The Sports Weekend in One Line
Both of the city's summer teams are home at the same time, and both are playing for something. The Aces have already qualified for the playoffs but not yet settled where they will finish, and the Aviators are closing out the last home baseball in Las Vegas until September. Four games across three nights, one of them with genuine standings consequences.
Friday: Aces host the league's newest team
The Las Vegas Aces host the Toronto Tempo at Michelob ULTRA Arena inside Mandalay Bay at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. The Tempo are the newest team in the league and the first WNBA franchise based outside the United States, playing their inaugural season, and like most expansion sides they have had a difficult first year at 11-25 and already eliminated. On paper this is a comfortable night for the home side.
What makes it worth attention is the Aces' own position. They sit third in the Western Conference and have clinched a playoff place, but they are a game behind the Golden State Valkyries for the second seed, with Minnesota out in front of the conference at 31-7. Second rather than third changes the matchup and the home-court split once the playoffs start, so there is a reason for Becky Hammon to take a game like this seriously rather than resting through it.
Las Vegas Aces | Fri, 7:00 p.m. | Michelob ULTRA Arena, Mandalay Bay
Friday to Sunday: the last Aviators home stand of August
The Las Vegas Aviators host the Sugar Land Space Cowboys on all three nights, 7:05 p.m. Friday and Saturday and an earlier 6:05 p.m. on Sunday. These are the back half of a six-game series that started on Tuesday, which is simply how Triple-A schedules its calendar: one opponent at a time, Tuesday through Sunday, with Mondays off across the league. Sugar Land are the Astros' Triple-A club, so this is an Athletics affiliate against a Houston one.
Sunday is the part worth knowing about. It closes the series and it is the last home game at Las Vegas Ballpark in August, with the team heading to El Paso afterwards and no baseball back in Summerlin until September 8. The Aviators have already clinched a Pacific Coast League playoff spot, so the pressure is off, but this is a franchise in its 43rd season of professional baseball in Las Vegas and the ballpark is comfortably the best value live sport in the city.
Las Vegas Aviators | Fri & Sat 7:05 p.m., Sun 6:05 p.m. | Las Vegas Ballpark
If You Want More Than a Ticket
Football season hasn't started, but the building is open and it fills a daytime slot without asking anything of you in late-August heat. Allegiant Stadium Tours run through the Raiders' home from the field itself to the spaces fans never otherwise reach. Tour times vary by day and a reservation is required, so book rather than turn up. More in our Allegiant Stadium Tours guide.
Allegiant Stadium Tours | times vary by day | reservation required
Planning Notes
Two practical things. Friday is the one collision of the weekend: a 7:00 p.m. tip at Mandalay Bay and a 7:05 first pitch in Summerlin are not compatible, and the two venues are a solid drive apart, so pick a side and give the other one Saturday or Sunday. And the geography is the thing visitors underestimate, since Las Vegas Ballpark sits in Summerlin rather than on the Strip and needs a car or a rideshare each way, which makes the baseball an evening in its own right rather than something to slot between other plans. Sunday's 6:05 start is the gentlest of the four games if you are flying home Monday. For the concerts and shows on the same three nights, our weekend guide has the rest. Check the booking section below for current availability on both teams.
