Image courtesy of the University of Nevada, Reno.
Grand Sierra Resort is building a brand-new arena to house Nevada men’s basketball on its resort property just a few miles east of the University of Nevada, Reno. Although a new arena will largely benefit the Northern Nevada region, moving the school’s flagship sport out of their on campus home in Lawlor Events Center would be a grave mistake.
Grand Sierra Resort broke ground on Oct. 1, 2025 for their new $1 billion arena that will serve as the home of the Nevada men’s basketball games for the 2027–28 season.
University President Brian Sandoval has been one of the loudest supporters of the massive project, describing the proposed arena as having “the ability to generate revenue.”
While Sandoval is likely correct in his assessment of the venue, moving the men’s basketball team to the arena will not be the slam-dunk move many predict it to be.
The problem with moving the Wolf Pack to the GSR arena is that it is off-campus. While this may not seem like such a big deal to many, seeing as Grand Sierra Resort sits just a couple of miles from the university’s campus, it is an issue for students living on or near campus, many of whom don’t have a car.
This change is not unique to Nevada though, as other universities have moved their athletics off campus, to varying degrees of success. Most notably, the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) football team plays at the famed Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif. While the Rose Bowl is an iconic venue in college football, the Bruins’ struggle to fill their stadium above 50%. This can largely be attributed to the Rose Bowl’s location, situated over 20 miles from UCLA’s main campus.
“It’s unlikely anything about the Rose Bowl will change enough to convince new fans and students to make the 20-plus mile trek for six-or-so Saturdays every year,” Kai Dizon, a writer for UCLA’s student newspaper wrote in late 2025.
Of course, we are comparing a landmark university’s football program to UNR’s basketball program, but the point still stands. Students will not want to commute multiple times a week to watch Wolf Pack basketball —especially since thousands of students either live on-campus, or extremely close to campus in one of the many apartment complexes surrounding UNR.
It’s not as if Nevada fans have struggled to fill Lawlor Events Center in recent years. Just last season, the nearly 43-year-old arena broke its all-time attendance record, housing 11,997 fans in a blowout win over the Pack’s biggest rival, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Though, UNR’s homecourt advantage stretches far beyond its matchups against the Rebels. Since head coach Steve Alford took over before the 2019-2020 season, Nevada has gone 82-27 (75% win rate) at home in Reno.
Perhaps the sweetest part of UNR’s deal with the Grand Sierra Resort, though, is the price. Nevada will not pay even a dime for their new state-of-the-art arena, as it is being funded primarily by GSR’s owner Alex Meruelo. Meruelo’s funding — coupled with a tax agreement with the City of Reno that allows the majority of taxes that the new development generates to go directly back to the resort to help fund its construction — means the university gets to move into their new home completely free of charge. UNR will still cover operational costs for men’s basketball games played at the new arena.
Rendering of GSR Arena courtesy of Gensler.
Maybe the most surprising part of this entire deal is that the women’s basketball team will not be moving into the GSR arena and will stay at Lawlor Events Center. The reasoning behind this decision comes from an attendance standpoint, where the women’s team consistently sports much lower attendance numbers than their male counterpart.
“The stark reality of it is they average 600, 700 fans per game, and it just isn’t economic for them to play [at GSR], because we’re gonna have to pay to play in that arena [referring to the operational costs the school will cover for games at the arena],” Sandoval told Sam Shad during an interview on Nevada Newsmakers.
Though, one might think that for a brand-new arena that is likely to have open midweek dates, the GSR could be willing to waive those fees for the women’s team to host a portion of their games at the resort.
As far as Lawlor Events Center goes, the once-central stadium will be basically useless, except for the aforementioned women’s games being held there. Surely, the university should be able to make some use of this colossal building. Perhaps hosting volleyball matches there instead of the much smaller Virginia Street Gymnasium, or even hosting a free-for-students concert there, something that has long been a talking point of The Associated Students of The University of Nevada (ASUN) elections. The school could even host the men’s team back for a game or two every season — the university must not allow the arena to just sit there and collect dust in the heart of its campus once the team leaves.
While GSR’s arena is nearly certain to be an upgrade over Lawlor Events Center in terms of the actual in-stadium experience, the practicality and convenience of playing in an on-campus home in the heart of the student body far outweighs the pros of anything that Meruelo builds on his resort grounds.
