Where Do the WNBA's Las Vegas Aces Team Play?

Now Vegas has a WNBA team. Where do they play? How much of an impact do they have on the city?

The Las Vegas Aces are one of 12 teams in the Women’s National Basketball Association. They started out in Salt Lake City as the Utah Starzz in 1997, the WNBA's first season. They were bought by the San Antonio Spurs organization and moved to San Antonio in 2003 as the Silver Stars; in 2014, the name was shortened to the Stars.

When the Spurs put the Stars up for sale, the team was purchased by MGM Resorts, which renamed it the Aces and made the Mandalay Bay Events Center the team's home arena. The Aces started the 2018 season in late May in Vegas; the season runs through the end of September. The Aces are one of three WNBA teams that don’t have a counterpart NBA team (along with the Seattle Storm and Connecticut Sun).

As for the team’s impact, it’s too early to tell. They’re not exactly tearing up the league. Their record currently is 12-13; they're sixth out of six in the Western Conference, though they're riding a two-game winning streak into the All Star game, which will be played this Saturday. Attendance is decent, but not great (in the 3,000-5,000 range, roughly half the arena's 8,000-capacity set-up for WBNA games).

Also, it’s unfair for a number of reasons, but compared to the Vegas Golden Knights, any impact is going to look minimal.

Still, we believe that MGM is in it for the long run, so ask us again toward the end of this season — and next.

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[email protected] Jul-26-2018

A lot of fun!

Decades ago (Yeah, I'm that old),my kids saw the Detroit Sparks play in Auburn Hills at the Palace. Like minor league hockey, the players have a lot of "heart" and play their best. While not on my "A List" of things to do in Vegas, I guarantee it would be a lot of fun for all, and quite reasonable too, I would guess. Someday they will get it right and make the game "co-ed".

salukidean Jul-26-2018

The Reason I Don't Go....

I'd go to a couple of games per season, but I'm not going to pay as much to park as a ticket to the game cost.   If the 51s charged $14 to park, I wouldn't go to their games either.   This money grab by the MGM really costs them in situations such as this.

Jul-26-2018

The game is different

Unlike men's basketball, there isn't a lot of height or build variation among the players. This means that they really scratch and claw at each other to gain advantage. One exception was this freakish 6 foot 11 black girl, I forget her name, who led her college team to at least one championship and was dominating the WNBA for a while--don't know what happened to her. She would hold the ball in the air while the other girls futilely jumped and waved at it and then moved to the basket, knocking them over like bowling pins. Like one of Hannibal's elephants.
I think the games are a lot of fun to watch, and the skill level of the players is very high. I doubt it'll ever really catch on, though, because of when the season is--just after the NBA playoffs.

Fred Oyang Jul-26-2018

Support the Aces!

Kevin, you're probably thinking of Brittney Griner who I believe is 6-9.  She currently plays for Phoenix.

Question of the Day - 26 July 2018

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