Las Vegas is chasing its next round of professional sports milestones: an NBA team, a World Series and a year-round slate of major sporting events that could make the Strip and its environs the busiest sports corridor in America. The Sports and Entertainment Innovation Convention is a partnership between UNLV’s Sports Innovation Institute, Syracuse University’s David B. Falk College of Sport and Las Vegas-based guest experience agency Circle. The convention brings together hundreds of experts to discuss innovations in the sports and entertainment industries.

With multiple professional sports teams calling Las Vegas home, the city is quickly becoming a major sports destination. This growing industry needs a variety of jobs to support it. We look at programs training people to take on these roles and how Southern Nevada is continuing to innovate its economy.

As the data rolls in, a team of sports medicine professionals analyzes the results of an athlete’s jump—it’s the beginning of a whole different ball game. During a Las Vegas Desert Dogs practice, a team from UNLV’s Sports Performance Education Economic Development Lab, otherwise known as SPEED, set up their high-tech floor monitor for players’ leaps.

Evenplay, an AI technology company based out of Las Vegas, has created a patented golf simulator application that creates challenges for all skill levels, with the intention of improving play performance through the use of cash rewards.

Massive leaps in shoe technology have revolutionized high-performance footwear over the past five years. Yes, we’re talking about super shoes. The number of runners racing in carbon-plated shoes jumped a staggering 14 percent just from 2023 to 2024, according to data from Strava.

There’s a “boatload” of money at stake for brands and the league.

More than 500 people attended the inaugural Sports, Entertainment and Innovation Conference (SEICon) in Las Vegas this summer. The David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics, in collaboration with the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV) Sports Innovation Institute and the Las Vegas-based guest experience agency Circle, spent more than a year planning the event, which was held July 15-17 at the Virgin Hotels Las Vegas.

Las Vegas is known for major sporting events, world class entertainment and conventions. There’s a conference later this month that is going to combine all three to continue to elevate our city and at the same time to give some UNLV students an opportunity for growth in the field they’ve chosen to go into.

SEICon LLC, a first-of-its-kind conference featuring 120 thought leaders and subject matter experts from the sports, entertainment, and innovation sectors, is pleased to announce USA TODAY Sports as its presenting sponsor in collaboration with UNLV Sports Innovation Institute and Syracuse University’s Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics.

SEICon LLC, a first-of-its-kind conference featuring 120 thought leaders and subject matter experts from the sports, entertainment, and innovation sectors, is pleased to announce USA TODAY Sports as its presenting sponsor in collaboration with UNLV Sports Innovation Institute and Syracuse University's Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics.

On Friday, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority announced an unprecedented new sponsorship program: $100k to each of the Las Vegas Aces players, from superstars to rookies. On the heels of that announcement, however, the WNBA confirmed that it would be investigating this sponsorship deal for possible violation of league rules. But why? Today, executive producer Sonja Cho Swanson talks with professor Nancy Lough, co-director of the UNLV Sports Innovation Institute, about the complicated rules of endorsements, sponsorships, and pay-to-play in pro sports — and how we can get to pay parity for female athletes.

Las Vegas Aces star A'ja Wilson says members of her team had no idea about the surprise they were set to receive on Friday. "I don't think people really understand, but we didn't know what was going on," Wilson said after practice at the team's facility in Henderson on Monday. "Our city is behind us 100% and they're giving us what we deserve."