By Pat Christenson, special to LVSportsBiz.com
The Thomas & Mack Center looked more like a garage than an arena when it opened in November of 1983. The $30M in funding for the venue came from a federal slot tax rebate. But that $30M was for 15,000 seats. Somewhere in the design process UNLV increased the capacity to 18,000. However, if they asked someone for the additional funding, they did not get it. Six months from its opening the Board of Regents were awoken to the fact that they did not have enough money to finish the arena.
Consequently, when the Thomas & Mack Center opened, there was no pavement to cover the available 6,000 parking spots. The concession stands and suites were stubbed for electrical and plumbing. That’s it! The concourse looked like a warehouse. There was no event power and no rigging. However, Dennis Finfrock had a plan which the Board of Regents accepted. What choice did they have?
He proposed to manage the facility as an enterprise. Instead of waiting and hoping the state would bail them out, he would generate revenue from events, advertising, and suite sales. He asked me to join him. His challenge was to raise all the money for staff, operations, and completion of the building through event revenue. We were given six months— wait and see “how we do” contracts.
To make matters worse, the first week on the job, Finfrock discovered they had just poured cement on the end court baselines for the last nine rows. Seventy five percent of the events he was counting on would not work if the floor space was only 100 feet. His first move on the job was to go back to the legislature and request $250,000 to have the cement torn out.
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Through the years, the revenue from events stabilized the arena’s operation and it steadily completed the finishes. In 1997, LVE, the PRCA and TMC creatively solved two problems: paying the contestants more and constructing a second tunnel for timed events. The second tunnel allowed the retraction of six rows of seats (Gold Buckle tickets), which added $1 million to the purse.
You all know the rest of the story. At the same time TMC opened, Las Vegas was about to go on a 100,000-room growing spurt. In addition to concerts, family, corporate and motorsports events, the city landed the NFR in 1985. The city now had an arena to lure major special events and TMC used the revenue to operate and finish the arena.
But UNLV was not the only one opening presents each year. Las Vegas filled a gaping hole in its tourist calendar. Since 1987, the NFR has been sold out. Cowboys, cowgirls, stock contractors and PRCA started collecting bigger checks. Store owners began supplementing their year with year-end bonus revenue from Cowboy Christmas.
Today, an estimated half million fans make the December trip to Las Vegas. The NFR Experience is three times the size of the event itself. More than 250,000 visit Cowboy Christmas and many more shop the other four gift shows. More than seventy artists are in town for fans to enjoy. In addition, there are more than 30 viewing parties each night. These aren’t the hotels opening convention space and turning on the TV. It’s live from the arena, announcers and all. No commercials, giveaways, cheap beer, emcees and many hotels now keep the party going with live music afterwards.
There are 7,000 ropers, families, and friends in Vegas for the World Series of Team Roping. And there is All-In Barrel Racing, the Junior World Finals and NFR Breakaway Roping.
The Thomas & Mack Center was not designed to host events. But its transformation has not only served as the foundation for the continual growth of the NFR Experience, but it’s also hosted the FEI World Cup Jumping Finals, the NBA All-Star Game, four conference basketball tournaments annually, the NBA Summer League and USA Basketball’s training center.
The PRCA and Las Vegas have had a fruitful 36-year partnership. But without UNLV taking that big step 38 years ago, there would be no presents under the tree for anyone.
Pat Christenson is president of Las Vegas Events, the non-profit arm of the public Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA). Las Vegas Events is the promoter of the National Finals Rodeo, being held at Thomas & Mack Center from Dec. 2-11. Photo of Pat Christenson: