Thomas & Mack Center

Thomas & Mack Center
The Shark Tank
	Thomas & Mack Center, October 19, 2011
	Thomas & Mack Center Location in Nevada Thomas & Mack Center Location in the United States
Address	4505 S. Maryland Parkway
Location	Paradise, Nevada
Coordinates	36°6′18″N 115°8′39″W / 36.10500°N 115.14417°W
Owner	University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Operator	University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Capacity	Basketball: 17,923; Boxing: 18,645; Arena football: 16,606; Concerts:; End stage 180°: 14,729; End stage 270°: 15,736; End stage 360°: 18,069; Center stage: 18,574; *Theatre: 9,413
Surface	Multi-surface
Construction
Broke ground	October 21, 1981; 43 years ago
Opened	December 16, 1983; 40 years ago
Construction cost	$30 million
Architect	W2C Architects, John Carl Warnecke and Associates and ; Cambeiro & Cambeiro Ltd. (Artturo Cambeiro, AIA and Domingo Cambeiro); Ellerbe Becket (renovation)
Structural engineer	John A. Martin & Associates
General contractor	Perini Building Company
Tenants
	UNLV Runnin' Rebels (NCAA) (1983–present); UNLV Lady Rebels (NCAA) (1983–2001); Las Vegas Americans (MISL) (1984–1985); Las Vegas Silver Streaks (WBL) (1988–1990); Las Vegas Thunder (IHL) (1993–1999); Las Vegas Flash (RHI) (1994); Las Vegas Dustdevils (CISL) (1995); Las Vegas Sting (AFL) (1995); Las Vegas Silver Bandits (IBL) (1999–2001); Las Vegas Gladiators (AFL) (2003–2006); Las Vegas Sin (LFL) (2014); Las Vegas Outlaws (AFL) (2015); NBA Summer League (2004–present)

The Thomas & Mack Center is a multi-purpose arena located on the campus of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in Paradise, Nevada. It is home of the UNLV Runnin' Rebels basketball team of the Mountain West Conference.

History

The facility first opened in the summer of 1983. The gala grand opening was held on December 16, 1983, featuring Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Diana Ross.^[6] The facility hosts numerous events, such as concerts, music festivals, conventions and boxing cards. For ring events, the capacity is 19,522; for basketball, the capacity is 18,000.^[6] The facility is named after two prominent Nevada bankers, E. Parry Thomas and Jerome D. Mack, who donated the original funds for the feasibility and land studies.

The arena underwent a major interior and exterior renovation in 1999. 2008 saw the installation of all new visual equipment, which included a 4-sided new center-hung LED widescreen scoreboard, which includes four LED advertising/scoring boards above it and a LED advertising ring below it to replace the one installed in 1995, a partial LED ring beam display covering 80% of the balcony's rim, a new 50' LED scorer's table display, a new shot clock system for the backboards, six wall-mounted locker room game clocks, two new custom scoreboards with fixed digital scoring and complete player stats and a new outdoor marquee LED video billboard.

In 2001, a smaller arena, Cox Pavilion, was added to the complex; the two arenas are directly connected. Cox Pavilion is used for smaller events; its main tenants are the UNLV women's basketball and volleyball programs.

The center's primary tenant is the UNLV men's basketball team since 1983. The arena was nicknamed "the Shark Tank" after UNLV coach Jerry Tarkanian, whose nickname was Tark the Shark. He won a national championship in 1990 and took the team to three additional Final Fours (four Final Fours overall).^[7] The arena ranked 4th highest in college basketball attendance during the 2012-2013 season.

The facility also hosted the Las Vegas Thunder of the now defunct International Hockey League. It was also hosted the Las Vegas Flash of the RHI in the 1993–94 season pre-season games annually in October through 2013. In 2014 and 2015 their games were played at MGM Grand, and from 2016 onward at T-Mobile Arena.

Arena Football

It was the former home of the Arena Football League's Las Vegas Sting, Las Vegas Gladiators, and Las Vegas Outlaws. In 2005 and 2006, the arena hosted the Arena Football League's ArenaBowl.

ArenaBowl XIX and ArenaBowl XX were the first two ArenaBowls to be held at a neutral site arena. In the past, the games had been played at the site of the highest seed in the playoffs.

