By Larry Olmsted

Every few years Las Vegas reinvents itself in some way to broaden its tourism appeal – this time it is through sports. Some of these pushes have worked better than others, and while the city pretty much gave up on its years ago to compete with places like Disney World in the “family-friendly” travel space, its more recent concerted efforts to become world-class destinations for live entertainment and dining have been resounding successes. The redevelopment of “old” Downtown Las Vegas into a viable tourism expansion of the Strip was another of Sin City’s many travel game-changers. The latest such trend is sports.

There are two concurrent sports movements going on in Las Vegas right now. The first is the massive expansion of the city’s spectator sports offerings, which began in earnest with the arrival of NHL expansion team the Las Vegas Golden Knights, who played their first games in the new T-Mobile Arena  … read more

Award-winning travel journalist Larry Olmsted is the author of “Real Food, Fake Food.” He is a Contributing Editor to US Airways Magazine and Cigar Aficionado Magazine and “The Great Life” columnist for Forbes.com. His newest book, “Fans: How Watching Sports Makes Us Happer, Healthier, and More Understanding,” is published this month.