Click image for enlargement. Graphic by Mike Johnson.

The Las Vegas Valley needs a new arena to replace Thomas & Mack Center. It will cost $404 million, not including land or infrastructure costs. And it would require at least $11 million in public financing, according to a report paid for by the city and county.

A seven-member task force on Thursday gave tentative approval to a report that needs to be fine-tuned before it's presented to the Clark County Commission and city of Las Vegas.

Left unanswered, though, are many key questions:

• Where should it be located?

• How would it be paid for?

• Should it be home to a professional sports franchise, or focus on events such as concerts or rodeos?

The answers to those questions will be left to the County Commission and City Council, each of which will hear a presentation in December -- and could have different ideas on how to move forward.

Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman has been aggressively advocating for an arena downtown, and his desire for it to include an NBA or NHL franchise. He also said he believes he could do it without tax dollars, though he won't explain how.

Clark County Commissioner Rory Reid has been more measured. He has brought up other needs that the community has, such as a new jail. He also said he wants to see the new arena in the best location possible.

Goodman, Reid and Board of Regents Chairman Bret Whipple announced the task force's formation in April, saying they believed a new arena was needed to keep Las Vegas competitive. The Thomas & Mack Center is 23 years old.

Las Vegas and Clark County each contributed $100,000 to pay for the consultant.

A new wrinkle in the process was brought up on Friday: Would a professional team want to share space with a rodeo, a 10-day event that begins in late November and runs through December.

Bill Rhoda, of consultant Conventions, Sports & Leisure International, said pro teams have been forced to take long road trips in other cities such as San Antonio and Chicago. But the team would have extra incentive to host the rodeo if it operated the venue and could receive revenue from it.

The task force nearly took a position on whether special events should take priority over a professional sports team. Chairman Pat Christenson floated the idea, but was met with silence by the other members of the task force.

"It would be difficult to put both uses in the same building," he said after the meeting.

Christenson said the task force decided to let the facts in the report, prepared by Conventions, Sports & Leisure International, speak for themselves without providing more specific recommendations.

The task force members gave comments and recommended changes to the report during Rhoda's presentation. They reserved the right to meet one more time Wednesday if they want to make further changes.