Rocker Vince Neil plans on helping marketing Las Vegas Outlaws

A construction worker at the Thomas & Mack Center saw Mötley Crüe front man and Arena Football League team co-owner Vince Neil strolling the arena concourse and shared a quick thought with the rocker this week.

“Thanks for bringing back football to the arena,” the worker told Neil, a part-owner of the new Las Vegas Outlaws.

Neil and his Outlaws partners, as well as Thomas & Mack’s operators, hope those sentiments translate into ticket sales for Outlaws games. The first-year franchise is the third arena football team to play in Las Vegas, with its first home game on March 30. The Sting and Gladiators were the past arena teams in Las Vegas, with the Gladiators last playing at Thomas & Mack in 2006. The Gladiators play in Cleveland.

But this time, the team’s public face will be the well-known 54-year-old rocker who lives in Las Vegas when not on Mötley Crüe’s worldwide Final Tour and plans on helping market the new Arena Football club.

“This is my team. I want it to be as successful as possible,” Neil said. “I don’t want to be an absentee owner. I want to say ‘Hi’ to the players. It’s good for morale.”

Neil, who was a minority owner in the league’s Jacksonville Sharks team in 2014, will be the face of the Outlaws’ marketing material.

In fact, a life-size cardboard cutout of Neil is being fashioned this week, and will be placed at team sponsor locations such as La Bonita markets where Outlaws tickets can be purchased. He also will play private concerts for season ticket holders and play with his own band at games. A digital billboard on U.S. Highway 95 shows Neil holding a football to promote the Outlaws.

And Neil said he will use his entertainment contacts, such as magician Criss Angel, to make appearances at games to help drive ticket sales. “He could do the coin toss and then disappear,” he quipped.

Neil said he owns a 20 percent stake in the franchise, which got off to a slow start because team owners learned the home schedule only two months ago. Other owners with stakes in the Outlaws are Sohrob Farudi, Bob Hewko, Chris Salamone and Britt Amsler.

The owners paid a $3 million franchise fee to the Arena Football League and startup costs ran into the millions of dollars for items such as a playing field and goal posts, Neil said.

Sponsorship deals with Dollar Loan Center, Univision and La Bonita supermarkets along with ticket sales are seen as revenue generators.

Neil was hoping for a black playing surface with gold lines to match Outlaws team colors. But he noted that ESPN, which, along with CBS, will broadcast Arena Football League games had nixed the idea.

Neil, now a grandfather of two, wants games to be attractions for families. Single-game tickets cost $18 for balcony to $198 for front row, with season tickets for nine home games ranging from $126 to $1,277.

Jen Wenk, a team public relations representative, said capacity at Thomas &Mack for Outlaws games will be 7,000, but additional seating can be opened to handle a bigger crowd. She said about 2,000 season tickets have been sold.

The arena, which hosts everything from UNLV basketball games to the National Finals Rodeo to concerts, can hold more than 19,000 fans. A poster in the arena shows Neil’s Mötley Crüe playing at Thomas & Mack about 30 years ago.

“This is a sport for kids, a family sport. There’s lots of entertainment options in Las Vegas, but not a lot to take kids to, especially at night,” Neil said.

The arena’s operators at University of Nevada, Las Vegas will be working with the Outlaws to promote the games.

“If the Outlaws do well, we do well,” said Rachel Henry, Thomas & Mack Center’s marketing director.

Neil expects an instant rivalry with the Los Angeles Kiss, a team with an ownership group that includes rock band Kiss members Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley. Neil said the teams will play each other three times a year, with the club emerging with two wins drawing a special trophy. Neil said he has been talking with Stanley about their arena teams.

In a press release outlining its Arena Football League broadcast schedule, CBS Sports Network said it will televise the Kiss-Outlaws game in Las Vegas on May 4, describing the matchup as a “Rock Star Rivalry.”

Neil won’t predict an Arena Football League championship, but noted, “We have a good shot at the playoffs.”

Wenk said the March 30 game will air live on CBS Sports Network, online on ESPN3, and broadcast live on ESPN radio in Las Vegas.

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