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The T-Mobile Arena grand opening event in April of 2016 on the Las Vegas Strip.
Al Powers, Powers Imagery
Just over a decade ago, Las Vegas hosting a major professional sports team was doubtful. As the NBA contemplates expanding into the market, MLB plans to begin play there in 2028, the NFL preps its seventh season in the city and the NHL remains a major player ever since dropping the puck in 2017. None of it happens without T-Mobile Arena.
On the 10th anniversary of the venue’s April 6, 2016, opening, the Las Vegas sports landscape has a different hue, even if the magenta of the venue has remained constant since day one.
“We designed the building to be able to do both the NHL and NBA, but they were not the reason we built the building,” Dan Quinn, current T-Mobile Arena senior vice president and 26-year veteran of MGM, tells me. “Should the prospect of a professional team come to fruition, we weren’t going to let the lack of a venue not allow Vegas to secure a team, but it wasn’t the primary driving force.”
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How T-Mobile Arena looks set up for basketball as Las Vegas becomes part of the NBA's expansion discussion.
Al Powers
Privately financed by MGM Resorts International and AEG (Anschutz Entertainment Group), still the owners of a venue located on the south end of the Las Vegas Strip, Quinn says the original goal of the project was building a true modern arena—large enough and with premium seating and state-of-the-art technology—to draw major concerts and entertainment programming. With rumors of both NHL and NBA interest swirling at the time, professional sports offered an enticing future possibility designed into the building.
It wasn’t until construction of T-Mobile Arena was in full swing when the NHL opened Las Vegas as an option, eventually placing the expansion Golden Knights in the city, beginning play in fall 2017. “I think there was some speculation and hesitation of could the market support a professional franchise,” Quinn says. “VGK blew it out. It opened everyone’s eyes that the community can support, and that opposing team’s fans will come to support. Keys for Vegas are the unique ability to sustain a team the community can rally around and be an incredible destination for visiting fans.”
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The early success of the Golden Knights drew attention from other leagues, soon leading to the move of the NFL’s Raiders into the new Allegiant Stadium and the shift of the A’s to Vegas in a new stadium planned for a 2028 opening. With the NBA now officially contemplating expansion into both Las Vegas and Seattle—two of the three cities with the most recent additions of NHL teams—T-Mobile Arena sits poised to take another step forward, even if the final decision on both a team and a home venue rests with the NBA first and then an ownership group.
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A view of T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
T-Mobile Arena
“We built the building to host an NBA team,” Quinn says. “In 2016, we met all the NBA specs. We have all the parts and pieces. There is no reason why an NBA team couldn’t play in our venue. We have done the work and done the little things to maximize the building for potential revenue. We don’t want to give anybody a reason to feel they need to build a new building in this market.”
Along with the flood of professional sports to Las Vegas in the last decade, T-Mobile Arena has also welcomed a bevy of top-flight concerts (Allegiant Stadium can now draw stadium-level concerts, football and soccer events as well), NCAA championships and other events in search of a modern 18,000-seat venue.
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Las Vegas’ radical shift may not have occurred without T-Mobile Arena. And like many other projects before it, the project wasn’t a sure thing. Quinn says that for years the MGM Grand Garden Arena, a 1993-built venue, and the Mandalay Bay Events Center, built in 1999, were two of the most popular arena destinations in the city. Both were successful at drawing boxing and UFC but lacked the hospitality packages and modern amenities needed to lure some of the biggest events in the country, especially professional or top-level college sports.
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Above the Las Vegas Strip, the home of T-Mobile Arena for 10 years.
Al Powers
Also, once relegated to the outskirts of professional sports thanks to the city’s intertwining with sports betting, Quinn believes a shift in attitudes has helped Las Vegas welcome sports. As professional leagues and venues embrace sports betting, sometimes even bringing it right into the seating bowl, leagues have been more willing to admit they gain increased interest in their sport because of the gambling, erasing any stigma Las Vegas once held in the eyes of professional leagues as being Sin City.
Before T-Mobile, a mix of arena pushes started and failed, from the Silver State Arena and Harrah’s Strip Arena to the All Net Arena. The concept that a major arena could be built in Las Vegas was wrought with skepticism. With MGM and AEG on board, the group pushed through the doubt and opened the new venue.
“Vegas, at the time, was ripe to have an A-level professional sports organization,” Quinn says, noting the demand for the community in ticket deposits when the Golden Knights were announced. Since opening, the arena has attracted a range of entertainment, creating special events that opened the door to NCAA championships and professional leagues that made Las Vegas an even more attractive destination for fans. “It was a case of one plus one equals three,” Quinn says.
Over the last 10 years, T-Mobile Arena has continually revitalized with new food and beverage offerings, updated premium seating concepts and refreshed signage and videoboards. Quinn says these touch-ups and tweaks combine to ensure the building doesn’t become dated. “Ten years feels like it has gone by in a flash, but at the same time has taken forever,” Quinn says, noting how the Las Vegas sports landscape continues to grow, kicked off by the building’s opening 10 years ago. “It is crazy to have the pleasure to host and entertain and play our part to further drive visitors to Las Vegas to have a great experience.”
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This article was originally published on Forbes.com
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