T-Mobile Arena

Coordinates: 36°06′10″N 115°10′42″W / 36.10278°N 115.17833°W / 36.10278; -115.17833

T-Mobile Arena
The Fortress
Exterior of the arena
Former names Las Vegas Arena (planning/construction)
Address 3780 South Las Vegas Boulevard
Location Paradise, Nevada
Public transit Las Vegas Monorail
at MGM Grand
Owner
Operator MGM Resorts International[2]
Capacity Overall: 20,000
Basketball: 18,000
Boxing/MMA: 20,000
Ice hockey: 17,500
Concerts: 12,000–20,000[3]
Acreage 16 acres
Construction
Broke ground May 1, 2014 (2014-05-01)
Opened April 6, 2016 (2016-04-06)
Construction cost $375 million
Architect Populous
Project manager ICON Venue Group
Structural engineer Thornton Tomasetti
Services engineer ME Engineers
General contractor Penta Building Group
Hunt Construction Group
Tenants
Vegas Golden Knights (NHL) (2017–present)
Ultimate Fighting Championship (2016–present)
Website
t-mobilearena.com

T-Mobile Arena is a multi-purpose indoor arena on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. Opened on April 6, 2016, the arena was built as a joint venture between MGM Resorts International and the Anschutz Entertainment Group.

The arena is the home venue for the National Hockey League's Vegas Golden Knights, who began play in 2017. Aside from the Golden Knights, T-Mobile Arena has primarily been used for entertainment events such as concerts, and has been booked for mixed martial arts and professional boxing events, and well as other annual sporting events.

The arena is accessed by a new development project known as The Park, with retail and dining space between New York-New York and the Park MGM casino hotels.[4][5][6]

History

The Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) first tried to build an arena in Las Vegas in association with Harrah's Entertainment. In 2007, the joint venture announced they would build a 20,000 seat stadium behind the Bally's and Paris casino-hotels.[7] Caesars Entertainment, Inc. had previously envisioned using the location to build a baseball park, but the company's buyout by Harrah's cancelled the plans. Through the following year, Harrah's became uncertain on continuing with the project, not knowing if AEG would split the costs, and whether building a major league-ready stadium without a guaranteed franchise to play on it would be feasible given the enduring financial crisis.[8] The original plans were to break ground in June 2008 and finish the arena in 2010, but by 2009, it was revealed the stalled project had not even done a traffic study despite being located near a busy intersection.[9] In 2010, the plans were changed to use an area behind the Imperial Palace. However, given the financing would require a special taxation district, opposition from Clark County regarding using public money in the project stalled it even further.[10] AEG eventually backed out completely by 2012, once MGM Resorts International came up with their own project using a terrain behind the New York-New York and Monte Carlo resorts. This attracted AEG primarily for not relying on public funding.[11]

MGM and AEG announced their joint arena plan on March 1, 2013.[12] Plans were further fleshed out over the following months with the announcement of a $100-million pedestrian shopping area, The Park, to serve as a gateway to the arena,[13] and the retention of prominent sports architecture firm Populous to design the project.[14] Other firms on the project include: the ICON Venue Group,[15] Thornton Tomasetti,[16] ME Engineers,[17] Penta Building Group and Hunt Construction Group.[18]

The project broke ground on May 1, 2014,[19] followed by the demolition of existing buildings, and excavation of an oval area for the arena. The final steel beam of the structure was placed on May 27, 2015.[20]

In January 2016, T-Mobile US announced it had acquired the naming rights to the new arena in a multi-year contract.[21][22] The arena held its grand opening on April 6, 2016 with a concert by Las Vegas natives The Killers, Shamir and Wayne Newton.[23] Country music artists Martina McBride and Cam performed at a soft opening on March 31, 2016.[24]

In 2016, the National Hockey League awarded a Las Vegas expansion team to an ownership group led by Bill Foley, with T-Mobile Arena as its home venue.[25] As part of the team's lease, Foley negotiated an option to buy a stake in the arena from MGM and AEG.[1] He exercised that option in September 2016, buying a 15 percent interest for around $35 million.[1][26]

Tenants

During its construction, T-Mobile Arena was pointed to as the home arena for a possible National Hockey League expansion team in Las Vegas.[27][28][29] The expansion bid was approved and announced by the NHL on June 22, 2016; the new team, the Vegas Golden Knights, began play in the 2017–18 season.[25][30]

The Ultimate Fighting Championship's first event at the venue was UFC 200, held on July 9, 2016.[31] In March 2017, the UFC signed a seven-year agreement to become an official tenant of T-Mobile Arena. The promotion agreed to host at least four events per-year at the facility, in exchange for receiving permanent retail space and signage.[32]

The Professional Bull Riders World Finals moved to T-Mobile Arena in 2016, moving from the Thomas & Mack Center,[33] followed by the Pac-12 Conference Men's Basketball Tournament, which moved from the MGM Grand Garden Arena.[34]

The UNLV basketball team plays at least one game each season at T-Mobile Arena. One game against Duke was played in December 2016 and two games were played in November 2017, against Rice and Utah. In December 2018, UNLV will face BYU.

Notable events

In addition to Golden Knights games and UFC events, a number of major sporting events have been held at the arena, including boxing matches such as Canelo Álvarez vs. Gennady Golovkin and Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Conor McGregor. By virtue of the Golden Knights winning the 2017-18 Western Conference finals, it also played host to three games of the 2018 Stanley Cup Finals, between the Golden Knights and the Washington Capitals.

