Thomas & Mack Center
Encyclopedia
The Thomas & Mack Center is an arena, located on the campus of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas
, in Las Vegas, Nevada
, USA
. For ring events, the capacity is 19,522, for basketball, the capacity is 18,776.
The facility is named after two prominent Nevada bankers, E. Parry Thomas
and Jerome Mack, who donated the original funds for the feasibility and land studies.
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.
Its primary tenant is the UNLV men's basketball
team. It also hosts the National Finals Rodeo
annually. Since 1999, it also hosts the PBR World Finals. The facility also hosted the Las Vegas Thunder
of the now defunct International Hockey League. It also hosts the Los Angeles Lakers
pre-season
games annually in October.
and Las Vegas Gladiators. 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 sight 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.
, marking the first time that this game was held in a city without an NBA
franchise. For the first time in NBA history, an on-campus college sports arena served as venue of an NBA All-Star Game.
The Thomas and Mack Center had also been an alternate home for the Utah Jazz
in the mid-1980s, and was where Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
broke Wilt Chamberlain
's record for points in a career in 1984. 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 basketball tournament returned in 2007 and will stay until 2013.
Thomas & Mack Center hosted game 4 of the 1992 Western Conference NBA playoffs. Los Angeles Lakers Vs. Portland Trail Blazers. Final score, Portland 102 - Los Angeles 76. The game was moved to Las Vegas on May 3, 1992 due to the Los Angeles riots after a jury acquitted four (4) Los Angeles Police Department officers accused in the brutal beating of African-American motorist Rodney King
.
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.
The FIBA Americas Championship 2007 was held at Thomas & Mack Center from August 22 to September 2.
cards, MMA
cards such as UFC 43
and Pride Fighting Championships 32 & 33 and professional wrestling
shows, including WWF No Way Out 2001
, WWE Vengeance 2005
and WWE No Way Out 2008
. It has then hosted 2 consecutive weeks of Monday Night RAW
on June 27, 2011 and July 4, 2011 (the latter which has the show celebrating the United States Independence Day).
Phish
performed and recorded their Halloween show, on October 31, 1998, which was later released as a live album, entitled Live Phish Volume 16
.
The arena has also hosted lectures by Bill Clinton
and Mikhail Gorbachev
as part of various UNLV-affiliated lecture series.
The arena was the host to one of the six U.S performances of the industrial metal band Rammstein
on their first North American tour in over ten years on May 21, 2011.
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
University of Nevada-Las Vegas is a public, coeducational university located in the Las Vegas suburb of Paradise, Nevada, USA. The campus is located approximately east of the Las Vegas Strip. The institution includes a Shadow Lane Campus, located just east of the University Medical Center of...
, in Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
, USA
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. For ring events, the capacity is 19,522, for basketball, the capacity is 18,776.
History
The facility was first opened in the summer of 1983 and 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.The facility is named after two prominent Nevada bankers, E. Parry Thomas
E. Parry Thomas
E. Parry Thomas is a now-retired American banker who helped finance the development of the casino industry of Las Vegas, Nevada. Along with his business partner, Jerry Mack, Parry Thomas is credited with building Las Vegas into what it is today. He was born in Ogden, Utah.Thomas worked for...
and Jerome Mack, who donated the original funds for the feasibility and land studies.
In 2001, a smaller arena, Cox Pavilion
Cox Pavilion
The Cox Pavilion is a , multi-purpose indoor arena on the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, USA, campus, connected to the Thomas & Mack Center, which serves as the home court for UNLV Lady Rebels women's basketball and volleyball programs as well as the annual NBA Summer League.Cox Communications...
, 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.
Its primary tenant is the UNLV men's basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
team. It also hosts the National Finals Rodeo
National Finals Rodeo
The National Finals Rodeo, organized by the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association, is the premier championship rodeo event in the United States. Wrangler Jeans is the title sponsor for the 10-day event, commonly just called the National Finals or NFR, which is also sometimes referred to as the...
annually. Since 1999, it also hosts the PBR World Finals. The facility also hosted the Las Vegas Thunder
Las Vegas Thunder
The Las Vegas Thunder were an independent professional ice hockey team competing in the International Hockey League. The team's home rink was at the Thomas & Mack Center. They began play in the 1993–1994 season, folding on April 18, 1999...
of the now defunct International Hockey League. It also hosts the Los Angeles Lakers
Los Angeles Lakers
The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles, California. They play in the Pacific Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association...
pre-season
Season (sports)
In an organized sports league, a season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session. For example, in Major League Baseball, one season lasts approximately from April 1 through October 1; in Association football, it is generally from August until May In an...
games annually in October.
