A scene from National Finals Rodeo at the Thomas & Mack Center, Las Vegas.
When the wrestling program was dropped at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas in 1983, assistant coach and 1976 NCAA wrestling champion for the University of Wisconsin Pat Christenson did what any good grappler would do — he got up off the mat and reinvented himself. His new career would begin as a successful venue executive and, 25 years later, he would serve as president of Las Vegas Events, a nonprofit that brings events to Thomas & Mack Center, Sam Boyd Stadium and other Vegas venues
Goodbye, weekend wrestling meets. Hello, National Finals Rodeo, USA Rugby 7s and so much more.
Christenson first came to Las Vegas in 1980 to work for venue management icon Dennis Finfrock, and in 1983 he helped open the Thomas & Mack Center on the UNLV campus.
Christenson found himself at the right place at the right time for his career to then transition from working with athletic events to entering the world of venue management.
“By 1983 when they dropped the wrestling program, Dennis took the interim position with the Thomas & Mack Center when it opened that year and asked me to come on with him as an assistant to that venue and also for the Silver Bowl, which the university had taken over.”
“If it wasn’t for Dennis I wouldn’t be here. When we started management of the stadium and arena, Dennis gave me the autonomy to do everything that needed to get done. There was never any better training ground for what we needed to do. We were green, we were dark green, we were emerald.”
Christenson went on to become the director of the stadium and arena from April 1991 to July 2001, and in May 1999 joined with four other venue managers to create the ArenaNetwork, a group now numbering more than 50.
“The ArenaNetwork was originally for us to share information about the booking and scheduling of events, specifically musical events and concert tours,” Christenson said. “The second piece was having a group like Concerts West come in and arrange block booking on our behalf to give our members opportunities to host more events.”
The stamp on Christenson’s career would come when he joined Las Vegas Events in August 2001, an organization that started in the city in 1983 and was created solely to focus on connecting events to the city’s network of world-class hotels and casinos.
“The thing I saw in terms of growth was we needed to better connect all of the players,” Christenson said, including the Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority, hotels and city governments in the grouping.
“When the recession hit and everybody had to look at how they did business better, we created another initiative in 2009 called Signature Events, which creates spin-off events around current and new events.
Signature events, like the PBR World Finals, attract a huge out-of-town attendance and incorporate spin-off events held before, during and after the anchor event. These events encourage longer stays in the city for guests, translating into more money in the city’s coffers.
Christenson cites the National Finals Rodeo, an obvious signature event in itself that has a 10-day run, uses Thomas & Mack Center as the main stage and literally has another 40 stages or properties that hold and create different experiences and offer exclusive satellite broadcasts.
“All these spin off around the anchor event and we estimate there are probably two times as many people in town without a ticket to the actual event as there are with a ticket,” Christenson said. “There are over 200 different events that take place in conjunction with the NFR, so people have many more opportunities to enjoy other experiences created around the anchor event.”
At a point in his career where the temptation might be to slow down, Christenson only knows full speed ahead, something those he has worked with marvel at.
“Pat is one of the most focused and determined people I’ve been privileged to work with,” said Jerry Colangelo, director of USA Basketball, who as one-time owner of the NBA Phoenix Suns had his teams play exhibition games in Las Vegas. “He is not going to quit on anything until he gets to the finish line.”
Others, like Steve Stallworth, general manager of the South Point Arena & Equestrian Center in Las Vegas and someone who learned under the tutelage of Christenson at Thomas & Mack, do not see Christenson slowing down any time soon.
“For 30 years Pat has had his hands in most of the major events in our city,” Stallworth said. “Just from a personality standpoint, there’s nothing like it. I remember back when I was talking to one of my colleagues years ago and we just said, ‘Gosh dang, how do we slow this guy down?’”
Randy Bernard, president and CEO of Rural Media Group, a corporation that owns and operates the world’s largest portfolio combining rural-based satellite and cable delivered media and entertainment companies, first worked with Christenson at the Thomas & Mack Center when Bernard was the CEO of Professional Bull Riders. Now, he partners with his friend to bring even more awareness to the NFR by televising five hours of content per day for the full run of the event.
“I respect Pat because he’s a bulldog,” Bernard said. “He won’t take no for an answer and is one of those who pushes the barriers to make changes. It’s fun working with people like that.”
As he looks at current pieces of business, Christenson talks about the three-day Electric Daisy Carnival held at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway which annually brings in more than 300,000 people for a one-of-a-kind experience.
“We continue to grow and manage the EDC,” Christenson said. “The beauty of our relationship and partnership with Pasquale (Rotella, founder of Insomniac, which produces experience-based events and festivals for electronic dance music lovers) is that we are both looking at the same thing. How do we grow this in a way that gives their fans the greatest experience? In terms of capacity, that to me isn’t the No. 1 priority. The No. 1 priority is the experience.”
It is all part of the big picture for Christenson to make sure the city’s economy is churning and that those events, signature and otherwise, keep coming back.
Interviewed for this story: Pat Christenson, (702) 260-9032; Randy Bernard, (402) 289-2085; Jerry Colangelo, (602) 224-2373; Steve Stallworth, (702) 797-8005