While MGM Resorts International continues work on an arena on the south end of the Las Vegas Strip, city officials say they need a bigger stadium and more tourism infrastructure.
To remain a leading force in international tourism, Las Vegas needs to continually grow, and adding a bigger, better stadium than the current Sam Boyd Stadium located on the city’s east side would help, local officials say.
Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority President and CEO Rossi Ralenkotter and Las Vegas Events President Pat Christenson each told the Southern Nevada Tourism Infrastructure Committee that the city needs a bigger stadium that is closer to the Las Vegas Strip to hold bigger events and draw in more tourists, according to the Las Vegas Review Journal.
The committee met at UNLV on September 24 and wants to ensure Las Vegas remains one of the world’s top tourist destinations through improved infrastructure.
The committee also discussed the current Las Vegas Arena construction occurring between the New York New York and Monte Carlo casinos on the south end of the Las Vegas Strip.
The project by MGM Resorts International would seat up to 19,500 sports spectators and requires a “robust operations plan” to address parking and event traffic, MGM Resorts executive Rick Arpin told the committee, the Review Journal reported.
Arpin afterward told the newspaper MGM plans to build a road connecting the arena to the Excalibur casino so that event goers can use Tropicana Avenue to come and go and plans to reveal a parking plan within two months of the arena’s planned opening in spring.
MGM Resorts Chairman and CEO Jim Murren originally wanted the arena built next to the Mandalay Bay resort’s convention center but decided to put it closer to the Strip after a colleague suggested the current location.
“’Put it in the middle of the action,’” a resort developer told Murren.
“He was right,” Murren told the Review Journal.
