LAS VEGAS \u2013 Albert Hall\u2019s daily schedule at NBA Summer League is busy enough, and that\u2019s before you factor in the different fires he\u2019s extinguishing from the time he wakes up until he finally shuts his eyes, usually an hour or two past midnight.<\/p>\n
Metaphoric fires, of course, but when you hear what the average day looks like for Hall and everything it encompasses, you probably wouldn\u2019t rule anything out.<\/p>\n
For example, the evening portion of Hall\u2019s agenda on July 13 begins when he\u2019s called to help with a medical emergency. He doesn\u2019t disclose what happened, but it required a 911 call and ambulance dispatch to the area on UNLV\u2019s campus that\u2019s become a summer hoops mecca for NBA players, coaches, owners, general managers, staff members, scouts, fans and virtually anyone else who wants a piece of what Hall and Vegas Summer League co-founder Warren LeGarie have built over the last two decades.<\/p>\n
Moments after the ambulance leaves, another crisis already has Hall\u2019s attention. A few fans are trying to get into Thomas & Mack Center with artificial tickets. Hall can\u2019t count the number he\u2019s confiscated over the years.<\/p>\n
Next, he\u2019s meeting with an unnamed NBA owner who\u2019s hoping to book court time for his kid to practice the next morning. Then it\u2019s off to dinner at the Palms Casino Hardwood Suite. Hall doesn\u2019t eat, of course \u2013 too busy connecting, networking, schmoozing \u2013 so by the time he\u2019s finished at the Palms, he still needs to put something in his stomach. Hall returns to his hotel room, responds to e-mails and hits the pillow sometime between 12:30-1 a.m., anticipating a 6:30 a.m. wakeup call the next day.<\/p>\n
This is merely what night five at 2026 Vegas Summer League looks like for Hall, a Tacoma native who graduated from Washington State University\u2019s Murrow School of Communication in 1991. If he also had to walk a visiting reporter through the events of the morning and afternoon, it would require an additional 30 minutes Hall simply doesn\u2019t have in his day.<\/p>\n
\u201cAn average day for me is kind of insane,\u201d he said. \u201c\u2026 When the ball goes up, it\u2019s like phew, sigh of relief, we\u2019re playing. Then a whole new series of problems start.\u201d<\/p>\n
It comes with everything Hall and LeGarie have built at Vegas Summer League, which continues to shatter attendance, television rating and merchandise records in its 22nd year of existence.<\/p>\n
Earlier this month, the two-week event reported 156,000 total attendees, signifying a 12% increase from the year prior. The championship game, which pitted Washington State\u2019s Cedric Coward and the Memphis Grizzlies against Gonzaga\u2019s Graham Ike and the Golden State Warriors, set a record with 676,000 average viewers on ESPN. Vegas Summer League also saw an 11% increase in merchandise sales from the previous record in 2024.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got to continue to move the needle,\u201d Hall said. \u201cWe freshen things every year. As (NBA Commissioner) Adam (Silver) says \u2026 the Vegas Summer League is our 31st franchise, and we run it that way.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2022 \u2022 \u2022<\/p>\n
Growing up on the east side of Tacoma, Hall, a former wrestler at Bellarmine Prep, followed in his sister\u2019s footsteps, attending WSU in the fall of 1997. The Cougars were phasing out of the Timm Rosenbach era on the football field and entering the Drew Bledsoe era. The basketball program was in good hands with new coach Kelvin Sampson and the Greek system, in Hall\u2019s words, was \u201con fire.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hall savored his time in Pullman and didn\u2019t have firm plans after graduation until he and a friend attended a job fair, where a representative from Harvey\u2019s Casino in Lake Tahoe, California, enticed them with a $1,000 bonus if they fulfilled a monthlong employment obligation. It sounded like a dream to Hall, an avid skier, mountain biker and fisherman who couldn\u2019t pass up on the outdoor splendors of Tahoe and a steady paycheck. He and his friend stuffed their things into a U-Haul truck and started on the 13-hour drive from Pullman.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe show up and we\u2019re like, we\u2019re here,\u201d Hall said. \u201cThey\u2019re like, who the hell are you guys?\u201d<\/p>\n
Hall worked different casino jobs, carrying change and staffing the sportsbook before eventually going to card dealer\u2019s school. Dealing cards didn\u2019t sound like a sustainable or healthy long-term plan, so Hall left Tahoe and moved home to the Northwest where he picked up a job with the NBA\u2019s Seattle SuperSonics, working on the game-night staff under legendary public relations director Cheri Hanson, now with the Portland Trail Blazers.<\/p>\n
He climbed the ladder, ultimately landing a front desk job that allowed him to interact with players, owners, coaches, etc. One morning, Hall of Fame Sonics coach George Karl asked for a favor. Karl\u2019s agent was flying in from San Francisco and needed a lift from the airport.<\/p>\n
Karl didn\u2019t disclose flight details or anything that could\u2019ve been helpful to Hall, just the following: \u201cHe\u2019s going to be wearing a Hawaiian shirt.\u201d<\/p>\n
That was Hall\u2019s introduction to LeGarie, who\u2019s considered one of the NBA\u2019s top power brokers for his work representing players, coaches and front office personnel \u2013 everyone from late Yugoslavian star Drazen Petrovic, to longtime NBA coach Mike D\u2019Antoni, to current Golden State Warriors General Manager Mike Dunleavy Jr.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, it was a meeting I never forget,\u201d LeGarie said of the initial interaction with Hall.<\/p>\n
