Bears, Ducks and Buffaloes are heading to Las Vegas.
No, there is not a bizarre circus coming to town. The Pac-12 Conference announced last month that it will return to Las Vegas for its men’s basketball tournament through 2019.
The conference — which is made up of the University of Arizona, Arizona State, the University of California-Berkeley, UCLA, University of Colorado, University of Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford, USC, University of Utah, University of Washington and Washington State — has been playing its season-ending championship in the valley since 2012. For the last four years, games have taken place at MGM Grand Garden Arena, where the whole tournament sold out this year.
Oregon beat Utah handily to win the Pac-12 men's basketball championship this year at MGM Grand Garden Arena. Photo Credit: Ron Koch/MGM Grand
This year, the Pac-12 sent No. 1-seed Oregon, No. 3 Utah, No. 4 Cal, No. 6 Arizona and No. 8s Colorado and USC to the NCAA March Madness tournament.
Starting in 2017, the Pac-12 will call MGM Resorts’ T-Mobile Arena home, playing all games inside the new venue, which will seat almost 18,500 fans for basketball.
“In only four years, we have created one of the very best post-season tournaments in all of college basketball here in Las Vegas,” said Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott via press release. “We are now thrilled to build on our success in the state-of-the-art T-Mobile Arena and deliver a world-class experience to more Pac-12 fans.”