Las Vegas NowWeekend Sporting Events Bring Much Needed Visitors

Weekend Sporting Events Bring Much Needed Visitors

With all the bleak economic news, there's some good news for southern Nevada this weekend. Two major sporting events promise to pour millions of dollars into the local economy.

It's going to be a weekend of professional bull riding at the Thomas and Mack and at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, a weekend of hot rod racing.

Both events are bringing plenty of visitors to town who plan to spend some money.

The qualifying sessions are in full swing at the LVMS. From top fuel dragsters to funny cars, the decibels are high and the speeds are fast.

Bob Bourke and his three friends from Alberta, Canada are just getting ready for a full day, and night, of fun, "We love to come to America. The drag races are excellent."

Bourke says the group loaded into his motor home and hit the road for Las Vegas, "It's about 2,000 kilometers, which in your language is about 1,400 miles."

And they've got money to spend, "We blew some money down on Fremont Street last night, went down there for the Fremont Street Experience. Normally we go down the Strip to the MGM or whatever and play some roulette."

The license plates in the parking lot tell the story, Idaho, Oregon, California and Montana just to name a few. According to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, last year this event alone generated nearly $28 million for the local economy.

"The roulette wheel, couple of beers, walk around, look at the beautiful women, it's a great town. It's a great town," said tourist Mike Busch.

The bulls are the co-stars of the show at the Professional Bullriders Association finals at the T&M. Last year, the LVCVA says the event generated $30 million for the local economy.

Karlene and Steve Katich, from Washington state, are staying in southern Nevada for 10 days.

"We're staying at South Point and I figured it is going to be around a thousand bucks," she said.

Both events run through the weekend. The first round of competition gets underway at the PBR event at 6 p.m.