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October is one of the slower months for Las Vegas news. For the most part, visitors are done with summer vacations. They’re now staying home and returning to normal life.
Of course, a slow month in Las Vegas is like a busy month in most cities. Live sports in Las Vegas is heating up. This month there are football and hockey games. There are even a couple of basketball games to watch in person on the Vegas Strip.
In addition to the normal residencies and limited music engagements, there are still music festivals in Las Vegas.
The month ends with the not very spooky Halloween weekend which is a sneaky fun time to be in Las Vegas.
Las Vegas news for sports fans
Las Vegas wasn’t always a sports town. That really changed when the Vegas Golden Knights dropped the puck on their first season in the NHL in 2017.
Watching and wagering on sports in Las Vegas is a regular occurrence after summer is over. Here are some of the sports happening in Las Vegas this October:
The Vegas Golden Knights start the NHL regular season in October. The team has a slew of regular season home games throughout the month with games on Oct. 12, 13, 20, 22, 24, 28, and 30.
The 2021-2022 season wasn’t great for the Golden Knights. This could be a good thing for hockey fans around the country. Visitors might have a chance to acquire tickets to games at T-Mobile Arena for a low price compared to previous years.
Football fans will have an opportunity to see pro and college football games at Allegiant Stadium every weekend in October:
10/2 – Denver Broncos at Las Vegas Raiders
10/8 – BYU Cougars vs. Notre Dame Fighting Irish
10/15 – Air Force at UNLV
10/23 – Houston Texans at Raiders
It appears as though the NBA will have a team in Las Vegas sometime in the future. For now, Sin City will host a couple of preseason pro basketball games.
The Los Angeles Lakers will play two preseason games at T-Mobile Arena in October. The Lakers will take on the Phoenix Suns on 10/5 and the Minnesota Timberwolves on 10/6.
College basketball fans will get their chance to see UNLV along with teams from around the country in November.
More sports news
In other sports news, Rob Gronkowski’s “GRONKS Family Reunion” at Resorts World Las Vegas on Oct. 1 and 2.
It was already announced that Las Vegas will host the Pro Bowl next year. The NFL recently announced that this will be a weeklong event called The Pro Bowl Games instead of the traditional event.
Last but not least, Formula 1 (F1) released its 2023 Las Vegas Grand Prix is scheduled to take place on November 18 next year.
There will be a couple of days with more F1 events prior to the race. That will be announced at a later date.
Halloween in Las Vegas!
October will end with one of the underrated fun times in Las Vegas.
People-watching is a regular activity in Las Vegas. Whether someone is in downtown Las Vegas or the Vegas Strip, watching visitors in costume during Halloween is another level of people-watching. On top of this, there are parties and events in some of the nightclubs.
This year, Resorts World Las Vegas is taking Halloween to another level with Wonder World from Oct. 27-31. Partiers can head to Temple of Zouk at the nightclub inside Resorts World for G Easy, Tiesto and more at the nightclub.
Las Vegas residencies and limited engagements
There may be fewer visitors taking vacations in October but Las Vegas will be busy as usual thanks to the numerous residencies and limited engagements throughout the month.
10/1, 5, 7, 8 – Miranda Lambert at Planet Hollywood
10/1,28,29 – David Blaine at Resorts World
10/1,2,26-30 – Boombox! (Ceelo Green, Ton Loc and more) at Westgate
10/2 and 5 – Aerosmith at Park MGM
10/5, 7, 8, 14, 15, 19, 21, 22 – Katy Perry at Resorts World
10/7, 8, 9 – Van Morrison at Caesars Palace
10/8-9 – Kool And The Gang at Westgate
10/12, 14, 15, 19, 21, 22 – Lionel Richie at Wynn
10/12, 14, 15, 19, 21 – Usher at Park MGM
10/13, 14, 15, 20, 21, 22 – Barry Manilow at Westgate
10/14, 15, 19, 21, 22, 26, 28, 29 – John Legend at Planet Hollywood
10/19, 21, 22 – The B-52s at The Venetian
10/26, 28, 29 – Adam Lambert at Wynn
10/26, 28 29 – Earth, Wind and Fire at The Venetian
10/30 and 31 – Duran Duran (special Halloween show) at Wynn
The When We Were Young festival will take place outside at the Las Vegas Fair Grounds on Oct. 22, 23 and 29. The venue is across the Street from the Sahara and next to Circus Circus.