Arena Football
It was the former home of the Arena Football League's Las Vegas StingAnaheim Piranhas
The Anaheim Piranhas were a professional arena football team that played in the Arena Football League from 1994 - 1997. They played their home games at Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim, California. The team was originally known as the Las Vegas Sting, prior to moving to Anaheim in 1996. The team was owned...
and Las Vegas Gladiators. In 2005 and 2006, the arena hosted the Arena Football League's ArenaBowl
ArenaBowl
The ArenaBowl is the Arena Football League's championship game. From 1987 to 2004, the ArenaBowl was hosted by either the team with the better regular-season record or the higher seeding in the playoffs. From ArenaBowl XIX in 2005 until ArenaBowl XXII in 2008, the game was played at a neutral site...
.
ArenaBowl XIX
ArenaBowl XIX
ArenaBowl XIX was the 2005 championship game of the Arena Football League , and was played at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. The first-ever neutral-site title game in AFL history drew 10,822 fans to see the Colorado Crush defeat the Georgia Force 51–48 to claim the Foster ArenaBowl...
and ArenaBowl XX
ArenaBowl XX
ArenaBowl XX, held on Sunday, June 11, 2006, was played to determine the championship of the 2006 season of the Arena Football League. For the second consecutive year, the game was played at the neutral site of the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. It pitted the National Conference...
were the first two ArenaBowls to be held at a neutral site arena. In the past, the games had been played at the sight of the highest seed in the playoffs.
In ArenaBowl XIX
ArenaBowl XIX
ArenaBowl XIX was the 2005 championship game of the Arena Football League , and was played at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. The first-ever neutral-site title game in AFL history drew 10,822 fans to see the Colorado Crush defeat the Georgia Force 51–48 to claim the Foster ArenaBowl...
in 2005, the Colorado Crush
Colorado Crush
Colorado Crush were an Arena Football League team that began play as a 2003 expansion team. The Crush played in the Central Division of the American Conference until the Arena Football League suspended operations in 2009...
, owned by John Elway
John Elway
John Albert Elway, Jr. is a former American football quarterback and currently is the executive vice president of football operations for the Denver Broncos of the National Football League . He played college football at Stanford and his entire professional career with the Denver Broncos...
defeated the Georgia Force
Georgia Force
The Georgia Force are an Arena Football League team based in Gwinnett County, Georgia, United States that plays in the South Division of the American Conference. The team is owned by Doug MacGregor and Donn Jennings...
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
Chicago Rush
The Chicago Rush is an arena football team based in Rosemont, Illinois. It is a member of the Central Division of the National Conference of the Arena Football League. The team was founded in 2001 and is co-owned by Mike Ditka, the Hall of Fame player and coach.The Rush have qualified for the...
, owned by Mike Ditka
Mike Ditka
Michael Keller Ditka, Jr. is a former American football NFL player, television commentator, and coach. Ditka coached the Chicago Bears for 11 years and New Orleans Saints for three years. Ditka and Tom Flores are the only two people to win Super Bowls as a player, an assistant coach, and a head...
defeated the Orlando Predators
Orlando Predators
The Orlando Predators are an Arena Football League team based in Orlando, Florida that was founded in 1991. Their playoff streak is currently 19 seasons in a row, as of the season, becoming the ArenaBowl champions in 1998 and 2000...
69-61 for the Rush's first championship in franchise history.
Basketball
And it hosted the 2007 NBA All-Star Game2007 NBA All-Star Game
The 2007 NBA All-Star Game was played on Sunday, February 18, 2007 at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas's Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. It was the 56th annual All-Star Game. It was the first time the All-Star Game was played in a city without an NBA franchise and...
, marking the first time that this game was held in a city without an NBA
National Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...
franchise. For the first time in NBA history, an on-campus college sports arena served as venue of an NBA All-Star Game.
The Thomas and Mack Center had also been an alternate home for the Utah Jazz
Utah Jazz
The Utah Jazz is a professional basketball team based in Salt Lake City, Utah. They are currently a part of the Northwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association...
in the mid-1980s, and was where Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is a retired American professional basketball player. He is the NBA's all-time leading scorer, with 38,387 points. During his career with the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Lakers from 1969 to 1989, Abdul-Jabbar won six NBA championships and a record six regular season...
broke Wilt Chamberlain
Wilt Chamberlain
Wilton Norman "Wilt" Chamberlain was an American professional NBA basketball player for the Philadelphia/San Francisco Warriors, the Philadelphia 76ers and the Los Angeles Lakers; he also played for the Harlem Globetrotters prior to playing in the NBA...
