By Alan Snel, LVSportsBiz.com Publisher-Writer

LAS VEGAS, Nevada — The sports options in Las Vegas seem endless.

But for Las Vegas, the 40th biggest TV market and with an average annual income of about $70,000, will locals be able to buy tickets for high-priced sports like the F1 race that takes over the Strip corridor in November or A’s baseball games starting in 2028?

The NFL Raiders and NHL Golden Knights already have some of the costliest average ticket prices in their leagues, though Las Vegas’ not-so-secret weapon of 40 million annual visitors is seen as the special sauce that makes bigtime sports viable in the Las Vegas market.

Andy travels from Northern California in his Raiders bus that hosts pregame tailgate parties.

In many ways, Las Vegas is an outlier market because of its one-trick pony economy of tourism. Las Vegas’ publicly-funded tourism organization, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA), has little leverage when negotiating deals with the NFL about a Super Bowl or the NCAA about championship games because Las Vegas is so overly dependent on its tourism economy. The LVCVA board just approved $26 million to pay for college basketball’s Final Four at Allegiant Stadium in 2028, while the tourism agency board members greenlighted about $40 million for college football’s title game at Allegiant Stadium in Jan. 2027.

Allegiant Stadium

Sports events offer a spectrum of price points for tickets.

One of the best deals to watch football in Allegiant Stadium is spending $24 plus fees/taxes for a UNLV football game when Idaho State come to town Aug. 23. The costliest ticket for a UNLV football game is a $55 get-in price UCLA visits Allegiant Stadium Sept. 6.

 

On the other end of the spectrum there is the Las Vegas Grand Prix. Besides the F1-created traffic headaches and lack of community reachout in Year 1 in 2023, there was also the pricy ticket costs that were beyond the financial means of many locals.

The Las Vegas Grand Prix heard the criticism and is trying to reach out to locals in Year 3 for the 3.8-mile-circuit street race Nov. 20-22.

But keep in mind the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said last year that workers in the Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas, NV Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $28.43 in May 2024, compared to the nationwide average of $32.66.

Can those wages afford these Las Vegas F1 race ticket deals that were just promoted in emails today? Take  look:

 

 

The Las Vegas Vegas Grand Prix even suggested that fans buy tickets before July 31 and get the chance to pay off their tickets over two months.

 

The A’s stadium, which is slated to open in 2028, will have the highest percentage of premium seating of any stadium in the majors, former A’s team president Dave Kaval told LVSportsBiz.com before he left the Athletics and as eventually replaced by former Raiders team president Marc Badain. The A’s stadium will have 30,000 seats and standing room space for another 3,000 fans.

A’s President Marc Badain

Typically, MLB ticket prices range from the high end with the Los Angeles Dodgers to the lower end with the Miami Marlins. With so much premium seating at the new A’s stadium on the Strip ib 2028, expect the average ticket price to be in the upper half of Major League Baseball.

A’s owner John Fisher

 

Las Vegas went from the biggest city with no major league teams in 2016 to being the smallest city with three major league teams by 2028 when the A’s join the Vegas Golden Knights (2017) and Las Vegas Raiders (2020). Don’t forget the WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces (2018) with the Las Vegas NBA Summer League starting its annual basketball mecca this week when there will be inevitable chatter about the NBA expanding to Las Vegas. VGK owner Bill Foley has said he’d like to upgrade T-Mobile Arena to accommodate an NBA team. The arena has already hosted the NBA’s in-season tournament semifinals and finals events.

LeBron. Photo by J. Tyge O’Donnell

Minor league sports teams like the Pacific Coast League’s Las Vegas Aviators (the Triple-A affiliate of the A’s) and soccer’s Las Vegas Lights offer affordable alternatives to the pricy Raiders and VGK games. Here’s a ticket deal being pitched by the Aviators:

In 2028, $149 might just get you a premium section seat at the A’s stadium. If you have the cash.

 

 

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