This week, Ira Sternberg spoke with veteran journalist Ron Futrell, 8NewsNow sports anchor/reporter. In this 30-minute episode of Talk About Las Vegas, Futrell talks about his love of sports and why he never gets bored; why the Vegas Golden Knights lost their heart with the departure of Marc-Andre Fleury and how to fix it; the three criteria that Las Vegas needed to meet in order to have professional major league sports here; why basketball and baseball will be the next big sports for Las Vegas; how the UNLV football team will fare in the new Allegiant stadium; the challenge of parking at the stadium; and the impact of COVID on all Las Vegas sports now and in the immediate future.
Futrell began his broadcasting career in the early ’80s in Salt Lake City at KSXX radio and KTVX TV. From there, he covered sports and news at KNDO TV in Yakima, WA.
He has covered Stanley Cup Finals, Super Bowls, World Series, NBA Finals and NCAA Championships. Futrell has reported on virtually every major sporting event in Las Vegas over the past three decades, including major boxing and MMA events, NASCAR races, the rise and fall of UNLV basketball, the careers of local athletes like Greg Maddux, Andre Agassi, Randall Cunningham and Mike Tyson, along with many others. He is also well known for covering local high school and club sports in Las Vegas.
Futrell is perhaps best known in Las Vegas for his work covering UNLV basketball throughout its glory days. As host of the Jerry Tarkanian TV show for 10 years, he was able to get the inside story on one of most remarkable teams in college basketball history.
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