Las Vegas Sands Corp. (LVS) has announced that their joint venture with the Madison Square Garden Company (MSG) to build an 18,500-seat arena in Las Vegas, is on track begin this summer. The new venue, to be built behind the Venetian and Palazzo properties (on Sands Ave. between Koval Ln. & Manhattan St.), is scheduled to be completed by the summer of 2020. The venue will reside less than 2 miles from T-Mobile Arena; a newly built 17,500-seat arena that opened in 2016 and the current home to the Golden Knights (NHL).
Howie Long-Short: Sands Corp. owns both the Venetian and Palazzo properties, so the location is logical. It seems excessive, but as Sands Corp. CEO Robert Goldstein explained, “the growth is returning around Las Vegas. The Golden Knights have done extraordinarily well, football is coming; why not?” Many would reason because there is no potential pro sports tenant to place in the building, but Las Vegas is unique in that shows (as opposed to teams) can anchor venues; so, despite the Oak View Group’s participation in this project, no promise exists to bring an NBA team to Sin City.
Fan Marino: Speaking of new sporting venues, the Atlanta Falcons offered the cheapest concession prices in the league ($2 hot dogs, water and pretzels) at Mercedes-Benz Stadium this past season and saw sales (not revenue, as reported elsewhere) increase 53% YOY. Fans came earlier, stayed longer and bought more (16% more per fan) to help offset the reduced markup. While the team didn’t generate as much from concessions as it did the year prior, the Falcons were at the top of the league in fan satisfaction for food and beverages. That’s enough for team owner Arthur Blank, who said “we believe that the direction we’ve taken, given all the other positive benefits, is the bigger revenue play.” No one leaves a sporting event feeling good that they paid $11 for a pretzel and a bottle of water; here’s to hoping the new arena in Vegas (and others around the country) follow Blank’s lead and begin to provide fans a better gameday experience.
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