Professional Bull Riders is all over T-Mobile Arena's outdoor LED screens ahead of its Nov. 2-6 Built Ford Tough World Finals there in Las Vegas. (Photo by PBR)
The recently-opened T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, is preparing to get dirty in November. After 17 years at the University of Nevada’s Thomas & Mack Center, Professional Bull Riders (PBR) is making the switch to Las Vegas’ newest venue. The multi-year agreement makes the new 20,000-seat arena the long-term home for PBR Built Ford Tough World Finals, which this year will be held Nov. 2-6. This week, the PBR crew was out in full force, performing a three-day dress rehearsal of sorts that involved everything from building out chutes, testing the configuration, trying our the sound and lighting and getting a lay of the land.
“We even spilled the first dirt into the arena,” said Sean Gleason, PBR CEO. “We ended up bringing a little bit of dirt in here with the bucking chutes. It’s only fitting since there’s going to be about four or five million pounds of it when we get here in November.”
This may be the first time the PBR crew was able to test out the configuration, but the planning process began years ago when the arena was first being designed.
“We were approached to see if we would participate so if there was an opportunity for us to move over here, the building would be able to accommodate what we do," said Gleason. "We worked with the architects to actually build a few features into the building, and working off paper we at least tried to anticipate what we might need.”
A few of those design tweaks included the addition of a roll up door in one corner of the building that wasn't originally part of the plan, and some of the exit stairwells were manipulated to make sure they maintained a wide enough opening from the event floor to the outside of the building, which was important for running their chutes and cattle management system.
“One of the driving factors of the venue was we wanted to make it as flexible as possible for as many different event types as we could,” said Dan Quinn, general manager, T-Mobile Arena. “We didn’t ever want to be in a conversation where a potential event couldn’t bring their event to the venue because we didn’t have the right design or layouts. While you can’t create the perfect layout for every event, we wanted to make sure we left ourselves flexibility in the right areas to do as many different events as possible. PBR was one of those groups where we talked with the operations people involved and figured out what the bare minimum necessities were that they would need to do an event here.”
PBR crew works out the logistics of having bucking bulls in three corners of the building. (Photo by PBR)
If there’s one thing Quinn has learned from the walk through, it’s that dealing with bulls is completely different from working with people.
“I was out there talking with Sean and learning more about why they needed to do things from a set up perspective because of the way the bulls have been trained so they perform at the highest level from a competitive standpoint,” said Quinn. “It was just a very interesting conversation to learn about some of the intricacies of bull riding that from a venue ops perspective you wouldn’t necessarily know.”
At this year’s World Finals, PBR is looking to ramp up the event’s production value. They’ll be bucking bulls out of three corners of the building, which is very unique, while building out a large stage in the fourth corner and putting in a lot more LED signage. While the plan is being created, this week’s walk through will give the crew the information they need to pull it all off.
“It’s the logistical challenges of fitting everything we have in,” said Gleason. “Steel doesn’t bend very well. As we lay in all of our equipment and the bucking shoots, we have to pull some things out here and there. We’re working on that this week and figuring out what those things are and where it has to be done. The entire crew is out here moving chutes around, shifting panels and loading things in, and then we’re going to check the video and the sound and do the prep work we need, so we know what we’re doing when we get here in November.”
Seating configuration is one important piece of the new-venue puzzle. (Photo by PBR)
Gleason said they’ve been taking thousands of pictures at the new venue, some of which they’ll use to show fans what the new sightlines will be. Configuring the seating in the right way to optimize the space and make it so there is truly not a bad seat in the house is one of the challenges of bringing the World Finals to a new building.
“We have a fairly flexible seating configuration in terms of the seats we have that are both telescopic and variable height risers,” said Quinn. “Just figuring out how we manipulate our bleachers to figure out the best configuration where we’re not killing a bunch of seats and making sure everyone in the venue has the best sightline possible. It’s more just learning that since this is the first time doing the event. As we get into future years of the agreement we’ll make little tweaks, but the first year is obviously the hardest because you have to do everything from scratch in a new venue.”
With the help of one of the most exciting races in PBR history, Gleason is shooting high and aiming to amp up the event all around.
“I don’t think it’s an unrealistic goal that for us, our intent is that in the next two to three years we want to be the top-grossing event in this building,” said Gleason. “And that’s against all other acts. We have multiple days to do it, so we’re well on that path, and I think we can get there. It’s going to be one of the highest-grossing and best-attended events in T-Mobile Arena, if we have our way.”
He may not be too far off, as this year’s event is already tracking to be the most successful in PBR’s history.
“The World Finals are tracking way ahead of any event in our history,” said Gleason. “At this time, we already have the highest-grossing PBR World Finals ever. It’s a substantial improvement over any prior year for the World Finals. Here it is in April and we already have the most successful World Finals in PBR’s history.”
Gleason is excited for PBR fans to experience the new venue and specific seating for every kind of fan.
“They’re very familiar with Thomas & Mack, and I think there’s some reservations or concerns about sightlines and the best seat locations,” said Gleason. “But with the way we’re able to lay out this building, there isn’t a bad seat in the house. There will be no seats in the house that are not close to some of the action, and there’s something for everybody. If you want to be close to the music acts, there’s a side for that. If you want to be close to the maximum amount of bull riding you can get, there’s a side for that.”
Quinn is also excited to show off the new building’s amenities and hopes to wow fans with their unique offerings.
“I am really excited to see the PBR fans reactions to the venue,” said Quinn. “I know they’ve spent a long time over at Thomas & Mack, and it’s a great venue for rodeo and the fans have a comfort level with being in that venue. I’m sure there’s a little bit of suspense on their part for how it’s going to be in the new venue, and I think it will be just as good if not better. We’re excited to have those fans in our building and have them experience the guest experience side that we’ve tried to focus on in terms of having big concourses, different VIP and lounge experiences, great Wifi connectivity and cellular coverage.”
Those amenities were part of the reason PBR decided to make the switch after almost two decades at Thomas & Mack. Their partnerships with MGM and AEG also made the new arena an attractive option.
“In almost every market we go into, we like to play the best venue in town,” said Gleason.
“We’re not looking for the cheapest venue. We like the one with the best amenities and accommodations for our fans, and this arena is the newest in the country, so certainly that was a factor. But also MGM is a sponsor and a partner and AEG is a partner we do a lot of business with. The two of them are greatly managing this venue, so we have a lot of friends who made this building happen, and we love to do business with both of them.”
From T-Mobile Arena’s perspective, a major event like the World Finals is exactly what the building is interested in bringing in, along with top sporting events like all-star games and championships.
“Las Vegas is a big event city, and we want to do the biggest and best events,” said Quinn. “PBR’s World Finals was one of those upper echelon sporting events we’ve targeted, we want to host the biggest and the best of special events, whether they’re in Las Vegas currently or in Las Vegas in the future. So PBR certainly fits into that portfolio. Their World Finals is as big as it gets in the world of bull riding.”
PBR will take advantage of the outdoor Toshiba Plaza to host a main entertainment stage and hospitality village with multiple bars and entertaining sponsor activations. A VIP tent and trailer area will be used to entertain corporate partners and others. The party will begin at 2pm everyday, four hours before the event moves indoors.
“We’re planning entertainment components that are going to be a substantially bigger investment and planning in advance than we’ve ever put into an event before,” said Gleason. “Some great music acts that we’ll announce soon that will be part of the opening and outside parties. We’re going to ramp up the entertainment substantially.”
Interviewed for this story: Dan Quinn, (702) 692-6726; Sean Gleason, (719) 242 2721