The National Collegiate Athletic Association has rescinded a policy in place for years that prohibited states with legal sports betting from hosting college championship games.
The change means major betting destinations such as Las Vegas can enter the running for the College Football Playoff National Championship, the Final Four of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament and other post-season extravaganzas.
As soon as this summer, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Las Vegas Events and the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority can jointly bid to host NCAA championships beginning with the 2022-23 academic year probably through 2026-2027𑁋adding to an already glittering lineup of sports offerings in the casino mecca𑁋the NHL Golden Knights, the WNBA Aces, a new Triple-A baseball park, the arrival of the NFL Raiders in 2020 and the NFL draft𑁋and promising millions of dollars of spinoffs for the local economy.
The city already hosts multiple NCAA conference basketball tournaments every March. The LVCVA estimates as much as $20 million in non-gaming impact from those events. One study said the 2017 Final Four in Phoenix had a $324 million impact on the city.
The ban was effectively rendered moot last May when the U.S. Supreme Court voided a longstanding federal ban on sports betting and gave states the power to legalize the industry within their borders.
“We knew it was coming, so it wasn’t an ‘if,’ it was a ‘when,’” said former UNLV Athletic Director Jim Livengood, who had been lobbying the NCAA to scrap the ban since 2011.
“It’s going to bring a ton of revenue to the city,” Westgate sportsbook director John Murray said. “Fans are going to flock to Las Vegas to see their teams play here. For college basketball, right now they only do the NCAA West Regional final at the Staples Center (in Los Angeles) or Anaheim (California). I think you’ll start seeing T-Mobile Arena get into that rotation. They can do all kinds of events here. It’s going to be great for Las Vegas.”
