Arena Digest Hosting the Greatest Shows on Earth

In the end, it wasn’t even close: by a margin of 57 against and 43 percent for, Nassau County voters overwhelmingly rejected a bond referendum providing $350 million for a new New York Islanders arena. The vote would have borrowed $400 million for a new arena and a $50-million minor-league ballpark. There certainly was a light turnout for the referendum, ... Read More »

Caesars Entertainment won a huge battle by persuading a state judge that a referendum on raising Strip sales taxes for a new arena is legal, but other factors still may bring the project to a screeching halt. The issue: Caesars and the Arena Initiative Committee want to see the sales tax on the the Strip raised from 8.1 percent to ... Read More »

International Development Management, which had pitched a Silver State Arena on the Vegas Strip, has shifted direction and is now proposing a new arena, football stadium and minor-league ballpark in downtown Las Vegas, bringing a new chapter to the area’s arena wars. The prime tenant of the facilities: the University of Nevada, Las Vegas sports teams. The proposal from International ... Read More »

{jathumbnail off} Majestic Realty and its partners unveiled plans for a new 40,000-seat events center next to Thomas & Mack Center that would serve as the new home of the UNLV Runnin’ Rebels, with the old arena consigned to a backup role. The plan from Majestic — also in the news for proposing a new stadium in suburban Los Angeles ... Read More »

An expansion of athletic facilities at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) proposed by private developers could include a much-needed renovation of Thomas & Mack Center. UNLV officials love to push Thomas & Mack as the busiest arena in college sports, which is true — but a little misleading, as it’s the only major arena in a busy town ... Read More »

MGM Grand and Boyd Enterprises, behind the shield of Taxpayers for the Protection of Nevada Jobs, have filed suit against a citizens group seeking to build a new Las Vegas arena behind Harrah’s, funded with a 0.9 percent hike in the Strip’s sales tax — and there’s some merit to their arguments, if third parties can be believed. The group opposes ... Read More »

A potential Louisiana-based ownership group for the New Orleans Hornets is emerging, as locals work to keep the NBA franchise in New Orleans Arena despite interest from other cities. The group could include local attoney Morris Bart and current minority owner Gary Chouest, who now says he could up his stake in the team from 35 percent to more than ... Read More »

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal says there’s no way state services will be cut in order to increase state subsidies for the New Orleans Hornets (NBA) and argues the best way to keep the team is for fans to show up so the team can’t leave its lease for three years. Jindal, a Republican politician with national aspirations, made his comments ... Read More »

NBA Commissioner David Stern made it official today: the NBA will indeed move ahead with a purchase of the New Orleans Hornets from George Shinn and Gary Chouest, giving the league power over where the team ends up. No word on what the NBA is paying (though Stern did say the franchise is worth $300 million or so), but the ... Read More »

Proponents of a nine-tenths-of-a-cent sales tax to fund a new arena behind Imperial Palace, just off the Strip, garnered enough signatures in Nevada’s three congressional districts to force the Nevada Legislature to take up the proposal in the upcoming session. The sales tax would be implemented in the general vicinity of the Strip, mostly impacting tourists. The proposal must be ... Read More »