Report: Vegas among 4 cities in running to land NBA All-Star weekend
While New Orleans remains the frontrunner to land next season's All-Star weekend according to multiple reports, three other cities remain in contention for the event, according to the New Orleans Advocate's Scott Kushner.
Those cities are reported to be Chicago, New York, and Las Vegas.
Kushner reports that there are logistical issues in New Orleans, with Mardi Gras going on at the same time. The city last hosted the event just two-and-a-half years ago, in February 2014. New York City staged it even more recently in 2015, when Madison Square Garden and the Barclays Center split the events. The last time a NBA All-Star Game was in Chicago was way back in 1988.
Las Vegas, without an NBA franchise, hosted All-Star festivities in 2007 in what has been called a raucous weekend even by Vegas standards. Since then, the city has opened a new state-of-the-art arena which is soon set to play home to an NHL expansion team.
Charlotte lost the right to host this season's event when the league pulled it as a result of the state of North Carolina's controversial HB2 law.