One of the storylines of every WNBA All-Star weekend is where the ensuing weekend’s festivities shall take place. Of course, the W has taken over Indianapolis for the next several days, but which city will play host to the W’s midseason party in 2026?
Could it be Las Vegas again? A report from Callie Fin of the Las Vegas Review-Journal says that the Las Vegas Aces have been in conversations with the WNBA about having All-Star weekend back in Sin City next season.
One could make a safe bet that regardless where the WNBA decides to stage All-Star at next year, it would likely occur the weekend of July 18th. The Friday before would play host to All-Star Friday – the Skills Competition and the 3-Point Contest with the game itself happening on the 18th.
Las Vegas on the surface appears like the perfect host because Vegas as a city sells itself. In fact, we at Beyond The W felt back in 2018 when the Aces first became a thing that Las Vegas would be a perfect city to host All-Star weekend. After all, WNBA All-Star of 2019 is not the same WNBA All-Star of 2025. Today’s All-Star feels more like an event as opposed to 2019 where it felt like a standalone game that did not draw that much local buzz.
The problem with this is it has already been done. If this materializes where Las Vegas hosts All-Star weekend in 2026, that will mean that four of the previous seven All-Star weekends at the time will have been held in one city.
What Cathy Engelbert is doing appears very similar to what WWE recently did with WrestleMania. This year’s Showcase of the Immortals – the 41st edition of pro wrestling’s flagship spectacle – was held in Sin City at Allegiant Stadium.
This was to be a precursor to WrestleMania 42 taking place at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans. In fact, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, who has a lot of pull at WWE’s parent company, TKO, even did a promo in New Orleans plugging that WrestleMania was to be in the Crescent City in 2026.
Except an eleventh-hour development led to WWE yanking WrestleMania from New Orleans and giving it back to Las Vegas for the second consecutive year. There have been rumors that TKO wants to relocate its headquarters to Las Vegas and WWE thought giving New Orleans the 2026 Money in The Bank premium live event was a sufficient IOU.
If that is not the definition of a – all puns intended – raw deal, we do not know what is.
And it appears the WNBA is dealing itself a raw deal with this development of the 2026 All-Star Game going to Las Vegas. There are so many venues throughout the W that have yet to host All-Star, but three in particular come to mind.
The first is Barclays Center in Brooklyn. How Atlantic & Flatbush has not yet hosted All-Star given the excitement there is in New York City about the Liberty nowadays is making us scratch our heads. The Liberty consistently sell out The Clays, it has arguably the best home atmosphere in the entire WNBA and then there is, of course, the Ellie factor.
The second is Chase Center in San Francisco. The jury was out when the Valkyries debuted as to how much of a success the Valks would be in the Bay Area. It is safe to say that between the season ticket deposits, Golden State’s success on the court and consistent sellouts at Chase Center that the Valkyries have been a hit.
The third is Atlanta. Of course, this is a special case because there is no way that a marquee event such as All-Star should be held in a venue that barely seats more than 2,500 in a suburb. If Atlanta were to get All-Star weekend, it would have to be done at State Farm Arena in the heart of the ATL. And given how much of a fanbase there is in the south for the W, it absolutely can be done.
Again, this is not meant to diss Vegas. The 2023 All-Star weekend was, by far the best of the three hosted by Sin City – 2021’s, of course, was marred by the pandemic. But an event like All-Star which is meant to be hosted by different cities year in and year out, feels like less of an event if it is merely sequestered to one city.
As alluring as those casinos can be, the WNBA would be better off placing its All-Star bets someplace else.
