WAC Basketball Tournament Moving To Las Vegas

The Orleans Arena announced today that it will host the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) Men’s and Women’s Basketball Championships in 2011 and 2012.
The 8,500-seat Orleans Arena has become a leading college basketball venue beginning in 2006 when it hosted the Las Vegas Invitational, featuring a showdown between defending national champions Florida and top-ranked Kansas. Since then, the Las Vegas Classic has become an annual event each December featuring top college basketball programs, and in March 2009 the Orleans Arena hosted the sold-out NCAA West Coast Conference Championships.

Earlier this year, WAC announced plans to hold its 2009 Volleyball Tournament at the Orleans Arena November 23, 24 and 25.

“We are excited to build on our relationship with WAC by hosting their championship basketball tournaments. As we saw last year, these tournaments are significant tourism draws for our community, and we are excited to welcome another major conference in Las Vegas,” said Darren Davis, Orleans Arena Executive Director.

The WAC tournament will be played March 8-12, 2011 and March 6-10, 2012. The conference’s eight members are Boise State, Fresno State, Hawaii, Idaho, Louisiana Tech, Nevada, New Mexico State, San Jose State and Utah State.

“WAC head basketball coaches have been pushing for a neutral site for a number of years,” said Utah State men’s head coach Stew Morrill. “Las Vegas will be an exciting location, the Orleans Arena is a great venue, and most importantly no team will have home court advantage.”

Ticket information will be provided at a later date.