In Las Vegas, Alan Snel reports the $47M renovation to Thomas & Mack Center "means the National Finals Rodeo will lose about 200 seats and ticket revenue from those lost seats" starting in '15. The 10-day event is "losing seats because the 31-year-old sports and entertainment venue needs to comply with federal Americans with Disabilities Act standards." Thomas & Mack Center Exec Dir Mike Newcomb said that UNLV's renovation work "will not begin until Oct. 1, and the seat removal will not affect ticket sales at this year’s National Finals Rodeo." Newcomb said that the project, which "includes modernizing and expanding bathrooms, overhauling the air and heat systems, adding more concession space and applying a new main concourse floor surface, is in its design phase" (LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL, 6/24).
TIGERS' LAIR: LSU AD Joe Alleva said the school's $80M south end zone addition to Tiger Stadium "is on time" and "should be ready for the home opener." In Baton Rouge, Scott Rabalais notes the project will "take seating capacity of the 90-year-old facility to near 100,000." Alleva said that most of the project is "now enclosed, lessening the chances of a weather delay" (Baton Rouge ADVOCATE, 6/24).
ROOM SERVICE: Int'l Speedway Corp. yesterday announced a deal with Shaner Hotels and Prime Hospitality Group to develop a 145-room, boutique hotel at One Daytona, the mixed-use development planned across the street from Daytona Int'l Speedway. Shaner will be the hotel operator and Prime Hospitality Group will be the developer. They are in talks to have the boutique hotel be part of the Marriott Autograph Collection, a group of boutique hotels worldwide like the Algonquin Hotel in N.Y. and The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. One Daytona is slated to open in '16 (Tripp Mickle, Staff Writer).
