Super Bowl 2024: How Las Vegas went from rest stop to host city
A person walks by a sign for the Super Bowl at Caesars Palace along the Las Vegas Strip ahead of the Super Bowl on Thursday in Las Vegas. Credit: AP/John Locher
1905: Las Vegas is officially founded as a city, used mostly as a refueling point and rest stop for trains between Los Angeles and Salt Lake City.
1931: Gambling is legalized the same year construction begins on the nearby Hoover Dam.
1946: The Flamingo Hotel and the Golden Nugget open for business.
1947: The Class C Wranglers baseball club becomes Vegas’ first pro team.
1949: The first sportsbooks open as Turf Clubs, separate from the casinos.
1953: The PGA Tour holds the first professional golf event in Las Vegas with the Tournament of Champions at the Desert Inn Country Club.
1955: Archie Moore beats Nino Valdes for the light heavyweight boxing title, the first major fight to take place in the city that would become known for such spectacles.
1964: The AFL brings pro football to Las Vegas — briefly — by holding a preseason game between the Raiders and Oilers at Cashman Field.
1984: The Utah Jazz, suffering from poor attendance in Salt Lake City, play some of their home games at Thomas & Mack Center. When Kareem Abdul-Jabbar breaks the NBA’s all-time scoring record, it happens in Las Vegas.
1992: The Las Vegas Bowl enters the college football scene.
1996: While Oakland Coliseum is being renovated, Major League Baseball has the A’s play their first six games of the season in Las Vegas; Las Vegas Motor Speedway opens.
2001: The XFL debuts with a nationally broadcast game between the New York/New Jersey Hitmen and the Las Vegas Outlaws.
2004: The NBA launches its annual Summer League in Las Vegas.
2017: The Vegas Golden Knights play their inaugural NHL season, which includes a run to the Stanley Cup Final.
2018: The Las Vegas Aces of the WNBA debut.
2020: The Raiders open Allegiant Stadium as the first NFL team to call Las Vegas home.
2021: The NFL announces Super Bowl LVIII will be played in Las Vegas. The game was originally scheduled for New Orleans but when the league extended its regular season to 17 games that season, the new date of the game conflicted with Mardi Gras celebrations.
2022: The NFL Draft is held in Las Vegas. It was originally scheduled to be there in 2020 but the pandemic pushed it back two years; the Aces win the WNBA title, giving the city its first pro championship.
2023: The Golden Knights win the Stanley Cup; the Aces repeat as WNBA champs; the Nevada legislature approves public funding for a $1.5 billion stadium on the Strip, paving the way for the A’s to relocate from Oakland.
2024: Super Bowl LVIII between Kansas City and San Francisco is scheduled to kick off at 6:32 p.m. ET on Feb. 11.
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
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