Tribal leader talks Golden Knights, $2B in funding for Strip project

Last fall, the head of a tribal nation with land holdings on the Las Vegas Strip unveiled big news.

The Golden Knights were “talking about moving” from T-Mobile Arena and “want to discuss moving to what we build,” said Mark Fox, chairman of the Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation, according to meeting minutes from the North Dakota tribal government.

But the hockey team, whose arena is about a mile from the tribes’ property, has no plans to leave its current home.

The Knights told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that they have a long-term lease and a financial partnership in T-Mobile Arena’s ownership group, “and we’re not pursuing any alternatives to that.”

Knights owner Bill Foley also has outlined plans to spend about $300 million to improve T-Mobile, saying the hockey team needs a better arena.

“That’s kind of what we’re working on right now,” he told Vegas PBS, in an episode that aired the month after Fox spoke to the tribes’ governing body about the team.

The Three Affiliated Tribes — also known as Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation, or MHA Nation — bought 23 acres along the south Strip for $115 million in recent years without concrete plans for the sites or public votes on most of the spending.

But lately, tribal leaders have unveiled more details of their vision for the land across from the Luxor, with talk of pro sports, $2 billion in outside funding, and plans for a casino-resort.

Fox, who bought an upscale house in Las Vegas after he assembled the land, said in a statement that his group has “reached out to a dozen or more entities to build good working relationships with our neighbors, including the Golden Knights.”

His comments about the NHL team were “meant to convey the message that they were interested in our project, as are most of our neighbors. But it was never my intention to suggest that we are pursuing a business relationship with them. We are keeping all of our options open.”

He also said the tribal nation will introduce its project to the media once it has finalized its plans and submitted them to local government agencies for required approvals.

Project description

In 2019, the year before MHA Nation started buying real estate in Las Vegas, a member of its tribal council outlined billions of dollars in spending needs to Congress that ranged from health care and housing to road construction and law enforcement.

Fox’s administration has faced criticism back home for spending big along the Strip. At a protest in North Dakota in 2023, a woman held a sign that declared, “No more off reservation spending!!” and “Build our future here!!” Another sign, propped up against a man in a cowboy hat with stars on his boots, declared: “No Lost Vegas misspending of the people’s money!”

Fox, who was first elected chairman in 2014 and is serving his third term, has cited the economic opportunities that come with owning land in America’s casino capital. He previously said the tribes’ options include developing a resort or flipping the land to new owners.

He also said tribal leadership makes investments to generate returns, helping them finance new facilities and services.

Clark County records show plans for a hotel-casino with a convention center and theater on the tribes’ property. The records provide a general project description but do not include renderings or more details about the envisioned features.

The plans, dated Feb. 19, are an application pre-review, county records show.

This lets county officials look through an application before it is submitted to make sure it is complete and accurate, said county spokeswoman Stephanie Wheatley.

‘Expecting to see something pretty significant’

County Commissioner Jim Gibson, whose district includes the tribes’ land, said he’s impressed with what he’s been told about the landowners’ vision, but he noted the details will be revealed when they file a project application with the county.

Until that point, he said, it’s just “hope and wish and that kind of thing.”

Still, Gibson said that he has found the tribal nation to be credible and businesslike and that he has no reason to doubt them.

“I’m expecting to see something pretty significant,” he said.

Commission Chairman Tick Segerblom said he is scheduled to meet soon with the tribal nation. He said he has heard they are planning to develop a major hotel-casino but that he didn’t know any details yet.

Architecture firm Steelman Partners, known for its work on casino-resorts in Las Vegas and elsewhere, is involved with MHA Nation’s plans, county records show.

Founder Paul Steelman confirmed that his company has been working on the project for a little over a year but said he can’t provide details about it.

‘It looks really good’

Fox spoke at length about the venture in Las Vegas during a Nov. 7 meeting of the tribal nation’s governing body, the Tribal Business Council.

He talked about the Knights, outlined plans to build a 15,000- to 20,000-seat event center, and said he will travel to meet with investors, with the goal of raising about $2 billion in “equity partnerships,” according to meeting minutes posted on MHA Nation’s website.

Fox stated the tribal nation “does not have to put any more money into it” because it owns the land, the minutes say.

He also said that he wanted the tribal council to visit Las Vegas to see revised architectural drawings for the site, and that they were “putting in for permits to start construction because that process takes a long time,” meeting minutes say.

“They are going forward with it even though they are unsure of how the components will be but it looks really good,” the minutes state.

At the same meeting, Fox also said the financial backers of “the new NBA expansion team in Las Vegas” wanted to meet with MHA Nation because they need a site, and that the governor of Nevada and the County Commission are both “very supportive,” the minutes say.

Fox signed a certification of the meeting minutes.

Audio recordings of tribal council hearings are not currently publicly available, MHA records manager Michael Stevens previously told the Review-Journal.

The NBA has not announced expansion plans for Las Vegas, but multiple groups have expressed interest in bringing a team here.

Gov. Joe Lombardo met with Fox last August and is “supportive of their plans and welcomes new investment in Las Vegas,” said Elizabeth Ray, spokeswoman for the governor’s office.

Buying up land

MHA Nation, which operates the 4 Bears Casino on the tribes’ oil-rich reservation, entered Las Vegas in 2020 with its $12 million purchase of an 8.7-acre dirt lot through a bankruptcy case. At the time, Fox said that he had been eyeing activity in Las Vegas for years.

In 2022, the tribal government bought 13.3 acres of the neighboring former Route 91 Harvest festival site — scene of the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history — for nearly $93 million from casino giant MGM Resorts International.

Tribal leaders said they wholeheartedly supported a proposed memorial site for the Oct. 1, 2017, attack, slated for two acres set aside by MGM.

MHA Nation then bought the long-shuttered White Sands Motel site — a narrow, 1.1-acre plot surrounded on three sides by the former Route 91 property — for more than $10 million in spring 2023 through a probate case.

Fox then purchased a two-story home in Las Vegas’ Summerlin community for $843,000 in fall 2023, property records show.

Making money in Las Vegas

MHA Nation has found ways to make money from its land along the Strip. In early 2021, the tribal council approved allowing “American Ninja Warrior” to use its land for 30 days to film the show, at a price of $100,020.

This past holiday season, “Christmas on the Strip” was held on the former Route 91 site, the first public event there since a gunman opened fire on an outdoor concert more than seven years ago, killing 60 people and injuring hundreds more.

“Christmas on the Strip” had light displays, music, ice skating and live entertainment. It also featured a memorial to victims of the shooting, and the organizers said they would donate a percentage of the proceeds to help fund a permanent memorial on the site.

Fox told the tribal council at the November meeting that the seasonal attraction was projected to make $300,000 in revenue.

The tribal government also cashed in on the Oct. 9 implosion of the neighboring Tropicana hotel-casino.

MHA Nation leased the former Route 91 site for about two weeks for $10,000 to a demolition firm that had been hired to work on the implosion, county records show.

In a letter to the county, the demo firm said it was holding a private event to watch the implosion and was expecting around 900 people, along with caterers and staff.

Contact Eli Segall at esegall@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0342.