When LeGarie spawned the idea to launch a Summer League event in Vegas, the first person he contacted was Stu Jackson, the current West Coast Conference Commissioner who worked then as the NBA\u2019s Executive Vice President of Operations. The next number he dialed was Hall\u2019s.<\/p>\n
\u201cI made the first call and I said, you willing to take a risk, a little chance with me?\u201d LeGarie said. \u201cI don\u2019t know what it\u2019s going to be, I have no idea how it\u2019s going to end up but we\u2019re going to have a lot of fun.\u201d<\/p>\n
The partnership is now going on more than two decades. Usually too busy with individual obligations, Hall and LeGarie don\u2019t see much of each other during Summer League \u2013 and they\u2019re often in the same arena \u2013 but daily phone calls allow them to stay connected, coordinate ideas and solve problems.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s very smart, he knows what he\u2019s doing and he makes me look better than I am,\u201d said LeGarie, who resides in Costa Rica full-time, only traveling to Vegas for NBA-related obligations. \u201cAlbert does all the work; I take all the credit.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Summer League events had already been running in Boston, Utah, Orlando and Long Beach, Calif ornia, when LeGarie and Hall proposed the Vegas concept in 2004, vowing to put on a better spectacle than their peers across the country.<\/p>\n
Boston\u2019s event ran into a big hurdle the year prior, when a rookie LeBron James was entering the league. Event planners didn\u2019t secure hotel rooms far enough in advance and were out of options after the Democratic National Convention booked every vacant hotel block in the area.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt could always just be done so much better, more professional, more proficient,\u201d Hall said.<\/p>\n
Late NBA Commissioner David Stern greenlit the proposal and the co-founders went to work recruiting NBA teams that would agree to make Vegas an annual stop on their offseason circuit.<\/p>\n
\u201cFirst year I joke, but we had six handshakes, we finally got six teams to do it,\u201d Hall said. \u201cSix handshakes and box of fliers and inflatable people in the stands just to make it look full.\u201d<\/p>\n
The inflatable fans may be an exaggeration, but Hall and LeGarie did lure local kids camps with free tickets to fill the bleachers and present the illusion of a packed arena. Early on, they\u2019d situate the majority of fans on one side of Cox Pavilion \u2013 the smaller, auxiliary gym connected to UNLV\u2019s primary Thomas & Mack Center \u2013 to make their product look better on television.<\/p>\n
The co-founders were able to negotiate a cost-friendly deal for the venue because of a pre-existing relationship with late musical agent Chip Hooper, who represented Dave Matthews Band, Coldplay, The Black Eyed Peas and others. One of Hooper\u2019s clients, American rock band Phish, sold out a concert at UNLV and arena officials were looking to get two more dates on the calendar. Hooper obliged, but only if they\u2019d include the inaugural Summer League into the package.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe got Cox Pavilion in the deal,\u201d Hall said.<\/p>\n
To avoid a crisis similar to the one Boston experienced the year prior, Hall made sure he had lodging secured for each of the visiting teams. He drove to the popular New York-New York Hotel Casino on the Vegas Strip with an outside-the-box idea that included a literal shoe box and size 21 sneaker.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re trying to get our foot in the door,\u201d Hall said, presenting the shoe box before delivering his proposal.<\/p>\n
The co-founders added six more teams to reach 12 the next year, followed by 18, then 24 and finally all 30. As interest in the product heightened, Hall and LeGarie launched a website, watching their internet servers crash as thousands of fans raced to find box scores.<\/p>\n
In LeGarie\u2019s mind, the game-changing moment for Vegas Summer League arrived in 2008. Turner Sports had reached an agreement to control NBA TV properties and said it wouldn\u2019t broadcast Summer League, potentially halting all of the momentum and buzz LeGarie and Hall manufactured the previous four years.<\/p>\n
Hall\u2019s solution was to create a pay-per-view service. Costs on the front end would be hefty, but LeGarie agreed it was a risk the partners needed to take for their product to have any longevity.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can\u2019t be dark, not in this situation,\u201d LeGarie said. \u201cWe\u2019ll live in a bubble here and we\u2019ll kill whatever momentum and we\u2019ll be seen as a minor, minor league.\u201d<\/p>\n
As Summer League games started tipping off in 2008, Hall and LeGarie still wondered if it was a brilliant maneuver or brutal mistake. Nervously, they posted up next to computers tracking pay-per-view purchases in real time.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re standing next to each other and there\u2019s nothing more beautiful than the sound of pay-per-view when people are buying it,\u201d LeGarie said. \u201cIt starts off with one ding\u2026ding, ding\u2026ding, ding, ding, ding\u2026ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. Albert and I were looking at each other and I didn\u2019t put a tongue down his throat, but I almost did and a big kiss. In that moment, we realized we\u2019re not a \u2018why\u2019 league, we\u2019re a \u2018why not\u2019 league.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2022 \u2022 \u2022<\/p>\n
