The NCAA BOG on April 25 will consider a proposal from UNLV and the Mountain West to stage three championship events in Las Vegas from '19-22, as well as one to "play the entire women’s Sweet 16 down to the Final Four in Vegas," but the chances of the bids being approved "have decreased of late," according to sources cited by Dennis Dodd of CBSSPORTS.com. That is because the NCAA "continues to be a plaintiff fighting a New Jersey law passed in 2014 allowing sports gambling within the state." The detailed bid for multiple championship events in the state of Nevada is "believed to be the first of its kind to be considered by the NCAA." A successful bid would "essentially open up the NCAA to Las Vegas after years of the association avoiding the gambling Mecca." The proposals include Las Vegas "hosting a men’s basketball regional in T-Mobile Arena as well as wrestling and men’s ice hockey national championships." If the BOG does not approve the bids, Nevada "would be shut out until at least the next bid cycle" beginning in '23. Las Vegas Events consultant and former UNLV AD Jim Livengood said, “We’re going to miss that four-year window. The tragic thing about that is it’s not about Vegas" (CBSSPORTS.com, 3/29).