In ArenaBowl XIX in 2005, the Colorado Crush, owned by John Elway defeated the Georgia Force on a field goal on the final play of the game. The game was ranked as one of the AFL's 20 best games ever in league history. The following year, 2006, the Chicago Rush, owned by Mike Ditka defeated the Orlando Predators 69-61 for the Rush's first championship in franchise history.

Basketball

NBA

The venue hosted the 2007 NBA All-Star Game, marking the first time that this game was held in a city without a National Basketball Association (NBA) franchise. For the first time in NBA history, an on-campus college sports arena served as venue of an NBA All-Star Game. However, the arena had previously hosted home games for two NBA teams, the Utah Jazz and Los Angeles Lakers.

The Utah Jazz used the arena in the mid-1980s, and it was where Kareem Abdul-Jabbar broke Wilt Chamberlain's record for points in a career in 1984. After the Rodney King riots, the Lakers used the arena in 1992 for Game 4 of their first round playoff series against the Portland Trail Blazers, which Portland won 102–76. The NBA moved the game as a result of the Los Angeles riots.

Date	Winner	Score	Loser	Game type	Attendance
November 23, 1983	Chicago Bulls	128–117	Utah Jazz	Regular season	13,176
November 29, 1983	Utah Jazz	114–110	Phoenix Suns	Regular season	7,143
December 9, 1983	San Antonio Spurs	126–117	Utah Jazz	Regular season	7,258
January 4, 1984	Utah Jazz	116–111	Houston Rockets	Regular season	8,190
January 24, 1984	Dallas Mavericks	123–115	Utah Jazz	Regular season	7,752
January 31, 1984	Utah Jazz	98–94	Seattle SuperSonics	Regular season	7,148
February 7, 1984	San Diego Clippers	109–103	Utah Jazz	Regular season	7,015
March 13, 1984	Utah Jazz	124–119	Portland Trail Blazers	Regular season	—
March 23, 1984	Golden State Warriors	115–104	Utah Jazz	Regular season	6,241
April 5, 1984	Los Angeles Lakers	129–115	Utah Jazz	Regular season	18,389
April 10, 1984	Utah Jazz	135–120	Denver Nuggets	Regular season	7,357
November 2, 1984	Utah Jazz	107–101	Seattle SuperSonics	Regular season	3,955
December 9, 1984	Utah Jazz	123–120	Kansas City Kings	Regular season	4,070
May 3, 1992	Portland Trail Blazers	102–76	Los Angeles Lakers	Playoffs	15,478
February 18, 2007	Western	153–132	Eastern	2007 NBA All–Star Game	15,694

College

The 1994-95 Big West Conference, 1997–99 Western Athletic Conference and 2000-03 Mountain West Conference men's basketball tournaments were held there as well. The Mountain West Conference men's and women's basketball tournaments have both been played annually at the arena since 2007.^[8]

International

The FIBA Americas Championship 2007 was held at Thomas & Mack Center from August 22 to September 2.

Date	Opponent	Score	Home	Attendance
August 22, 2007	Uruguay	88-44 (OT)	Panama	-
	Puerto Rico	89-100	Mexico	-
	Brazil	75-67	Canada	-
	Venezuela	69-112	United States	-
August 23, 2007	Argentina	90-69	Uruguay	-
	Panama	67-108	Puerto Rico	-
	Venezuela	73–80	Canada	-
	Virgin Islands	59–123	United States	-
August 24, 2007	Panama	75–87	Argentina	-
	Uruguay	82–79	Puerto Rico	-
	Virgin Islands	83–93	Canada	-
	Brazil	101–75	Venezuela	-
August 25, 2007	Uruguay	82–79	Puerto Rico	-
	Argentina	104–83	Mexico	-
	Canada	63-113	United States	-
	Virgin Islands	89–93	Brazil	-
August 26, 2007	Uruguay	91-82	Mexico	-
	Panama	92–109 (OT)	Argentina	-
	Venezuela	100–90	Virgin Islands	-
	Brazil	76–113	United States	-
August 27, 2007	Uruguay	88–95	Canada	-
	Argentina	98–63	Venezuela	-
	Brazil	75–97	Puerto Rico	-
	Mexico	100-127	United States	-
August 28, 2007	Venezuela	89–79	Uruguay	-
	Argentina	85-70	Canada	-
	Brazil	104-90	Mexico	-
	Puerto Rico	78–117	United States	-
August 29, 2007	Mexico	80-97	Canada	-
	Venezuela	63–92	Puerto Rico	-
	Argentina	86–79	Brazil	-
	Uruguay	79–118	United States	-
August 30, 2007	Mexico	101–91	Venezuela	-
	Brazil	96–62	Uruguay	-
	Puerto Rico	72–66	Canada	-
	Argentina	76-91	United States	-
September 1, 2007	Argentina	91–80	Brazil	-
September 1, 2007	Puerto Rico	91-135	United States	-
September 2, 2007	Brazil	107–111	Puerto Rico	-
September 2, 2007	Argentina	81–118	United States	-