With simultaneous games taking place at Thomas & Mack Center and Cox Pavilion earlier this month, Hall reflected on 23 years of growth and transformation at Summer League from a couch inside a large conference room at UNLV. Hours later, Silver would give his annual state-of-the-NBA address from a podium 50 feet away, addressing expansion topics that could impact two of the cities that have influenced Hall\u2019s life in a profound way.<\/p>\n
A lifelong fan and former Sonics employee, Hall is confident Seattle has the infrastructure and loyalty to support another NBA franchise. After returning to the Emerald City, he and Karl partnered to launch the Friends of Hoop AAU program. Dozens of prominent NBA and college standouts came up through the grassroots organization, including Jamal Crawford, Nate Robinson, Isaiah Thomas, Zach LaVine and former Gonzaga wing Corey Kispert.<\/p>\n
\u201cSeattle, it ebbs and flows. There\u2019s no doubt,\u201d Hall said. \u201cIt goes through its period of correctness and all that stuff and then it\u2019s like hey, what are we doing with this? Then it seems to correct itself and now I think it\u2019s in another one of those states. I think the city\u2019s really ready for it. There\u2019s just a lot of proud fans, it\u2019s just a great basketball city.\u201d<\/p>\n
The NBA is also focused on Vegas as a potential expansion site \u2013 something that could bring even more eyeballs, attention and opportunities to Summer League.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s got to be a new venue built at some point,\u201d Hall said. \u201cWhat\u2019s that footprint look like, does it incorporate Summer League? Those are the things we\u2019re vetting through and obviously Adam\u2019s been our guiding light the whole time, he\u2019s supported everything we\u2019ve done.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hall juggles a handful of ventures outside of Summer League. A Southern California resident, he helped UC Irvine design its baseball stadium and also co-operates an arcade, Balboa Fun Zone, in Newport Beach.<\/p>\n
Another passion? Looking out for and helping his alma mater in any way possible.<\/p>\n
Hall owns an RV pass and gets back to Pullman once or twice every fall to catch the football team. Eventually, he hopes to work with the school on Beasley Coliseum renovations. A few years ago, Hall stumbled into new WSU basketball coach David Riley during a pregame football tailgate and encouraged Riley\u2019s coaching staff to travel to Vegas for Summer League.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s transformed into much more than that. Each of the last two years, a group of WSU fans have joined Riley and his staff in Vegas for a one-of-a-kind experience that helps support the program\u2019s NIL (Name Image Likeness) and revenue sharing. Fans donate $2,500 to WSU to secure a spot on the three-day trip and Hall, who has dozens of connections throughout Vegas, covers Summer League tickets, hotel rooms, dinners and other experiences.<\/p>\n
Among other unique opportunities, the group that traveled this year had a chance to meet former WSU player Coward after a Memphis Grizzlies Summer League practice at Resorts World.<\/p>\n
Recounting his first conversation with Riley, Hall remembered the WSU coach sharing his admiration for D\u2019Antoni, who pioneered the vaunted seven-seconds-or-less offense. During a Summer League game earlier this month, Hall convinced a guest to visit the suite where Riley and the WSU contingent were sitting.<\/p>\n
\u201cI brought (D\u2019Antoni) up to the suite \u2026 David was like dude I\u2019ve read his book, that\u2019s my guy,\u201d Hall said. \u201cThen later I walk him up and we got a couple minutes with Kevin Garnett, so he and KG are talking hoops because KG and I are partners on their film festival.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hall didn\u2019t have much time to decompress when Summer League finished July 19. His company, HallPass Media, partners with Jalen Brunson\u2019s charity, Second Round Foundation. The NBA champion New York Knicks guard is hosting his fourth-annual golf tournament on Aug. 10 in Westchester, New York. As of this month, 288 golfers and 800 dinner guests were confirmed, according to Hall.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis year it\u2019s going to be bananas,\u201d Hall said. \u201cThe (New York City) mayor (Zohran Mamdani) hit us. It\u2019s big time. We get everybody from Mariska (Hargitay) and Edie Falco and Spike Lee. We\u2019re trying to get (Timothee) Chalamet and (Ben) Stiller and all those guys.\u201d<\/p>\n
After the golf tournament, Hall has one more obligation before a break in the summer schedule. His daughter is leaving for college. Hall gave his best sales pitch for WSU, but it was the perhaps the one deal he couldn\u2019t close.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe liked Washington State, got in there,\u201d Hall said, \u201cbut Baylor was her number one.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LAS VEGAS \u2013 Albert Hall\u2019s daily schedule at NBA Summer League is busy enough, and that\u2019s before you…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":826788,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[49,48,459,82],"class_list":["post-826787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/826787","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=826787"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/826787\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/826788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=826787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=826787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=826787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}