LOUISVILLE – The neon lights of the Las Vegas Strip will glow red when Louisville men’s basketball heads west next season for two games at T-Mobile Arena. The Cardinals will be one of four teams in the 7th-annual MGM Resorts Main Event benefitting Coaches vs. Cancer on Nov. 20-22. The event is managed by Kentucky-based sports marketing firm bdG Sports.
”We are looking forward to participating in this prestigious event among our early games next season,” said UofL Coach Chris Mack. “The opportunity to play in this tournament in Las Vegas provides a great destination for our fans to follow our team on the road a week before Thanksgiving in what we anticipate to be great competition.”
The tournament will mark Louisville’s first trip west since playing Grand Canyon in Phoenix in 2016. Their last trip to Vegas for a tournament was in 2007.
“We are excited to bring Louisville and its tremendous fan base to Las Vegas the weekend before Thanksgiving for the Main Event,” said bdG Sports President and CEO Brooks Downing. “UofL has such a rich history in the game and is one of only 12 programs to win a national championship the past two decades. With the field we’re assembling and such a world-class destination location, the Cardinal fans are in for a great weekend.”
The other participating teams will be announced in the coming weeks. First-round games will be played on Friday, Nov. 20 with the consolation and championship games tipping on Sunday, Nov. 22. Pairings and game times will be announced later this summer, as well as ticket information. The event benefits Coaches vs. Cancer, an initiative spearheaded by the National Association of Basketball Coaches (www.nabc.com) and the American Cancer Society (www.cancer.org).
Complete tournament information can be found at www.mgmresortsmainevent.com and tournament hotel rates are available now on the site. Rates are available for Park MGM (tournament headquarters resort), Aria, MGM Grand and New York-New York with all four resorts being within a short walking distance to T-Mobile Arena. Louisville fans are encouraged to follow @VegasMainEvent on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook and use #CardsInVegas.