The 2007 NBA All-Star game is headed to Las Vegas, the first time a city without a franchise has been chosen to host the event.
The festivities will take place just off the Strip, at the Thomas & Mack Center on the University of Nevada-Las Vegas campus.
Commissioner David Stern called it "a merger between the basketball capital of the world and the entertainment capital of the world" during a news conference on Friday while downplaying any concern about linking the image-conscious NBA with Sin City and gambling.
"If I were concerned, I wouldn't be doing it," he said.
Casinos will not take bets on any All-Star events under a ban proposed by the NBA and approved in June by state gambling regulators.
Next year's game will be in Houston, but Stern has said Paris was being considered for 2008.
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