The arena has hosted nationally televised entertainment events such as the Academy of Country Music Awards, the Billboard Music Awards, the iHeartRadio Music Festival, the Latin Grammys, the Miss USA beauty pageant, and WWE professional wrestling events.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Kaplan, Daniel (October 3, 2016). "NHL's Vegas owner buys share of arena". Sports Business Journal. Retrieved June 5, 2018.
  2. 1 2 Form 10-K: Annual Report (Report). MGM Resorts International. March 1, 2018. p. 72 – via EDGAR.
  3. ↑ "Quick Facts". T-Mobile Arena. Retrieved July 6, 2016.
  4. ↑ Ritter, Ken (June 18, 2013). "AEG, MGM to Develop 20,000 Seat Las Vegas Strip Arena". The Denver Post. Digital First Media. Retrieved June 18, 2013.
  5. ↑ "Las Vegas Getting 20K-Seat Arena". Fox Sports. Fox Sports Digital Media. June 18, 2013. Retrieved June 18, 2013.
  6. ↑ Collison, Kevin (June 18, 2013). "KC-Based Firm Populous to Design New Arena in Las Vegas". The Kansas City Star. Retrieved June 18, 2013.
  7. ↑ ESPN – Vegas, baby? Arena envisioned to draw pro team to city – ESPN
  8. ↑ Benston, Liz (September 27, 2008). "Harrah's still wants arena, but how much will it pay?". Las Vegas Sun. Retrieved 2010-09-05.
  9. ↑ "Insiders Tight Lipped on Las Vegas Arena". 8NewsNow.com. Nexstar Media Group. January 20, 2009. Archived from the original on April 14, 2015. Retrieved April 7, 2015.
  10. ↑ Las Vegas foundation drops arena effort
  11. ↑ "MGM & AEG Building a 20,000-Seat Arena on the Las Vegas Strip". Billboard. Associated Press. June 19, 2013. Retrieved April 7, 2015.
  12. ↑ "MGM Resorts announces plan for 20,000-seat arena". Las Vegas Sun. March 1, 2013. Retrieved January 21, 2015.
  13. ↑ Stutz, Howard (April 18, 2013). "MGM has grand plans with trendy plaza, sports arena". Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved January 21, 2015.
  14. ↑ Snel, Alan (June 18, 2013). "World-famed architect announced for MGM arena". Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved January 21, 2015.
  15. ↑ Snel, Alan (November 5, 2013). "AEG, MGM Resorts International Offer First Look at Arena on Las Vegas Strip". Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved May 8, 2014.
  16. ↑ Jones, Jenny (February 18, 2014). "New Arena Design Reflects Las Vegas's Milieu". Civil Engineering. Archived from the original on May 8, 2014. Retrieved May 8, 2014.
  17. ↑ "Designing a Winning Sports Venue". Consulting-Specifying Engineer. April 27, 2014. Retrieved November 22, 2014.
  18. ↑ Robison, Jennifer (December 22, 2013). "Las Vegas Construction Poised to Prosper in 2014". Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved May 8, 2014.
  19. ↑ Snel, Alan (May 1, 2014). "Shovels in the Ground, Confetti in the Air as MGM/AEG Arena Construction Begins". Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved May 8, 2014.
  20. ↑ Snel, Alan (May 27, 2015). "Construction workers install final beam at MGM arena". Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved July 8, 2015.
  21. ↑ "Introducing T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas". T-Mobile US. January 7, 2016. Retrieved May 25, 2016.
  22. ↑ Snel, Alan (January 7, 2016). "T-Mobile buys naming rights to new Las Vegas arena". Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
  23. ↑ Casper, Ashley (April 1, 2016). "What others are saying about T-Mobile Arena". Las Vegas Review-Journal. News + Media Capital Group LLC. Retrieved April 2, 2016.
  24. ↑ "Martina McBride plays private concert at T-Mobile Arena stress test". Las Vegas Review-Journal. April 1, 2016. Retrieved April 1, 2016.
  25. 1 2 Carp, Steve (June 22, 2016). "Las Vegas awarded NHL expansion team". Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved June 22, 2016.
  26. ↑ Form 10-K: Annual Report (Report). MGM Resorts International. March 1, 2018. p. 82 – via EDGAR.
  27. ↑ "NHL says no credibility to report of Las Vegas expansion team". Las Vegas Sun. August 27, 2014. Retrieved August 28, 2014.
  28. ↑ "NHL denies expansion report, including a second team in Toronto". Toronto Star. August 27, 2014. Retrieved August 28, 2014.
  29. ↑ "Gallagher: Bettman has changed his tune on NHL expansion". The Province. Retrieved August 28, 2014.
  30. ↑ Rosen, Dan (June 22, 2016). "Las Vegas awarded NHL franchise". National Hockey League. Retrieved June 22, 2016.
  31. ↑ Dave Doyle (2015-09-04). "UFC 200 set for July 9, 2016 at new Las Vegas Arena". mmafighting.com. Retrieved 2015-09-04.
  32. ↑ Hill, Adam (March 3, 2017). "UFC to be an anchor tenant at T-Mobile Arena". Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved October 8, 2017.
  33. ↑ "PBR moves Built Ford Tough Series World Finals to new Las Vegas Arena in 2016". Las Vegas Sun. Retrieved 24 June 2016.
  34. ↑ "Pac-12 Tournament will move to larger Las Vegas arena in 2017". Deseret News. Retrieved 24 June 2016.
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