Rodeo

In late 2007, CBS filmed part of the CSI: Crime Scene Investigation episode, "Bull", at the Thomas & Mack Center, which was hosting the PBR World Finals.
Since 1985, the Thomas & Mack Center has hosted the National Finals Rodeo annually each December.^[9] It also hosted the PBR World Finals from 1999 to 2015 before the event moved to the new T-Mobile Arena from the 2016 season onward;^[10] the PBR returned in 2018 to host their annual "Last Cowboy Standing" event.^[11] As a surprise during the 2018 PBR World Finals in November, CEO Sean Gleason announced that the PBR Last Cowboy Standing event would be hosted at Cheyenne Frontier Days in Cheyenne, Wyoming starting in 2019. This move to the world's largest outdoor rodeo expanded on a growing partnership.^[12]^[13]

Boxing

The venue hosted multiple professional boxing fights, including:

September 12, 1992 - Julio César Chávez vs Hector "Macho" Camacho (for the WBC light welterweight title)
November 13, 1992 - Evander Holyfield vs. Riddick Bowe (for the WBA, WBC, IBF and lineal heavyweight titles)
May 8, 1993 - Lennox Lewis vs. Tony Tucker (for the WBC heavyweight title)
June 13, 1993 - George Foreman vs. Tommy Morrison (for the WBO heavyweight title)
April 12, 1997 - Pernell Whitaker vs. Oscar De La Hoya (for the WBC and lineal welterweight titles)
September 13, 1997 - Oscar De La Hoya vs. Héctor Camacho (for the WBC and lineal welterweight titles)
November 8, 1997 - Evander Holyfield vs. Michael Moorer II (for the WBA and IBF heavyweight titles)
September 18, 1998 - Oscar De La Hoya vs. Julio César Chávez II (for the WBC and lineal welterweight title)
November 13, 1999 - Evander Holyfield vs. Lennox Lewis II (for the WBA, WBC, IBF and lineal heavyweight titles)
March 1, 2003 - John Ruiz vs. Roy Jones Jr. (for the WBA heavyweight title)
January 21, 2006 - Érik Morales vs. Manny Pacquiao II (for the WBC International super featherweight title)
April 8, 2006 - Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Zab Judah (for the IBF and IBO welterweight titles)
November 18, 2006 - Manny Pacquiao vs. Érik Morales III (for the WBC International super featherweight title)
April 19, 2008 - Bernard Hopkins vs. Joe Calzaghe (light heavyweight fight)
September 15, 2012 - Julio César Chávez Jr. vs Sergio Martínez (for the WBC middleweight title)
October 13, 2013 - Timothy Bradley vs. Juan Manuel Márquez (for the WBO welterweight title)
November 5, 2016 - Manny Pacquiao vs. Jessie Vargas (for the WBO welterweight title)

The venue also hosted mixed martial arts events such as UFC 43 in 2003, Pride 32 in 2006 and Pride 33 in 2007.

Other sports events

On March 30, 1984, the USA Volleyball Olympic team competed in the international competition at Thomas & Mack Center.

Numerous WWE PPV events have been held at the Thomas and Mack Center including No Way Out 2001, Vengeance 2005, No Way Out 2008, and the finals of the all women's Mae Young Classic tournament in 2017, as well as episodes of WWE Raw, WWE SmackDown, WWE ECW, WWE Heat, WWE Velocity, WWE Superstars, WWE NXT, WWE Main Event and WWE Superstars of Wrestling.

Other events

The facility also hosts numerous other events, such as concerts, music festivals and conventions.

The gala grand opening was held on December 16, 1983, featuring Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Diana Ross. Rock band Mötley Crüe performed on March 16, 1984.

Sir Elton John's first performance at the arena was on August 24, 1984.

Other bands such as AC/DC, Van Halen, Metallica, Kiss, and Aerosmith performed in 1986.

