegas and what's going on there, with the mob and otherwise, than just about anyone. So if the Pac-12 isn't even interested, there's almost certainly a very good reason formulated by someone who has as good of data as you could get. Otherwise, though, my sense is that the Pac-12 passes and then then Big 12 grabs them shortly thereafter. Again, they're in the Pacific time zone but not all that far from Big 12 country.
I don't see why the mob would care about UNLV being in a legit conference as opposed to the MWC. More competition for dollars that isn't offset by getting more heads in beds? Maybe, I guess, but you would have a lot more of that with all the pro sports heading that way. Higher-profile contests coming to town would lead to more action in the casinos and other stuff.
Now it's a growing, major city with UNLV ... still not all that attractive. But two things on that front: we can bet Kliavkoff knows more about Vegas and what's going on there, with the mob and otherwise, than just about anyone. So if the Pac-12 isn't even interested, there's almost certainly a very good reason formulated by someone who has as good of data as you could get. Otherwise, though, my sense is that the Pac-12 passes and then then Big 12 grabs them shortly thereafter. Again, they're in the Pacific time zone but not all that far from Big 12 country.
I just googled Kliavkoff - he moved to Las Vegas in 2018 for a job with MGM. This just gets weirder and weirder.
If the Big 12 is unable to land two or four of the corner schools, they will sit tight and wait for the ACC to get picked apart. Getting into the Southeast will be far more valuable UNLV, with schools such as Duke, Louisville, NCst., GT. If Florida and South Carolina are successful in keeping Miami, Florida St. and Clemson out of the SEC, well, who knows?
As an Italian-American, I resent that stereotype (kidding). Seriously though, casino owners ONLY care about money, so why in the world wouldn't they want UNLV playing home games vs. Texas, Oklahoma, USC, UCLA, Michigan, Ohio State, Oregon, etc.? That means exponentially more hotel bookings, more betting action, etc.
Vegas should be heavily lobbying for major P5 Super Conference affiliation for UNLV with the same aggression that they've pursued NHL, NFL, MLB, and MLS teams. Something has prevented them from elevating UNLV's status in the collegiate athletics realm, and I'd love to find out what it is.
Let me repeat it. No one cared about UNLV when they were the only game in town and now that they’ve added nfl, nhl and potentially mlb and nba, they’ll be even more irrelevant.
They are RICE in a smaller market.
Well Las Vegas is the 25th biggest city in the US, and the 21st biggest urban area. As far as irrelevance goes, did the uw become irrelevant when the Seahawks, Mariners, Sonics (RIP), and now Kraken show up? Of course not.
You start bringing the Pac-12 to town and interest will pick up. Why the F are our basketball tourneys there?
The uw has a very solid football history (as much as I hate to say it) so they are still relevant in seattle but there is no doubt the Seahawks rise has hurt them with Joe Fan. Seattle is also a lot bigger than Vegas. And no one in Vegas is from Vegas. If the PAC doesn’t go after them the Big12 might so there’s that to consider but you can’t sign up everyone in the PAcific Time Zone to keep them out.
Our basketball tournies are there bc people like to go to Vegas. But Joe Fan watching it on tv (the one who really matters in this conversation) from home doesn’t care if it’s there.
Bolded is the most important fact. There is no geographic loyalty to the Rebels.
They are kind of stuck with a chicken and an egg thing. There is a tremendous amount of potential because t-shirt fans will support a winner but until UNLV can prove that TV sets would actually tune in, why would anyone want to take a risk that they will be good enough to be relevant?
Personally, I believe that UNLV should be in the conversation because of that potential, but at the same time, my family has lived there for almost 30 years and I've been to more UNLV football games than they have (1).
Good perspective. But then how much of it is about UNLV fans with eyeballs on the TV and butts in seats vs. the Pac-12 opponents eyeballs and butts in LV seats?
Something to ponder.....