's record for points in a career in 1984. The 1994-95 Big West Conference
Big West Conference
The Big West Conference is an NCAA-affiliated Division I mid-major college athletic conference. When the conference began in 1969, its name was the Pacific Coast Athletic Association . After nineteen years, in 1988, its name was changed to the Big West Conference. The conference stopped...
, 1997-99 Western Athletic Conference
Western Athletic Conference
The Western Athletic Conference is an American collegiate athletic conference, which was formed on July 27, 1962, making it the sixth oldest of the 11 college athletic conferences currently participating in the NCAA's Division I FBS...
and 2000-03 Mountain West Conference
Mountain West Conference
The Mountain West Conference , popularly known as the Mountain West, is the youngest of the college athletic conferences affiliated with the NCAA’s Division I FBS . The MWC officially began operations in July 1999...
men's basketball tournaments were held there as well. The Mountain West Conference basketball tournament returned in 2007 and will stay until 2013.
Thomas & Mack Center hosted game 4 of the 1992 Western Conference NBA playoffs. Los Angeles Lakers Vs. Portland Trail Blazers. Final score, Portland 102 - Los Angeles 76. The game was moved to Las Vegas on May 3, 1992 due to the Los Angeles riots after a jury acquitted four (4) Los Angeles Police Department officers accused in the brutal beating of African-American motorist Rodney King
Rodney King
Rodney Glen King is an American best known for his involvement in a police brutality case involving the Los Angeles Police Department on March 3, 1991...
.
In late 2007, CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
filmed part of the CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation is an American crime drama television series, which premiered on CBS on October 6, 2000. The show was created by Anthony E. Zuiker and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer...
episode, "Bull", at the Thomas & Mack Center, which was hosting the PBR World Finals.
The FIBA Americas Championship 2007 was held at Thomas & Mack Center from August 22 to September 2.
Other
The facility also hosts numerous other events, such as concerts, music festivals, conventions, boxingBoxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
cards, MMA
Mixed martial arts
Mixed Martial Arts is a full contact combat sport that allows the use of both striking and grappling techniques, both standing and on the ground, including boxing, wrestling, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, muay Thai, kickboxing, karate, judo and other styles. The roots of modern mixed martial arts can be...
cards such as UFC 43
UFC 43
UFC 43: Meltdown was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on June 6, 2003, at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas...
and Pride Fighting Championships 32 & 33 and professional wrestling
Professional wrestling
Professional wrestling is a mode of spectacle, combining athletics and theatrical performance.Roland Barthes, "The World of Wrestling", Mythologies, 1957 It takes the form of events, held by touring companies, which mimic a title match combat sport...
shows, including WWF No Way Out 2001
No Way Out (2001)
No Way Out was a professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by the World Wrestling Federation . It was the third such annual event and took place on February 25, 2001 at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada....
, WWE Vengeance 2005
Vengeance (2005)
Vengeance was a professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment , which took place on June 26, 2005 at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was the fifth annual Vengeance event. Professional wrestling is a type of sports entertainment in which...
and WWE No Way Out 2008
No Way Out (2008)
No Way Out was the ninth annual No Way Out professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment . It took place on February 17, 2008 at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada...
. It has then hosted 2 consecutive weeks of Monday Night RAW
WWE RAW
WWE Raw ) is a sports entertainment television program for WWE that currently airs on the USA Network in the United States...
on June 27, 2011 and July 4, 2011 (the latter which has the show celebrating the United States Independence Day).
Phish
Phish
Phish is an American rock band noted for its musical improvisation, extended jams, and exploration of music across genres. Formed at the University of Vermont in 1983 , the band's four members – Trey Anastasio , Mike Gordon , Jon Fishman , and Page McConnell Phish is an American rock band...
performed and recorded their Halloween show, on October 31, 1998, which was later released as a live album, entitled Live Phish Volume 16
Live Phish Volume 16
Live Phish Vol. 16 was recorded live at Thomas and Mack Center located on the campus of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, in Paradise, Nevada on Halloween night, 1998....
.
The arena has also hosted lectures by Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
and Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev is a former Soviet statesman, having served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991, and as the last head of state of the USSR, having served from 1988 until its dissolution in 1991...
as part of various UNLV-affiliated lecture series.
The arena was the host to one of the six U.S performances of the industrial metal band Rammstein
Rammstein
Rammstein is a German Neue Deutsche Härte band from Berlin, formed in 1994. The band consists of members Till Lindemann , Richard Z. Kruspe , Paul H. Landers , Oliver "Ollie" Riedel , Christoph "Doom" Schneider and Christian "Flake" Lorenz...
on their first North American tour in over ten years on May 21, 2011.