Thomas & Mack Center

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Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox venue The Thomas & Mack Center is a multi-purpose arena 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.<ref name="unlvrebels.com">Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref name="unlvrebels.com"/> 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, and in 2008 the installation of new visual equipment including a new four-sided center-hung LED widescreen scoreboard, which includes four LED advertising/scoring boards above it and an 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).<ref name="rhoden19910701">Template:Cite news</ref> 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.

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
October 22, 1997 Los Angeles Lakers 124–113 Washington Wizards Pre-Season 10,771
October 26, 1999 Phoenix Suns 95–73 Los Angeles Lakers Pre-Season 12,128
October 20, 2000 Sacramento Kings 118–111 Los Angeles Lakers Pre-Season 17,561
October 20, 2001 Sacramento Kings 104–109 Los Angeles Lakers Pre-Season 17,982
October 19, 2002 Phoenix Suns 90–84 Los Angeles Lakers Pre-Season 16,172
October 24, 2003 Sacramento Kings 93–87 Los Angeles Lakers Pre-Season 18,234
October 24, 2004 Los Angeles Lakers 113–111 Phoenix Suns Pre-Season 14,535
October 28, 2005 Los Angeles Lakers 105–103 Sacramento Kings Pre-Season 14,759
October 15, 2006 Phoenix Suns 99–91 Los Angeles Lakers Pre-Season 13,329
October 17, 2006 Sacramento Kings 96–91 Pre-Season 12,587
February 18, 2007 Western 153–132 Eastern 2007 NBA All–Star Game 15,694
October 26, 2007 Los Angeles Lakers 101–97 Sacramento Kings Pre-Season 10,089
October 12, 2008 Los Angeles Lakers 94–89 Sacramento Kings Pre-Season 11,090

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.<ref name="Murray 2023 k392">Template:Cite web</ref>

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 Template:Bk-rt 88–44 (OT) Template:Bk –
Template:Bk-rt 89–100 Template:Bk –
Template:Bk-rt 75–67 Template:Bk –
Template:Bk-rt 69–112 Template:Bk –
August 23, 2007 Template:Bk-rt 90–69 Template:Bk –
Template:Bk-rt 67–108 Template:Bk –
Template:Bk-rt 73–80 Template:Bk –
Template:Bk-rt 59–123 Template:Bk –
August 24, 2007 Template:Bk-rt 75–87 Template:Bk –
Template:Bk-rt 82–79 Template:Bk –
Template:Bk-rt 83–93 Template:Bk –
Template:Bk-rt 101–75 Template:Bk –
August 25, 2007 Template:Bk-rt 82–79 Template:Bk –
Template:Bk-rt 104–83 Template:Bk –
Template:Bk-rt 63–113 Template:Bk –
Template:Bk-rt 89–93 Template:Bk –
August 26, 2007 Template:Bk-rt 91–82 Template:Bk –
Template:Bk-rt 92–109 (OT) Template:Bk –
Template:Bk-rt 100–90 Template:Bk –
Template:Bk-rt 76–113 Template:Bk –
August 27, 2007 Template:Bk-rt 88–95 Template:Bk –
Template:Bk-rt 98–63 Template:Bk –
Template:Bk-rt 75–97 Template:Bk –
Template:Bk-rt 100–127 Template:Bk –
August 28, 2007 Template:Bk-rt 89–79 Template:Bk –
Template:Bk-rt 85–70 Template:Bk –
Template:Bk-rt 104–90 Template:Bk –
Template:Bk-rt 78–117 Template:Bk –
August 29, 2007 Template:Bk-rt 80–97 Template:Bk –
Template:Bk-rt 63–92 Template:Bk –
Template:Bk-rt 86–79 Template:Bk –
Template:Bk-rt 79–118 Template:Bk –
August 30, 2007 Template:Bk-rt 101–91 Template:Bk –
Template:Bk-rt 96–62 Template:Bk –
Template:Bk-rt 72–66 Template:Bk –
Template:Bk-rt 76–91 Template:Bk –
September 1, 2007 Template:Bk-rt 91–80 Template:Bk –
Template:Bk 91–135 Template:Bk –
September 2, 2007 Template:Bk-rt 107–111 Template:Bk –
Template:Bk-rt 81–118 Template:Bk –

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 annual National Finals Rodeo each December.<ref name="Venues">Template:Cite web</ref> It also hosted the PBR World Finals from 1999 to 2015 before the event moved to the new T-Mobile Arena in 2016;<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> the PBR returned in 2018 to host its annual "Last Cowboy Standing" event.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Boxing

The venue hosted multiple professional boxing fights, including:

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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

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 ten times. The first time was 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 entire Loaded album 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 29 and 30, 2000, and two more shows on February 15 and 16, 2003. They also played three shows on April 15, 16 and 17, 2004.

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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

On June 15, 2022 Dave Matthews Band performed for the culmination of the 2022 Cisco Live! conference.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

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.

See also

References

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