Editor’s note: The 2016 Vegas 16 tournament was reduced to an eight-team field since this story appeared in the magazine.
During the final week of March, 16 men’s college basketball teams will gather in Las Vegas for a first-of-its-kind postseason tournament. The company behind the event is run by industry veteran Brooks Downing, who started his own shop in 2012 with the idea of running basketball events all over the country. This past season, Downing’s BD Global put on 109 college games for both men and women. Some were tournaments, some were single games, but nothing compares to the new Vegas 16, March 26-30 across several MGM properties.
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We’ve been running college basketball events for a decade. Vegas 16 gives us a chance to grow in a much bigger fashion, diversify into other sports, in addition to college basketball, and to look more internationally.”
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Photo by: DAVID COYLE
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The idea behind the Vegas 16: It started with Debbie Antonelli, an ESPN analyst and the tournament director of our Gulf Coast Showcase. In a conversation, she expressed her concern for the state of the women’s game and the need to make some changes to the women’s NCAA championship to something like a destination event, like Omaha for the College World Series. Meanwhile, we have relationships in Las Vegas from some of our other events there at MGM Grand. I simply connected the dots to take that destination concept and create a men’s event.
Why he refers to Vegas 16 as a bowl game for basketball: It’s two weeks after Selection Sunday, which allows teams to get extra practice time, get healthy, let their fans prepare for a trip, and it’s a destination location. So now it becomes a reward trip, like a bowl game, for teams that have had a fairly successful season. It’s also a way for the schools to engage donors and season-ticket buyers in one location. For administrators, it’s a much more simplified model. There are no road games to play or home games to prepare for, so a lot of benefits for the administrators.
About the financials: We put together a flat fee for all 16 teams (expected to be in the $50,000 range). It includes airfare for 22, lodging for as long as their tournament stay lasts, and their ground transportation. Everything is done. They’ll stay at one of four MGM properties, including Mandalay Bay, our tournament headquarters. All they have to do is pay for their meals in Las Vegas.
The expected participants: I think what we’ll see is a good mix of strong non-power five schools with 20 to 25 wins and power five schools with 17 to 22 wins looking for that one-stop shop.
How it’ll break through among other postseason tourneys: That two weeks after Selection Sunday puts the event in a different position after the bulk of the NCAA tournament games have been played. And we’re going to be relatively unopposed on [TV partner] CBS Sports Network, with the college basketball fan still in viewership mode from March Madness.
