Las Vegas becoming mecca for conference tournaments

Leila Navidi

Jeremy Pargo, center, and the Gonzaga University men’s basketball team celebrate their 83-58 win over Saint Mary’s College in the 2009 WCC Men’s Basketball Finals at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. Because of the WCC’s success in Las Vegas, the WAC will also hold its conference tournament here starting in 2011.

By Case Keefer (contact)

Thursday, March 4, 2010 | 2:05 a.m.

By all accounts, last year's West Coast Conference tournament at the Orleans Arena exceeded expectations.

In the WCC's first year holding its men's and women's basketball championships at a neutral site in Las Vegas, the league broke attendance records with 33,320 total people attending the games.

"Our 2009 basketball championship was an overwhelming success, and we expect to improve upon our experience," WCC Commissioner Jamie Zaninovich said.

Not only did the success translate into a three-year extension at the Orleans Arena for the WCC Tournament, which kicks off Friday, but it also attracted another tournament to Las Vegas.

Karl Benson, commissioner of the Western Athletic Conference, long had wanted his league's tournament to be held at a neutral site. Benson always thought Las Vegas would be a good fit.

So, Benson came to watch the WCC Tournament, and it confirmed his beliefs. The WAC signed a contract to hold its basketball tournaments at the Orleans starting in 2011.

"Once the Orleans Arena established itself with the West Coast Conference, that paved the way for us," Benson said. "Once we saw the WCC and the Orleans Arena, we knew we could do it."

Las Vegas will be the only city in the country to host three conference tournaments next year, with the Mountain West still being held at the Thomas & Mack Center.

The WCC Tournament will run through the first weekend of March with the MWC and WAC starting the next week and running simultaneously.

Although it would appear that having two tournaments at the same time would create negative competition, Benson said the WAC saw it as a positive and would collaborate with the MWC to allow fans to attend both events.

"We hope to be able to take advantage of the two tournaments to be able to create some packages for the local fan base," Benson said. "The WAC Tournament will heavily rely upon our own fan bases traveling to the tournament, but also some Las Vegas residents. There's certainly a population in Las Vegas to draw upon."

Between the three conference championships and two regular-season tournaments, the Orleans will hold more basketball games than hockey games next season.

"Operationally, it's ideal for us," said Darren Davis, executive director of the Orleans Arena. "The WAC is the very next week after the WCC, so all we have to do is switch out one logo from the floor and put on the next one."

It's appropriate that the decal at the center of the floor will go from WCC to WAC. After all, the WAC wouldn't even be in Las Vegas without the WCC.

"We were anxious to see the West Coast Conference a year ago, and it was a tremendous success," Benson said. "I came away very impressed."