This early 2000s music festival features bands like My Chemical Romance, Paramore, Taking Back Sunday and more. You can see the full lineup here.
Residency rumors and announcements
There were a handful of new and extended residencies and limited engagements for 2023 announced last month. Maroon 5 will have its first Las Vegas residency at Park MGM. The band will perform 15 shows from March through August next year.
The first Tesla Las Vegas residency will take place at the House of Blues inside Mandalay Bay next year. The venue also extended Carlos Santana’s multi-year residency into 2023.
Donny Osmond will return to Harrah’s and Usher will have more shows at Park MGM next year. The latter has sold out all of his remaining 2022 residency shows.
There’s a rumor that Lady Gaga will return to Las Vegas for another run of shows next year. She previously headlined the same venue at Park MGM as Usher.
Motley Crue is looking to return to Las Vegas for another residency in 2024. The band’s previous limited engagements took place at The t inside the Hard Rock (now Virgin Hotels Las Vegas).
Vegas Strip hotel and casino news
MGM Resorts is renovating rooms at two Las Vegas hotels. Last month we told you that there will be renovated hotel rooms at New York-New York available beginning this month. The entire renovation project will be completed by next summer.
This month we can share that the company is renovating 700 hotel rooms at MGM Grand. The new Studio Tower (formerly West Wing) rooms will be available beginning at the end of October.
While the room design will be new, the size of the rooms are the same. The basic Studio Tower rooms are 350 square feet. All of the updated rooms at MGM Grand will be available by the end of December.
The sale of Tropicana to Bally’s Corp. was completed just as September was coming to an end. Much of the property, including the name, will remain the same for the next year or longer.
You may that Caesars is transforming the current Bally’s Las Vegas into Horseshoe Las Vegas. The casino recently opened a new sports betting desk to replace the old sportsbook that is being turned into an arcade. The updates at Bally’s/Horseshoe should be completed by the end of the year.
Renovations to the lobby and dome casino at Caesars Palace are finished. While everything is beautiful, guests will be footing the bill with $27 Signature Cocktails at the new Galleria Bar. On the bright side, you can get some of those drinks comp’d by putting a $20 bill into one of the video poker games. Let’s keep that our little secret so they don’t take this away this perk for players.
Off-Strip casino news
The El Cortez in downtown Las Vegas renovated the oldest rooms at the property. These hotel rooms are now known as the Original 47.
Let’s head off the Vegas Strip for news about a few casinos. The Lucky Club Hotel & Casino in North Las Vegas is being renovated and rebranded as Ojos Locos Sports Cantina y Casino at Hotel Jefe. This will be the “first U.S. hotel-casino dedicated to the Latino community.”
Station Casinos continues to revamp its Las Vegas casino offerings. The company recently closed Wild Wild West casino. This is the fourth casino the company has closed. Station Casinos is contemplating different possibilities to build a new property just off the Vegas Strip.
Station Casinos is also moving forward with a casino in North Las Vegas. Details are sparse at this time as the company is still in the local approval stage of development.
The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority recently updated its Construction Bulletin. This document is full of casinos that are scheduled to be built in Las Vegas over the next few years.
Of course, not all of these projects will be finished. For example, All Net Arena has seemingly been on this list for a decade without anything more than dirt being pushed around its construction site.
New food hall opening at Aria
The Vegas Strip has some of the best restaurants in the country. There are so many popular restaurants that are always full nowadays that it seems as though are fewer closings and openings.
One of the popular trends over the past five years or so on the Vegas Strip is food halls. Harrah’s was one of the first with its Fulton Street Food Hall. The Cosmpolitan moved its sportsbook to the first floor and replaced it with the always crowded Block 16 Food Hall. When Resorts World opened in 2020 it included a massive food hall with nearly 20 quick-serve eateries.
Aria is replacing its buffet with the Proper Eats Food Hall which will open in December. The new eatery will feature a bar and a host of restaurants. Here are a few of the restaurants to expect:
- Egghead (Breakfast)
- Seoul Bird (Korean food)
- Temaki (Sushi)
- Wexler’s Deli (Jewish food)
Aira will reveal more quick-serve restaurants shortly. These food halls often have the best value dining at the casinos. Personally, I cannot wait to have some Korean Fried Chicken at Seoul Bird.
