UNLV posted a series of sports-related articles today, the first one with Rossi Ralenkotter and Pat Christenson telling the story of how UNLV and the Thomas & Mack Center helped the city make it to the big leagues.
From the story:
“Filling the Thomas & Mack for the NBA All-Star Game — which was broadcast on national television and gave the destination tremendous exposure — proved to professional sports leagues that Las Vegas was a viable marketplace,” Ralenkotter says.
“Growing up a competitive wrestler and going to college for wrestling, I never pictured being in the events business,” says Christenson, whose early responsibilities at UNLV included hiring and managing ticket-takers, ushers, and parking attendants. “However, the combination of two things that brought me to UNLV — being an assistant wrestling coach and events coordinator — put me in that world.”
Click here to view the full article.
The Role Players in Las Vegas’ Pro Sports Growth
This article includes several other individuals with ties to UNLV have played — and continue to play — an important role in in shaping the city’s professional sports identity. These people include Tina Kunzer-Murphy, Sandra Douglass Morgan, Bo Bernhard, Jeremy Aguero, Brian Gordon, George Maloof, and Steve Stallworth. Here we will highlight UNLV’s Vice President of Economic Development, Bo Bernhard:
“Then the executive director of the UNLV International Gaming Institute, Bernhard played a pivotal — albeit behind-the-scenes — role in convincing Raiders owner Mark Davis that Las Vegas could be a viable home for his franchise. Bernhard co-authored a whitepaper titled, “Professional Team Sports in Las Vegas: What the Research Says.” During a private meeting at the Gaming Institute in February 2015, Bernhard presented the 113-page report to Davis and laid out the main points. Davis was impressed with what he saw, particularly the section that allayed concerns about sports gambling and possible integrity issues. Today, it’s widely recognized that Bernhard’s research findings went a long way toward Las Vegas landing one of the NFL’s most storied franchises (and a state-of-the-art stadium that’s also home to the Rebels football team).”
Going Pro: Meet Four Rebels Living Their Big League Dreams
As Southern Nevada’s image as a mecca for professional sports continues to grow, so too do employment opportunities for UNLV graduates. This article highlights four UNLV grads who have made it to the big leagues in their respective professions; Carnell Johnson, Piper Overstreet-White, Tayvion Carter, and Ryan Yim. Here we will highlight IPSM student Tayvion Carter, who is a producer for the Las Vegas Aces.
“Even though I’ve always been a half-decent scholar, my years as an undergraduate student were difficult,” says Carter, a first-generation college student. “When I did finally graduate, it was during the pandemic, which didn’t help my self discovery at all. I was extremely lost.”
That began to change when Carter learned about the fledgling Intercollegiate and Professional Sports Management (IPSM) graduate program at UNLV. After researching the program and all that it entailed, Carter woke up one December morning in 2021 and submitted his application.
“The decision to go back to UNLV for my master’s degree not only put me on the right path, but it was the best decision I’ve ever made next to marrying my wife,” Carter says. “I quit a job that I’d had for years, so it was a major risk — but one I can happily say has paid off tenfold.”
For starters, enrolling in the IPSM program led to an internship as a production assistant with the WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces during the team’s 2022 championship season. How impressed were the Aces with Carter’s work as a cinematographer and video editor — two skills he didn’t even possess when he accepted the internship? They offered him a full-time job as a producer. (It remains a non-salary position until Carter completes his master’s in December.)
ESSAY: Sports Town? We’ve Been Here Before
The last article in this series is from John L. Smith, a longtime Nevada journalist and author. He writes about the history of Las Vegas being a sports town, and how the city has enjoyed the major-league feeling for a long time.
From the story:
“From world championship boxing extravaganzas and the World Series of Poker — yes, I consider Texas hold ’em a sport — to PGA Tour, LPGA Tour, and star-studded tennis tournaments, as well as the National Finals Rodeo, Las Vegas always played above its weight class when it came to big-ticket sporting events. Keep this in mind, too: Las Vegas played host to Formula One races more than 40 years before the series inked a 10-year deal to stage the Las Vegas Grand Prix on and around the Strip beginning with a race in mid-November.“
“In the Las Vegas I grew up in, the Strip was a veritable senior citizens center for a generation of retired boxers and ballplayers who had found work in the casino industry (the great heavyweight champ Joe Louis chief among them). Also, bookmakers who had come to Nevada from cities where sports betting was illegal — places where underground bookies often were bullied by the underworld — never stopped being grateful for being allowed to practice their profession without looking over their shoulders. (With due respect to championship-caliber athletes, I’ve always wanted to see a Vegas bookmaker on a box of Wheaties.)“
