Dream for UNLV campus has big implications for tourism

By Richard N. Velotta

Monday, Feb. 7, 2011 | 3 a.m.

When Craig Cavileer, president of the Silverton, stood before the media and Rebel boosters last week explaining plans for a mixed-use development on the UNLV campus, he waxed nostalgic about how he and his family connected with the University of Texas Longhorns on football game days when he was growing up.

That connection between campus and community is what Cavileer and Ed Roski, CEO of Majestic Realty Co., view as the end game for a multimillion-dollar, public-private partnership that will be discussed Feb. 11 by the Nevada Board of Regents.

While most attention has been focused on the merits of a 40,000-seat domed stadium that would bring Rebel football to the campus, the Majestic proposal is far more than just another arena plan.

And, it’s got big implications — good and bad — for the Southern Nevada tourism economy.

I wonder how many of the people that came out for the Majestic presentation last week had the kind of college flashback Cavileer described about Austin.

I sure did.

One need only look a few hundred miles from Las Vegas to Flagstaff, Ariz., to see how building a domed football stadium transformed the college campus of my alma mater, Northern Arizona University.

Back in the mid-1970s, former NAU President J. Lawrence Walkup envisioned a game-changing addition for the school’s south campus. At the time, domed football stadiums were the rage of the Big Sky Conference — one national sports publication said conference members Idaho State University, the University of Idaho and NAU seemed to have made it a priority to cover up what the conference was named for.

Walkup successfully sold Arizona regents on the need for a domed stadium because of Northern Arizona’s unpredictable climate. Flagstaff is notorious for having some of the most brutal snowstorms in the Southwest.

When the 12,000-seat Walkup Skydome (additional capacity has since been added) opened in 1977, it was the largest clear-span timber dome in the world until the Tacoma Dome opened a few years later.

Flagstaff isn’t the tourist destination Las Vegas is, but the Walkup Skydome isn’t just the home for Lumberjack football and basketball, either. It also hosts concerts, speakers and specialty shows like the Royal Lipizzaner Stallions. It has also been the site of a major home show and special car sales events.

Friday Night Lights burn at the Skydome as it hosts high school football every week. Statewide marching band festivals, cheerleading competitions and track meets are scheduled without the fear of nasty weather.

In recent years, the Walkup Skydome has played host to a professional sports team, the Arizona Cardinals. The Cardinals take advantage of Flagstaff’s agreeable summer climate for about a month for preseason training. When the summer monsoons hit, the Cardinals can move inside the Walkup Skydome without missing a workout.

High school basketball tournaments, high school and college commencement ceremonies have been under the dome. The university also opens the place for senior citizens to walk the concourse and for athletes to run the stadium stairs.

“It’s a pretty busy place year round,” said Tom Bauer, NAU’s director of public affairs.

The Skydome was a catalyst for growth at NAU and helped the school’s football recruitment. While the Lumberjacks haven’t been a perennial football power, they’ve fielded Top 20 Championship Subdivision teams over the years — and the Walkup Skydome is a tough place to play. This is not only because it’s at 7,000 feet, but also because the dome is so loud when it’s full of fans. Just ask UNLV Coach Bobby Hauck, who had to take his University of Montana football teams to Flagstaff every other year.

The Skydome helped drive development at NAU and cemented the campus’ bond with the community.

Majestic Realty’s proposal is much more than a domed stadium. It holds great potential for special events that help drive tourism in Southern Nevada.

The proposed event center has been described as a versatile facility, and the Majestic mock-ups show multiple configurations that could handle everything from a big football game that could fill all 40,000 seats to small-court sports that would seat a couple thousand people.

Cavileer and Roski said the project would include a multimillion-dollar refurbishment of the Thomas & Mack Center, a plan that would assure Las Vegas of having another venue available in case there were conflicting events.

While UNLV rarely schedules football and basketball games on the same day, it has happened. Having both arenas available would assure that one team wouldn’t have to be bumped.

Speaking of being bumped, the dual arenas would assure availability of a home floor for Runnin’ Rebel basketball at the same time the National Finals Rodeo is in town.

The fact that Las Vegas could get a new state-of-the-art arena with bigger capacity would show National Finals Rodeo organizers that Las Vegas is serious about keeping their business.

Take that, Jerry Jones! You’re going to need more than an oversized television set to steal NFR away from Las Vegas.

In recent years, other conferences have discovered what schools in the Mountain West Conference have known for years — that basketball tournaments in Las Vegas can do incredible things for attendance.

The West Coast Conference and the Western Athletic Conference have committed to playing their postseason basketball tournaments at Las Vegas’ Orleans Arena this year and next. The Mountain West plays its tournament at Thomas & Mack.

While there are a limited number of college conferences that could make an arena in Las Vegas their neutral court for tournaments, having one more venue available for games could assure more basketball for the city and more hotel rooms filled. There’s enough hotel capacity available to handle two conference basketball tournaments and a NASCAR race on the same weekend, a scenario that isn’t impossible to imagine.

