NBA Summer League poised for Las Vegas tipoff
Cardboard boxes containing Samsung video walls were stacked neatly near the shiny new basketball court at the Thomas & Mack Center this week.
Then, Jeff Gray, a Las Vegas-based Samsung manager, began opening the boxes, assembling the video walls and installing the screen unit, which will line an area where young professional basketball players will stroll through to reach the pristine basketball surface at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
The video walls are just one of several ways that Samsung — a relatively new player in the world of sports and arena sponsorships — is activating its title partnership at the 11th NBA Summer League in Las Vegas starting today and running through July 20.
In all, 23 NBA teams, plus an NBA Development League team, will play 67 games in 11 days at Thomas & Mack and Cox Pavilion. It’s $28 at the door per person for a day’s worth of NBA summer games.
The Summer League is a buffet of young players for professional basketball scouts and team executives to evaluate.
Its informal atmosphere reminds sports fans of baseball’s spring training and provides a platform for the basketball industry to network less than a month after the end of the 2014-15 NBA season.
It’s also a nice mid-July economic jolt for the Las Vegas market. Local tourism officials project 14,850 NBA Summer League visitors spending an estimated $12.1 million, said Heidi Hayes, a spokeswoman for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.
Albert Hall, a Summer League co-organizer, is shooting for attendance averaging 7,000 per day, including 10,000 on today’s opening day. Last year’s event set an attendance record at 71,942.
The Summer League has come a long way since its debut in 2004 with six NBA teams. Hall said he could not recall the inaugural year’s attendance.
“We had inflatable bodies then. Let’s just say that,” Hall said, while walking from Cox to Thomas & Mack on Tuesday.
Hall and his organizing partner, Warren LeGarie, are working around UNLV’s $70 million Thomas & Mack renovation project, which Hall said is not expected to affect the fans’ Summer League experience.
In fact, the concourse area linking the hoops courts in Thomas & Mack and Cox includes a new food and beverage concessions booth and new restrooms, while construction employees work around the Summer League schedule, Hall said.
“We staggered the buildout to work around the arena construction,” Hall said.
Samsung, in its second year as the Summer League title sponsor, plans to stage a mini-trade show at the venue next week to highlight company products such as tablets that would be used by NBA fans and arenas to enhance the basketball experience, Gray said.
The Summer League has a new partnership with FanDuel, the fantasy sports company. Horner Floor Co. also provided new basketball courts, valued at $100,000 to $120,000, said Jay Burson, Horner portable courts manager.
After the Summer League ends, Horner will take back the floors, re-finish the surfaces and prepare them for other basketball events, Burson said.
The NBA will also set up an instant replay booth in Thomas & Mack, with referees using wireless communications equipment to link with replay staffers, Hall said.
The NBA Summer League lost the Los Angeles Clippers and Charlotte Hornets, but gained the Brooklyn Nets and Boston Celtics. Hall expects 350 credentialed media for the event.
Contact reporter Alan Snel at asnel@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5273. Find him on Twitter: @BicycleManSnel