LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — The City of Las Vegas loves seeing big winners. In a town known for its gaming and casinos, another industry is really hitting the jackpot for Las Vegas.
The crowd outside Toshiba Plaza started singing, "We Are The Champions," when the Knights won 9-3 against the Panthers in Game 5, earning the team the Stanley Cup.
Las Vegas got a taste of sports success when the Runnin' Rebels also marched through madness. UNLV won the Men's Basketball Championship in 1990 beating the Duke Blue Devils 103 to 73.
That's still the largest championship win in college basketball history.
“To see the program rise being the best in the country or certainly one of the three or four best in the country and to know where it came from," said Jerry Tarkanian in 1992. "I never in my life did I dream that I would see the day that UNLV would replace UCLA as the power in the west.”
But major pro sports leagues still kept their distance from the city of entertainment. Las Vegas was still considered taboo when it came to sports.
That was until the NHL approved the addition of the Golden Knights to southern Nevada in 2016. It was a gamble that paid off.
"The pressure's on," said VGK owner, Bill Foley. "We're going to win, but we're going to build from the ground up."
That was just the start for the southern Nevada sports landscape. The Las Vegas Aces took their talents to Las Vegas as well. Following the miracle misfit run in VGK's inagural season, the Aces played their first season in the valley in 2018. In just five seasons, the Las Vegas Aces wrote history for the city.
“Honestly, our team fought through, we were resilient," said Aces center, A'ja Wilson. "We just stuck it through. But man we champs."
A celebration was held down the Las Vegas Strip for the team. Sports fans in the valley did not have to wait very long for the second championship.
The golden standard of southern Nevada sports brought home the Stanley Cup last week.
VGK delivered on Foley's promise of a Stanley Cup in six years, and the biggest sports party in the history of southern Nevada took over the valley.
“It’s pretty wild," said VGK goaltender Adin Hill. "I don’t know what to do with my hands right now.”
"I think as a whole, we thank you for being the best fans in the world," said VGK captain, Mark Stone. "It does not get any better than this!"
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Only time will tell which team will bring the next championship to southern Nevada.