Steve Stallworth, General Manager of South Point Arena & Equestrian Center, gives a tour of an exhibit hall at South Point, Friday, Jan. 24, 2020.
Thursday, Feb. 6, 2020 | 2 a.m.
It was business as usual on this Friday morning at the South Point Arena, Equestrian Center and Exhibit Hall.
In the 4,600-seat main arena, Mecum Auctions was doing its thing — putting a different motorcycle up for bid every 80 seconds. There’s a certain energy in the sights and sounds of a live auction in which 1,540 bikes on the block are purchased in rapid order for a combined $22.6 million.
A few steps away, the 124-lane South Point Bowling Plaza — with stadium seating and high-tech scoring system — was hosting the weeklong Military Bowling Championships featuring 2,000 bowlers.
“This is a top destination. It’s where everyone wants to be,” said Brad Edelman, the tournament’s director.
The bowlers aren’t the lone group with this opinion.
The South Point’s three competition arenas, practice arena and 80,000-square-foot exhibition hall are booked every week in 2020 outside of the week of New Year’s Eve. Those facilities are home to everything from 44 equestrian events (the South Point’s horse facilities are considered the nation’s best) to a massive watch party in the exhibit hall for the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.
The basketball party will have games on projection screens, food and drink specials, and backyard game competitions. It’s so popular that patrons line up hours before the doors open and race to reserve a seat for the day.
“It’s going to be monster,” said Steve Stallworth, the arena’s general manager.
‘You guys figure it out’
When Michael Gaughan, then the owner of four Boyd Gaming properties, was coming up with plans for his new resort on Las Vegas Boulevard South, he was determined to include an equestrian center. His wife and daughter are avid participants.
Gaughan asked Stallworth, then managing the Orleans Arena, to investigate if bringing a world-class equestrian center to the property would be profitable. Stallworth reported that Las Vegas was off the beaten path from other stops on the equestrian circuit, and our weather wasn’t ideal for the animals.
“But then he says, ‘We are going to do it anyways. You guys figure it out,’” Stallworth said.
Figure it out they did.
The facility last year brought in upwards of $10 million in revenue, up from a couple of million in 2009, Stallworth said.
In the past three months, South Point has hosted the Las Vegas National Horse Show, which featured Olympic-level jumpers and a $100,000 prize, and The Run for a Million, the biggest event in reining history with a $1 million purse.
At the end of February the Tuff Hedeman Bull Riding tour, hosted by the bull-rider great Hedeman, makes a stop here. The arena also hosts some of the nation’s largest cutting horse and team roping events of the year.
The South Point has become such a landing spot for equestrian events that an additional arena — a 37,000-square-foot semi-enclosed venue — is being constructed on the property. Gaughan bought 35 additional acres to the south of the property to accommodate parking for all of the horse trailers associated with these events.
“Mr. and Mrs. Gaughan, they not only had a passion for the equestrian business, they knew something we didn’t know in that these events fill hotel rooms,” Stallworth said.
Never a slow day
South Point over the years has welcomed so many different groups that it would be hard for most to keep track. Yet, Stallworth seems to have recollection of most.
Take the H2X Indoor Jet Ski Racing and Water Sport Thrill Show in 2011, in which a 3 1/2-foot pool filled with 600,000 gallons of water temporarily took over the arena floor. One day it’s horses; they next it is jet skis.
“Then, we had to get all of the water out,” he jokingly says.
Throughout the course of the college basketball season, South Point will host 300 teams from various levels of competition. In April, the U.S. Open Wrestling Championships brings in about 5,000 participants.
This week, it will be home to The Vegas Shoot, the largest indoor archery tournament in the world with 3,700 competitors, including some Olympians. The bowling plaza regularly hosts United States Bowling Congress events.
While South Point is best known for its equestrian facilities, where they are so dedicated to having the right dirt for competition that they have five types in storage, the space provides much more for other groups.
For bowlers, wrestlers and others, it’s a world-class facility to showcase a sport they are passionate about. Sure, there are other venues, but none with the modern feel of the South Point. And none adjacent to a resort with dining, entertainment and more.
“It’s so convenient for the bowlers,” Edelman said. “You play where you stay.”
Horse hotel
Stallworth arrived one morning at the crack of dawn to find a cowboy leaving the South Point horse stalls after a morning feed. The cowboy, still in his nightwear and a little groggy from a late night, raved about the proximity of the stalls to his room.
If you are going to host events with horses every weekend, you need somewhere to store the animals. South Point has 1,200 stalls — each 10 feet by 10 feet — in a climate-controlled setting. Feed and hay are sold on-site, giving competitors everything they need to care for the animals without leaving the property.
There’s even a bellman stand in the stalls to assist with getting competitors to their room.
“But if that hotel sees one fly, I get a phone call,” Stallworth said.
