Las Vegas has been a destination for major sports events for decades.
Sin City has been known as the Boxing Capital of the World for over 50 years as it has hosted some of the biggest boxing matches in history. Some of those marquee world championship boxing matches have been held at several of the Las Vegas Strip casinos, including Caesars Entertainment's (CZR) Caesars Palace, MGM Resorts International's (MGM) MGM Grand Garden Arena and Mandalay Bay.
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The list of the boxers featured in Vegas fights over the years reads like a boxing hall of fame. Muhammad Ali, George Foreman, Joe Frazier, Mike Tyson, Sugar Ray Leonard, Larry Holmes, Floyd Mayweather, Manny Pacquiao, Oscar De La Hoya, Lennox Lewis and Evander Holyfield all fought for major championship belts in Las Vegas.
The attendance at some these fights was considered huge for boxing at the time, including over 29,000 for a Holmes vs. Gerry Cooney fight in 1982, over 24,000 for Ali vs. Holmes in 1980 and over 23,000 for Leonard vs. Thomas Hearns in 1981.
More recently, the city brought in one of auto racing's top events – the inaugural Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix, held Nov. 16-18, 2023, on the city's streets, including the Strip. The weekend event drew 315,000 fans, which was the second-best Formula 1 race attendance in the U.S. in 2023, behind the United States Grand Prix held at Austin, Texas, with 432,000 fans for that weekend event, according to F1Destinations.com.
The Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix will return in 2024 on Nov. 21-23 and again in 2025 on Nov. 20-22.
Las Vegas became a major league city in 2017 when the National Hockey League celebrated the inaugural season of the Vegas Golden Knights, who play their games at T-Mobile Arena on the Strip. A few years later, the National Football League's Raiders moved from Oakland to Vegas to play their games at Allegiant Stadium just off the Strip beginning in 2020.
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In April 2022, the National Football League held its annual Draft in Las Vegas, which the NFL said was attended by over 300,000 people for the three-day event, The arrival of the Raiders also led the NFL to bring the Super Bowl to Allegiant Stadium on Feb. 11, 2024.
Another sports team will eventually make its way to Vegas as Major League Baseball's Oakland Athletics are playing their last season in the Oakland Coliseum after MLB on Nov. 16, 2023, approved the team's move to Las Vegas. The team's lease at the Coliseum expires after the 2024 season, but the team will temporarily play at West Sacramento's Sutter Health Park for three seasons before moving to a new Vegas stadium in 2028.
The A's new stadium will be built on a portion of the land on Bally's (BALY) Tropicana Las Vegas property on the Strip.
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Another extremely popular sports event, WWF's WrestleMania IX, arrived at Caesars Palace on the Strip in 1993 for the first and only outdoor WrestleMania event. The legendary wrestling stars at this event included Hulk Hogan, Bret "The Hitman" Hart, Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake and "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase.
In 2002, World Wrestling Federation, or WWF, changed its name to World Wrestling Entertainment, or WWE, after losing a court action in the United Kingdom to the World Wildlife Fund over the WWF trademark. In September 2023, TKO Group Holdings (TKO) took control of WWE after the wrestling giant merged with UFC parent Endeavor to create the $21 billion TKO company.
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WrestleMania returns to Las Vegas
Now, TKO is bringing WrestleMania back to Sin City for the first time in 32 years as Las Vegas will host WWE's WrestleMania 41 at Allegiant Stadium just off the Strip on April 19-20, 2025. WrestleMania Priority Passes will soon be available through exclusive partner On Location offering fans premium seating, hospitality events with superstar appearances, exclusive photo opportunities and other benefits.
Ticket details and other event information will be available in coming months, WWE said. Fans can register for presale opportunities at the WWE website.
“We look forward to bringing WWE’s biggest event, WrestleMania, to Las Vegas and Allegiant Stadium so we can collectively make WrestleMania 41 on April 19 & 20, 2025, the most successful WWE event of all time,” Nick Khan, WWE President, said in a May 4 statement.
WrestleMania 40, held in April at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, became the most successful and highest grossing event in WWE history with 145,298 in attendance over two nights. WrestleMania events generate over $200 million in economic impact for host cities, according to WWE.
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