Talk of sports/entertainment venues collides with reality of arena ground breaking

The Thomas &Mack Center staff has heard all the proposals for new arenas in Las Vegas come and go through the years.

But today, mere talk of fancy sports/entertainment venues ends with the reality that MGM Resorts International and its arena partner AEG, the powerful Los Angeles-based entertainment company, are breaking ground behind New York-New York for a $350 million, 20,000-seat arena to open in two years.

That means Thomas &Mack — a key money-maker for the University of Nevada, Las Vegas — will face stiff new competition only two miles down Tropicana Avenue. The new arena is expected to stage more than 100 events annually, including concerts, sports, award shows, Ultimate Fighting Championship events and boxing matches.

“There are several major venues within two miles right now. We will be doing the same thing we have done for 30 years — find events that fit our facilities and grow them with our partners,” said Mike Newcomb, Thomas &Mack Center executive director. “There is always competition to think about, but we need to keep working hard to find new events.”

Newcomb noted that Thomas &Mack revenues help fund the UNLV athletic department.

UFC expects to stage five or six MMA fight shows annually at the new MGM-AEG arena, said Jackie Poriadjian, UFC senior vice president for strategic marketing, public relations and distribution.

“You’re always concerned about revenue. At the same time, it’s people making business decisions,” said Kevin Page, chairman of the Nevada Board of Regents, which oversees the state’s university system, including UNLV.

“We have to continue what we’re doing at the Thomas &Mack Center,” Page said. “I’m not sure you can really worry about the competition and do what you’re doing. At the end of the day, the reason the Thomas &Mack Center has been so successful it that it has been a neutral site. When you have more competition, it makes it more difficult for everything.”

Thomas &Mack is also more than three decades old, lacking the upscale bells and whistles that the new MGM-AEG arena will offer when it opens in spring 2016 with fancy seating options such as spacious restaurant club areas and suites. Thomas &Mack has suites, but they will appear spartan compared to the offerings at the MGM-AEG venue.

The Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA), which stages the popular National Finals Rodeo at Thomas &Mack every December, and Las Vegas Events, which this year struck a deal with the PRCA to keep the rodeo in Las Vegas, can mutually agree to move the 10-day Super Bowl of rodeo to the new arena on the Strip, said Pat Christenson, Las Vegas Events president.

No decision on that has been made, Christenson said Wednesday.

An AEG official said in an interview months ago that potential programming at the new MGM-AEG arena could include the Professional Bull Riding event, which is currently held at Thomas &Mack.

University officials have maintained that non-MGM hotel properties would likely not appreciate the NFR moving to the MGM arena in light of the fact that the popular rodeo event is held at a neutral site, which is Thomas &Mack.

Regent Cedric Crear, who also sits on an 11-member UNLV board studying an on-campus, 50,000-seat stadium, said he hopes MGM-AEG will not poach events currently staged at the Thomas &Mack.

“If they’re poaching events, that would not be in the best interest of UNLV,” Crear said. “If the NFR did leave Thomas &Mack, that would be a big hole to fill in the first two weeks in December.”

MGM spokeswoman Jenn Michaels said the new arena on the Strip is designed to draw new events to Las Vegas and not take existing events from Thomas &Mack.

“We fully support UNLV in its existing ventures, and are also supportive of UNLV adding an on-campus football stadium. We do not expect this new arena will compete directly with Thomas and Mack, as we currently do not compete with Thomas and Mack for many events. Our focus is primarily on bringing new events to Las Vegas,” Michaels said in an email Wednesday.

“This gives the entire community an opportunity to enhance our existing offerings and attract new options for events and concerts. It is too soon to discuss specific events, however. MGM continues to support an on-campus stadium for UNLV that is responsibly financed and appropriately programmed to bring new events to Las Vegas,” Michaels wrote.

In some ways, university officials have pointed out, Thomas &Mack already faces competition from MGM’s current stable of Strip arenas such as the Mandalay Bay Events Center and MGM Grand Garden arena.

“All our events are vulnerable to all the many venues in Las Vegas, from the three major existing arenas and all hotel properties. If an event were to leave, as many have done in the past, we will just have to work that much harder to find new events,” Newcomb said.

While Thomas &Mack might lack the glamour of the new MGM-AEG arena, the UNLV venue is getting a $47 million face-lift and overall rehab.

The improvements include replacing air handlers and water boilers; installing new lower bowl seats; adding 10 percent more concessions spots and two more escalators; replacing the main concourse tiles; and creating more space for more women’s bathrooms.

Contact reporter Alan Snel at asnel@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5273. Follow @BicycleManSnel on Twitter.