Thomas & Mack Center (UNLV)
5
I have been to a lot of college arenas and Jerry Tarkanian Court at the Thomas & Mack Center has to be one of the top college owned facilities in the country and is by far and away the best arena in the Mountain West Conference. It is very modern and well kept. It has two full bars as well as 30 VIP luxry suites. The arena has a spacious 42,000 square foot concourse. Even though there are a lot of concession stands, the food selection is not that great. They do have a Subway but it has limited selections. I am sad to see that they closed down the gift shop to open a lounge for VIP's. Now they sell merchandise out of stands. The Si Redd room is also really nice but again, it is only open the VIP's. They have an outdoor stage where they have concerts and other pre-game activities. The Runnin' Rebels must love it as well. In 26 seasons, they have ammased a 360-72 record at the T&M. It has a setting capacity of 18,500 for basketball (19,522 for events with floor seating) but has seen standing room only crowds of over 20,000 for the Runnin' Rebels. Yet all of the seats have good lines of sight. Rebel Nation (the student section), Runnin' Rebels pep band, cheerleaders and Rebel girls are an added bonus to the teams that call the center home. It is also a blast to see 2004 Capital One All-American mascot Hey Reb and the newest mascot addition, Lil' Reb getting the crowd going and what is a Rebels game without the voiced of the Rebels, Dick Calvert. The center was opened in 1983 with a gala grand opening featuring Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Diana Ross. In 1992, Marilyn and Si Redd donated $1.7 million to renovate the Si Redd room and in 1993, the new Marilyn and Si Redd men's basketball offices opened. 1999-00 saw a major, multi-million dollar renovation which included a new center hung scoreboard (Redd Vision) to replace the one installed in 1996, modernized entryways, ticket office expansion, locker room and office space renovations, improved restrooms, concession stands and indoor and outdorr singage, new padded seats throughout the arena, and a vibrant new interior and exterior design. 2004 saw a minor renovation to the Marilyn and Si Redd basketball offices which included an updated look along with a new player's lounge area. 2005-06 saw a major renovation of the Runnin' Rebels locker room which inclided digital capabilities, a projection system and stero equipment. In addition, each player locker is sponsored by a former Runnin' Rebel great. The basketball training room was also renovated in recognition of team physcian Dr. Gerald Higgins and includes an aquatic therapy room which has its own rehabilitation pool. 2007-08 saw the instalation of a new lighting system which evenly illuminates the floor with 350 foot candles of metal Halde light. The 2008-09 season saw the addition of a new LED center hung scoreboard with four LED wide screen video boards, four LED scoring/advertising screens above the video boards and an LED advertising ring at the bottom. They also installed four LED partial ring bands (balcony fascia) covering 80% of the balcony's rim. The upgrades also included a new 50 foot LED scorer's tabel and new digital transperant shot clocks as wll as six wall-mounted locker room clocks displaying the game time were installed. A new outside LED marquee was also installed. No one in the country has anything like the Runnin' Rebels pre-game player introduction which starts with rolling out the red carpet and ends with a overhead fireworks show. It is not only host to the Runnin' Rebls and part time host to the Lady Rebels but is also the annual home to the NBA's Summer league, the Professional Bull Riders World Finals, and National Finals Rodeo. It has also been the host of the AFL's 2005 and 2006 ArenaBowl and former home to the Arena Football League's Las Vegas Sting and later the Las Vegas Gladiators. It was host to the 2007 NBA All-Star game making it the first and to date, only non-NBA city and college owned arena to host the game. It wss all the host of the 2007 FIBA Americas Championships. The NBA's Los Angeles Lakers play an exhibition game there every year. It served as the practice home for Team USA as they prepaired for the 2008 summer olympics in Bejing. How can you even consider the Pit as the best arena in the Mountain West.
In 1984, Los Angeles Lakers' center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar swished a sky-hook against the Utah Jazz and passed Wilt Chamberlain as the NBA's all-time leading scorer. The arena was the alternate home to the NBA's Utah Jazz during this time and has been home to the IHL's Las Vegas Thunder, the RHI's Las Vegas Flash, and the CISL's Las Vegas Dustdevils. The T&M hosted the 1992 NCAA Woman's West Regional. It was also the host site for the 1994 and 1995 Big West Conference tournament, the 1997-1999 Western Athletic Conference tournament, and the 2000-2003 and the 2007-2010 Mountain West Confernce tournament. In 2007, Venues Today ranekd the T&M No. 2 in the world in ticket sales. The facility also hosts major sporting events such as MMA and boxing as well as major concerts and industrial shows. In 2001, the $16.8 million dollar, 78,300 square foot COX Pavilion was added to the arena to give it even more flexibility. It is home to the Lady Rebels basketball and volleyball teams. The lower level houses women's locker rooms, a therapeutic and preventative care training facility, practice courts, and player lounges. The upper level is a multi-pourpose room that seats 3,100, 2,500 for sporting events. the facility is attached to the T&M so it can host joint events but it also has its own ticket offices, concession stands and restrooms so it can also host seperate events simaltaniously.
With all of this, how can you not say the Thomas & Mack Center is not on of the all-time great college owned arenas in the country?
