[Lanny_McDonald]

Originally Posted by transplant99

Those who move to Vegas from other spots are going there young and working.

The Las Vegas unemployment rate is 7.0%, well above the national average of 5.5%. The growing population of Las Vegas isn't young either, with 46% of new residents being over the age of 45; 34% over 55. Of the people coming to Las Vegas only 35.4% have full time jobs and 32.5% are unemployed/looking for work.

Not a lot of "snowbirds" or Americans use LV as a destination for retirement.

Not true at all. The US Census Bureau projected the fastest growing segment of Nevada's population over the next decade would be senior citizens. This has proven to be accurate based on local news reports and demographic information as snowbirds flock to Las Vegas, only falling behind Austin, Texas, as a destination. Las Vegas also has some of the premier retirement communities in the nation, like Sun City Summerlin, Sun City Anthem, Sun City MacDonald Ranch, Sun City Aliante, Siena, Solera at Anthem, Solera at Stallion Mountain, and Ardiente.

Outside the strip and the glitz of LV is a thriving and bustling city who's demography is much more suited to using disposable income on sports.

Census statistics don't support this claim. Per capita income is $25,607, below the state average by almost a thousand dollars. Annual spending for a household sees 34.9% spent on housing, 16.5% spent on transportation, 12.9% spent on food, 17% spent on healthcare, insurance and pensions, and the remainder available for disposable income. That is around $10K for the average household. Not a ton to spend on sports tickets. It also doesn't help that Las Vegas is still suffering from the housing crisis and the values in homes is still low, not even worth 2/3 of the value they had in 2007, and with foreclosures still almost double the national average. Also the majority of jobs still remain in the Leisure and Hospitality industry, with Trade, Transportation and Utilities being a distant second. Professional and Business Services were third. Except for the entertainment and hospitality industries wages are below the national average.