Big West moving basketball tourney from Las Vegas to nearby Henderson
DARRELL MIHO / SPECIAL TO THE STAR-ADVERTISER
Hawaii players celebrates during a Big West tournament game in Long Beach, Calif., in 2020.
IRVINE, Calif. >> The Big West Conference is moving its men’s and women’s basketball tournaments to a new arena outside Las Vegas beginning next March.
The league said today that the 6,000-seat Dollar Loan Center in Henderson will host the event for the next three years. The $84 million arena will be completed in February.
The Big West Tournament will run March 8-12, featuring 10 men’s and women’s teams vying for the league’s automatic berths to the NCAA Tournaments.
UNLV’s Thomas & Mack Center hosted the event in 1994 and ‘95 before it moved to Reno from 1996 to 2000. This year’s tournament was played at the arena inside the Mandalay Bay hotel and casino. It wasn’t played in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The tournament was played at two different locations in Anaheim, California, from 2001 to 2019.
The Dollar Loan Center will be home to the AHL’s Henderson Silver Knights, a minor league affiliate of the NHL’s Vegas Golden Knights; the Vegas Indoor Football League franchise; and the Southern Nevada Sports Hall of Fame.
