Spring brings with it the best time of year to be a sports fan and sports bettor. You have the NBA and NHL playoffs going simultaneously, with the Golden Knights and captain Mark Stone hitting their stride just in time for another long playoff run. Perhaps the two best postseasons in North American professional sports, and we get them at the same time on the biggest screens sportsbooks have ever seen.

You also have the championship core of the Las Vegas Aces returning to defend their third WNBA Championship in the last four seasons. After a labor stoppage that seemed certain to shorten the season, the WNBPA negotiated a nearly five-time increase to the salary cap and a four-time increase to minimum salaries. The best women’s college basketball players can actually make more in the WNBA than in college now.

Baseball has begun! The Las Vegas Aviators open at home against the Salt Lake Bees, April 21-26, and feature a top pitching prospect in lefty Gage Jump. Shortstop Leo De Vries — still 19 years old — is also likely to be promoted to the Athletics’ Triple-A affiliate this season, unless he goes straight to The Show. He’s already dominating Double-A, after all.

Vegas sports fans have a lot to watch right now but will have more rooting interests in 2028. The spring of 2028 is looking to be the greatest season in the short history of Las Vegas sports. The NBA Board of Governors voted in March to take the next steps in adding two teams to the league and is now in the process of fielding bids from prospective ownership groups. The target date for league expansion is prior to the 2028-29 season, and the target locations are Seattle and Las Vegas.

Later that spring, you’ll finally have the Athletics moving into their new digs on the former site of the historic Tropicana Casino and Hotel. The 33,000-seat facility will feature a partially retractable roof to provide fans with an outdoor feel in climate-controlled temperatures. More importantly, 80% of seats are inside the foul poles, eliminating the massive foul territory Oaklanders endured for decades to give Vegas baseball fans a more intimate experience.

Las Vegans will soon discover what comes with being a “sports town” featuring professional sports franchises in all four major sports. It will have a positive impact on tourism, which has fallen off as of late. The Golden Knights have provided a vacation destination for hockey fans of opposing teams. Expect the Athletics and the NBA franchise to do the same but at lesser degrees, resulting in more affordable tickets for locals to attend professional sporting events.