Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas will host the 2028 Final Four

By Mike Florio

NBC Sports News

Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas will host the 2028 Final Four.

A decade ago, it would have been inconceivable. A decade ago, the NFL shut down Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo’s fantasy football convention in Las Vegas, even though the convention was being held at a property that had no gambling on it.

A decade ago, sports betting was legal in gambling but nowhere else. And while the proliferation and normalization of gambling throughout the country since 2018 has stripped Las Vegas of that which made it unique, it has opened new doors for Sin City.

An NFL team resides there. A Super Bowl has happened there. An NHL team plays there. An MLB team is coming. (I think.) And now the Final Four will happen there.

Via Mick Akers of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority voted on Monday to devote $26 million to the planning and execution of the event.

LVCVA President and CEO Steve Hill believes the economic impact will outweigh the expenses by $250 million or more.

“When that event takes place in Las Vegas, everybody knows it,” Hill told Akers. “They telecast the skyline of our city over and over again and they talk about being here.”

With most of the country now able to carry a casino around in their pockets, it’s more important than ever to have more of what happens in Vegas happen in Vegas.