Summer sports highlights
In the past year, Las Vegas has solidified itself as a mecca for professional sports with the fall arrival of the National Hockey League’s newest team, the Vegas Golden Knights, and the upcoming relocation of the National Football League’s Raiders to our town. However, Las Vegas has had a long history of sports with special conventions bringing thousands of attendees during the summer months.
• Kicking off Las Vegas summer sporting events is 2017 USA Table Tennis National Championships, the foremost international table tennis tournament in the country. This year, the tournament is expected to attract more than 1,000 players from around the world to the Las Vegas Convention Center, which began on July 5 and runs through July 9.
• For the fifth consecutive year, future basketball stars will gather at UNLV’s Thomas & Mack Center and Cox Pavilion for the Samsung NBA Summer League, from July 7-17. The action began on Friday but runs for another nine days. Now in its 13th year, the Summer League will see a record 24 National Basketball Association teams compete in a 67-game tournament, and is expected to attract more than 108,000 attendees for a projected $20.5 million added to our local economy.
• Younger basketball hopefuls will return to the LVCC for the Jam On It Basketball Academy July 14-24. Jam On It has five distinct tournament events featuring 48 basketball courts for boys and girls ages 5 to 18 competing under one roof.
• Rounding off the summer of sports, RollerCon 2017 will put roller derby fans in a spin July 26-30 at the Westgate’s Convention Center. As the original roller derby convention in the world, RollerCon will bring skaters at every level together as they compete on especially-built tracks.
