All Charlotteans really need to know about the NBA All-Star Game Effect: It once shut down the sidewalks of the Las Vegas Strip.
That was in 2007, when the league for the first time held the February event in a non-NBA city. As much of a tourist town as Las Vegas is, the tens of thousands who showed up, with or without tickets, to party that weekend overwhelmed Sin City. Traffic - both by vehicle and pedestrian - was in constant gridlock along the paths from casino to casino.
There were about 400 arrests there that weekend.