Some have asked whether the arena could accommodate a National Basketball Association or National Hockey League team. Roski — who is part owner of the Los Angeles Lakers and the Los Angeles Kings — and Cavileer made it clear that while the proposed stadium could accommodate pro basketball or hockey, the arena envisioned on campus would be for UNLV. There aren’t any NBA or NHL teams that share homes with college teams on their campuses. The Arizona Cardinals once had such an arrangement with Arizona State, but that ended when they moved into their own domed stadium in Glendale, Ariz.

While hosting a team doesn’t seem likely, exhibitions are always an option. The Lakers appear every NBA preseason at Thomas & Mack, and the MGM Grand Arena has played host to “Frozen Fury” NHL exhibitions between the Kings and the Colorado Avalanche. A new arena also would bolster Las Vegas as home of the NBA summer league, where rookies and some second-year performers play at the Thomas & Mack and Cox Pavilion over three weeks.

One of the complaints making the rounds is about why the stadium plan includes only 40,000 seats — not nearly enough to make a run at drawing a National Football League team.

Reality check: Las Vegas, even with a Jerry Jones-sized stadium, won’t be the home of an NFL team until the league changes its view of the state’s legal sports wagering.

But it would be interesting to see if the NFL would consider an exhibition in Las Vegas. Would a Los Angeles-based NFL team (remember, Roski is one of the guys trying to build a stadium in downtown L.A. with hopes of luring an NFL team back to Los Angeles) consider a preseason exhibition or train in Las Vegas? How about something like the Pro Bowl, the NFL’s all-star game, which has been played in Hawaii 31 out of the last 32 years? Aloha Stadium holds only 50,000 people.

Forget about the Super Bowl. I’ve reminded people that 10 years from now, the NFL will have Super Bowl LV, but “LV” just means 55, not Las Vegas.

A 40,000-seat stadium seems to be the perfect size for the Las Vegas Bowl, which has had various sponsors over the years. It’s my guess that an indoor venue would be far more attractive for that game since cold or wet weather seems to follow the Las Vegas Bowl whenever it is played.

Like the Walkup Skydome, an indoor sports arena at UNLV would be a perfect venue for marching band camps, and competitions, sports camps and cheerleading competitions and exhibitions. The controlled climate would make it a perfect venue, regardless of the season. No longer would summer be too hot and winter too cold for those types of events in Las Vegas.

Looking beyond sports, Roski and Cavileer noted their willingness to work with the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority to provide another venue for big conventions and trade shows. Having that flexibility could be crucial in accommodating organizations that want to schedule Las Vegas gatherings during peak convention times.

While most of the outlook for tourism is favorable, there are some concerns to the industry.

One of the most notable: Traffic issues associated with the removal of Swenson Street, a key route for exiting McCarran International Airport. Majestic’s preliminary plan calls for a new entrance to the UNLV campus off Tropicana Avenue — the type of gateway that reminded Cavileer of his University of Texas days. A retail cluster with restaurants and shops – think Town Square Lite — to enhance the campus life experience is envisioned.

But under that plan, Swenson would go away north of Tropicana. Cavileer said he has a couple of dozen alternative plans for traffic flow but didn’t get into any of them in his presentation.

Cavileer said he’s planning to sit down with Clark County Department of Aviation Director Randall Walker to see how the UNLV proposal would mesh with McCarran. I’d imagine they’d also have conversations about the height of the proposed domed stadium, which lies right under the flight path of McCarran’s north-south runways, and whether the Federal Aviation Administration would have any heartburn over building something there.

Cavileer acknowledged the prospect of that issue in his presentation last week, noting that everything in the vicinity of McCarran, including Strip casinos, is subject to FAA scrutiny. Whether height restrictions or the demise of Swenson Street are deal-killers remain to be seen and undoubtedly would be points of discussion if Majestic gets permission to proceed with its memorandum of understanding with the university.

All eyes of the community will be on the Board of Regents meeting this week.

Friending at 30,000 feet

Seven airlines, all with flights to and from McCarran International Airport, are participating in a promotion with Ford Motor Co. that will give passengers complimentary access to Facebook.

Go-go Inflight Internet is working with Ford to provide the free Facebook access on flights on AirTran, Alaska, American, Delta, United, US Airways and Virgin America for the month of February.

Passengers on planes equipped with Gogo’s in-flight Wi-Fi service can access the service from their WiFi-enabled laptops, notebooks, PDAs and smart phones. When a flight reaches 10,000 feet and the crew makes the announcement allowing for the use of approved electronic devices, passengers can access Facebook via Gogo’s wireless network, opening a browser and clicking on the Ford-Facebook banner.

Go-go in-flight access costs $11 for a 24-hour pass or $35 per month.