With the new norm in Las Vegas being a move toward a more events-based economy, the city is poised to set its all-time record for venue seating and eventually top 300,000 in the near future.
MGM Resorts International and AEG Worldwide in April opened the 20,000-seat T-Mobile Arena, which easily should surpass MGM’s initial goal of at hosting at least 200 events per year. MGM also is working on a 5,000-seat theater at the nearby Monte Carlo Casino, which is slated for a rebranding later this summer.
The addition of those 25,000 venue seats to the 226,884 reported by the LVCVA last year pushes Clark County’s total venue seating to a record 251,884, barring any unexpected venue closings or other changes.
If some of Las Vegas’ most influential residents and UNLV officials have their way, another 65,000 seats will be added within a couple years through the construction of a proposed $1.4 billion domed stadium. That would push total seating to nearly 317,000 in Clark County entertainment venues, the vast majority of them in Las Vegas.
The stadium would be built on a vacant, 42-acre lot the university bought from Wells Fargo Bank for $50 million last year. The parcel is part of the UNLV campus and is located west of the university on the north side of Tropicana Avenue and across from McCarran airport.
The university wants its football team to play in a new stadium located f built, and NFL Oakland Raiders owner Mark Davis says he’ll move his team to Las Vegas – if 24 NFL team owners okay it and a stadium is built.
Davis has offered to commit $500 million toward its construction, and another $600 million might be raised from the 12 percent room tax collected by the LVCVA, with casino operators possibly chipping in the rest, among early funding proposals.
Even the federal government says it’s okay to build a stadium so close to the airport, so long as the western portion does not contain tall structures that might interfere with a airport runway flight path.
Las Vegas has seen many stadium and arena proposals come and go in recent years, the April opening of T-Mobile Arena and its apparent early success, coupled with genuine support for a new stadium make the latest proposal a strong likelihood.
It likely even would have the backing of Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval, who tasked an ad-hoc committee to look into the tourism infrastructure in Southern Nevada and make recommendations this summer. Likely rank high on the list of potential projects is the new stadium proposal, and funding mechanisms already are in the works.
Prior to the Great Recession, gaming largely drove the Clark County economy, and 2007 set many local records.
The records include 23,847 conventions held, a 94 percent hotel occupancy rate, more than 90 percent overall room occupancy rate, 47.73 million passengers through McCarran International Airport, and nearly $10.87 billion in gaming revenues in 2007, according to the LVCVA. That year, Las Vegas had a total of 224,277 venue seats.
With the new norm in Las Vegas being a move toward a more events-based economy, the city is poised to set its all-time record for venue seating and eventually top 300,000 in the near future.
MGM Resorts International and AEG Worldwide in April opened the 20,000-seat T-Mobile Arena, which easily should surpass MGM’s initial goal of at hosting at least 200 events per year. MGM also is working on a 5,000-seat theater at the nearby Monte Carlo Casino, which is slated for a rebranding later this summer.
The addition of those 25,000 venue seats to the 226,884 reported by the LVCVA last year pushes Clark County’s total venue seating to a record 251,884, barring any unexpected venue closings or other changes.
If some of Las Vegas’ most influential residents and UNLV officials have their way, another 65,000 seats will be added within a couple years through the construction of a proposed $1.4 billion domed stadium. That would push total seating to nearly 317,000 in Clark County entertainment venues, the vast majority of them in Las Vegas.
The stadium would be built on a vacant, 42-acre lot the university bought from Wells Fargo Bank for $50 million last year. The parcel is part of the UNLV campus and is located west of the university on the north side of Tropicana Avenue and across from McCarran airport.
The university wants its football team to play in a new stadium located f built, and NFL Oakland Raiders owner Mark Davis says he’ll move his team to Las Vegas – if 24 NFL team owners okay it and a stadium is built.
Davis has offered to commit $500 million toward its construction, and another $600 million might be raised from the 12 percent room tax collected by the LVCVA, with casino operators possibly chipping in the rest, among early funding proposals.
Even the federal government says it’s okay to build a stadium so close to the airport, so long as the western portion does not contain tall structures that might interfere with a airport runway flight path.
Las Vegas has seen many stadium and arena proposals come and go in recent years, the April opening of T-Mobile Arena and its apparent early success, coupled with genuine support for a new stadium make the latest proposal a strong likelihood.
It likely even would have the backing of Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval, who tasked an ad-hoc committee to look into the tourism infrastructure in Southern Nevada and make recommendations this summer. Likely rank high on the list of potential projects is the new stadium proposal, and funding mechanisms already are in the works.
Prior to the Great Recession, gaming largely drove the Clark County economy, and 2007 set many local records.
The records include 23,847 conventions held, a 94 percent hotel occupancy rate, more than 90 percent overall room occupancy rate, 47.73 million passengers through McCarran International Airport, and nearly $10.87 billion in gaming revenues in 2007, according to the LVCVA. That year, Las Vegas had a total of 224,277 venue seats.
That year, the LVCVA took in $163,809,985 in room taxes, Clark County reported more than $8.9 billion in gaming revenue, and more than 39.75 million passengers passed through McCarran’s airport gates.
The recession forced casino operators to diversify and seek alternative revenue sources that appealed to people whose interests lay elsewhere than gambling. A big part of that diversification has been the addition of performance venues, which draw more visitors looking to spend their money on entertainment, rather than gambling.
The LVCVA tracks total showroom and theater capacity in Clark County going back to 2000, when there were 119,723 available venues seats.
That number dwindled to 114,284 in 2003, although the LVCVA says it only recently started tracking and reporting venue seating, and its early records are incomplete.
Its records show a sudden increase to 208,373 total venue seats in 2004, although no significant venue openings occurred that year to explain the sudden increase. The LVCVA didn’t report seating capacity in 2005, but starting in 2006, it shows a generally upward trend in venue capacity, which peaked at 246,343 seats in 2010.
By 2010, many large developments had been completed along the Las Vegas Strip in recent years, including The Palazzo, Cosmopolitan, City Center, Aria, and Encore at Wynn developments.
As of 2015, the county had 226,884 seats, including 125,772 stadium and arena seats and 101,112 showroom and theater seats, according to the LVCVA.
In 1995, Las Vegas had a total room inventory of 90,046 rooms among its many hotels and motels, according to the LVCVA. Hotels reported an average occupancy rate of 91.4 percent and motels 72.4 percent, for a combined average occupancy rate of 88 percent.
Total room taxes collected in 1995 were $82,135,745, while Clark County reported nearly $5.72 billion in gaming revenue, according to the LVCVA.
Twenty years later, total rooms in 2015 were 149,213, with hotels averaging an 89.8 percent occupancy rate and motels 68.3 percent, for a combined average of 87.7 percent. The LVCVA collected a record $254,438,208 in room taxes, while Clark County reported nearly $9.62 billion in gaming revenue last year.
With a record number of venue seats likely this year, and more than 300,000 possible in the near future, Las Vegas continues diversifying its economic base with more venue seating and events to fill them.