On November 14, 1987, comedian Eddie Murphy performed at the arena.

On January 25, 1992, Guns N' Roses performed at the arena during their Use Your Illusion Tour. It was the largest attendance single performance concert with 17,590 fans in attendance. Later, the record was broken by U2 on November 18, 2001, when U2 sold 17,771 tickets.^[14]

Pearl Jam performed at the arena on July 11, 1998.

Anita Mui performed at the arena on 4 September 1999. She is the first Chinese singer to hold a concert there.

Rock band Phish performed at the arena 10 times. The first time on November 13, 1997, as their Fall tour opener. They also played on October 30 and 31, 1998. During the Halloween Night performance, the band covered The Velvet Underground's "Loaded" album in its entirety during the second set. This performance is available on the band's official live release Live Phish Volume 16. The band returned to the arena for two shows in September 2000 on the 29th and 30th and again for two more shows in February 2003 on the 15th and 16th. They also played three shows in 2004 on April 15, 16 and 17th.

On September 11, 2003, Thomas & Mack Center celebrated its 20th anniversary, hosting R.E.M. in concert.

In September 2004, the World Music Awards was held at the arena, broadcast live on ABC.

On January 28, 2007, High School Musical: The Concert performed with over 10,000 people attending.

The arena has hosted lectures by Bill Clinton and Mikhail Gorbachev as part of various UNLV-affiliated lecture series.

On October 19, 2016, the arena hosted the final Presidential Debate for the 2016 presidential election.^[15]

On June 15, 2022 Dave Matthews Band performed for the culmination of the 2022 Cisco Live! conference.^[16]

On July 22–24, 2022, Monster Jam made its debut at the arena. This marked the show's first trip to Las Vegas since the 2019 All-Star Challenge at Sam Boyd Stadium. Monster Jam returned the following year.

Gallery

Inside the arena before UNLV basketball game
An aerial view showing the connected Cox Pavilion
Thomas & Mack Center August 2007
Thomas & Mack Center & Cox Pavilion
Thomas & Mack Center 2005

References

^ "Thomas & Mack Center" (PDF). unlvtickets.com.
^ "Timelines - University Building Completions". nevada.edu. Archived from the original on April 9, 2013.
^ "University of Nevada - Las Vegas, Sports Renovations & Improvements". Ellerbe Becket. Archived from the original on July 30, 2012.
^ "John A. Martin & Associates". Archived from the original on September 23, 2010.
^ "Richard Rizzo Vice Chairman of Perini Building Co". Las Vegas Sun. June 28, 2007. Retrieved February 13, 2012.
^ ^a ^b "UNLVREBELS.COM - University of Nevada Las Vegas Official Athletic Site". www.unlvrebels.com.
^ Rhoden, William C. (July 1, 1991). "Built on Big-Time Basketball, U.N.L.V. Tries to Scrub Its Image". The New York Times. Retrieved April 6, 2013.
^ Murray, Chris (September 26, 2023). "The MW basketball tournament will be held at Thomas & Mack in 2024. What about the future?". Nevada Sports Net. Retrieved March 29, 2024.
^ "Thomas & Mack Center Extends Rodeo Contract". VenuesNow. August 11, 2015. Retrieved September 10, 2019.
^ "Looking Back At The Thomas & Mack". Professional Bull Riders. Retrieved September 10, 2019.
^ "PBR and WCRA join forces to produce major rodeos". Professional Bull Riders.
^ "PBR Last Cowboy Standing to be held at Cheyenne Frontier Days in 2019". Professional Bull Riders. www.pbr.com. Retrieved November 13, 2018.
^ "PBR Last Cowboy Standing - Cheyenne Frontier Days". Professional Bull Riders. Retrieved September 10, 2019.
^ Center, Thomas & Mack. "Thomas & Mack Center" (PDF). www.thomasandmack.com.
^ "2016 Presidential Debate Home - 2016 Presidential Debate - University of Nevada, Las Vegas". www.unlv.edu. October 18, 2016.
^ "Dave Matthews Band (Cisco Live!)". DMBAlmanac.com. Retrieved May 8, 2024.

External links

Events and tenants
Preceded by Izod Center	Home of the Las Vegas Gladiators 2007	Succeeded by Orleans Arena
Preceded by Toyota Center	Host of the NBA All-Star Game 2007	Succeeded by New Orleans Arena