An arena proposed last week for Las Vegas could become a showcase for boxing and UFC events while booking a heavy dose of concerts, according to project consultant Tim Leiweke.
Las Vegas Sands Corp., Azoff MSG Entertainment, Live Nation and Lewieke’s Oak View Group announced plans Wednesday to privately build a 17,500-seat arena on vacant land a few blocks off the Vegas Strip. Construction costs have not been disclosed and there is no specific timeline for when the project would break ground, officials said.
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UFC bouts, like this one at the MGM Grand Garden in April, are among the targeted events for the planned arena.
Photo by: GETTY IMAGES
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The arena developers are targeting a music-specific venue similar to the Forum in Los Angeles, a building where Azoff MSG Entertainment and Oak View Group have a vested interest. MSG owns and operates the Forum, and Oak View Group is responsible for selling its premium seats.
For the Vegas venue, concerts would dominate programming, but boxing and UFC should have their place at the facility due to the longtime relationships the Leiweke family has with Bob Arum, founder and CEO of Top Rank, a leading fight promoter whose headquarters are in Las Vegas.
In addition, the arena’s setup for concerts is more conducive than that of newly opened T-Mobile Arena for boxing with a much tighter and intimate seating bowl, freed of the constrictions of hockey and basketball layouts, Leiweke said.
“There will be sports there, but it’s not going to be like T-Mobile Arena, which was built for hockey,” he said. “For our project, you’re going to see a building and a bowl where it’s more stacked and wrapped. The concept is, instead of a traditional hockey arena where you do concerts and everyone is pushed away due to the enormous space that you have to take up for the rink … this one is built specifically for an event like music, to wrap the fans around the artist and the stage, so it creates a unique environment.”
The design concept also “lends itself well” for center-ring fight productions, Leiweke said.
Top Rank is a likely candidate to promote boxing events at the arena because of Arum’s strong relationship with Sheldon Adelson, who is chairman, founder and CEO of the Sands. Separately, Top Rank booked multiple bouts at Staples Center during Leiweke’s tenure as AEG’s president and CEO.
Most recently, Top Rank and the Sands have done business together in Asia at an arena tied to the Venetian Macao casino complex.
Arum is familiar with the Sands-Azoff MSG project and has had initial discussions about promoting fights at the new Vegas arena, but no deals have been done, Leiweke said.
“I have a long history with Bob and he knows my brother [Tod] very well,” he said. “In turn, he knows about our commitment to quality and intimacy in this building, so I think that’s probably a good marriage there. … It allows us to rekindle some of those old relationships and partnerships.”
Top Rank President Todd DuBoef said last week he didn’t know enough details about the arena development to comment specifically on potential opportunities at the new arena.
“We love to bring events to Las Vegas,” DuBoef said. “I’ve heard it being kicked around and know they’re trying to emulate the Forum model with primarily a music setting. MSG builds a great product and we’ll see how it plays out.”
Apart from the arena project, Oak View Group is also consulting for the Sands in its effort to build a new NFL stadium for the Oakland Raiders. Big picture, the two projects represent a much bigger play in Vegas considering the connections with the casino and MSG Azoff Entertainment.
“The Sands is very involved in the NFL stadium and is our partner on the arena, and when you add those two up, it gives them a huge opportunity to be very active in the live entertainment space in Vegas, which previously they weren’t that active in,” Leiweke said. “They’re going to be a major player and those two facilities are going to be two of the nicest for music and big events in the world, and suddenly, Las Vegas changes dramatically overnight.”
