New arena set to open on the Strip next week
MGM officials say they are ready to host a professional sports team
LAS VEGAS, Nev. — The newest addition to the glittering Las Vegas Strip debuts next week without a slot machine or a blackjack table in sight.
No NHL team, either, but that doesn’t stop MGM officials from believing they will hit the jackpot with a new $375 million arena that sits in the middle of all the best action this gambling town has to offer.
“We’re ready for an NHL team,” said Rick Arpin, senior vice president of entertainment for MGM Resorts International. “But our primary motivation was not for a pro sports team. We built this building to get events we couldn’t do otherwise, and pro sports certainly fits in that.”
The T-Mobile Arena opens next week in a very Vegas way, with the hometown Killers headlining along with, of all people, Wayne Newton as a special guest. Once inside, concert-goers will find amenities no one could have imagined when Mr. Las Vegas opened as a lounge act downtown in 1958, including an 18,000-square-foot nightclub that will offer bottle service, DJs and dazzling views of the Strip.
The opener will be followed quickly by two highly anticipated concerts by a reunited Guns N’ Roses.
A few weeks later, Mexican boxing superstar Canelo Alvarez faces off against Amir Khan in a Cinco de Mayo spectacular. Come summer, the UFC will be taking up residency with one of its big pay-per-view shows in an arena that will seat 20,000 for combat sports.
Arpin says it’s just the start for this arena, sandwiched behind the New YorkNew York and Monte Carlo resorts.
Arpin said the MGM expects to do 100 events a year in the new arena without a hockey team, and 130 if billionaire Bill Foley is successful in convincing the NHL to give Las Vegas its first major league professional franchise. Nearly 14,000 people have already put down season-ticket deposits for a possible team in the arena, which will seat 17,500 for hockey.
Foley is ready to pay $500 million for an expansion team, and the NHL appears interested. The league is considering applications from Las Vegas and Quebec City, though owners have yet to vote on whether to expand. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said at GM meetings last month that a decision would have to be reached by June if the league is to expand for the 2017-18 season.
If a team comes, the arena is ready. There are two locker rooms built exclusively for hockey, and two others built for the NBA, should that league also come calling.
The arena has brought, among other things, George Strait to do a semi-residency of six to eight dates a year, the annual Pac-12 Conference basketball tournament and possibly NCAA postseason play if the organization relaxes its regulations about playing in a gambling city.
Arpin said it’s all about the city continuing to be a bigtime player in entertainment and special events.
“Part of this is evolution, not revolution,” Arpin said. “It’s making sure we stay relevant for years to come. This arena does that, and more.”