Billboard - 29.02.2020

J

ANUARY CAN BE A

slow touring month for

any venue, but the T-

Mobile Arena in Las Vegas

kicked off its 2020 with a bang, gross-

ing nearly $18 million with seven

engagements — $11 million more than

the No. 2 venue on Billboard Box-

score’s Top Venues chart for arenas

with capacities of 15,000-plus.

The arena brought in its impres-

sive haul thanks to a weekend of

Latin music — the regional Mexican

music event Dia Nacional de la Banda

and KXOL (Mega 96.3FM) Los Ange-

les’ Calibash concert — that together

brought in over $3 million on Jan. 24

and 25. In addition, the arena wel-

comed a sold-out Tool show, a date

from country legend George Strait’s

residency and a UFC Fight Night

that grossed close to $11 million in

a single night. T-Mobile Arena GM

Dan Quinn explains how the MGM-

booked facility pulled it off.

How did you turn Calibash, a

Latin radio show, into an annual

destination event for the arena?

With the success of the shows in L.A.

at Staples Center, they created the

Vegas version. What’s nice is that it

has turned into an entire weekend

play. While it is the third year

of Calibash for us, it is the

second year where we also

did the Banda show. It's a nice

rock for us to put in the calen-

dar — kind of an annual staple.

Does it take a package

instead of a single show to get fans

traveling to Las Vegas in January?

Vegas is such a good destination

market. With all of our events, it’s

definitely a one-plus-one-equals-

three in that people are always look-

ing for an excuse to come to Vegas. If

we can package it together with great

shows like that, then it becomes an

easy decision for people to make the

trek to our fine city.

What's the demand for Latin shows

in Las Vegas like?

The city does a really good job of

maximizing marquee weekends,

whether it is Cinco de Mayo weekend

or Mexican Independence Day

weekend [in September], which

started off as a boxing weekend.

Now, boxing serves as an anchor, and

there’s an insane amount of Latin

shows going on that week. Just in our

three venues [T-Mobile Arena, MGM

Grand Garden Arena and Mandalay

Bay Events Center], I think we had

nine shows in three days over that

weekend. The entire city is pro-

grammed that way, with Latin shows

at every major venue.

Since opening in 2016, T-Mobile

has hosted 26 shows from George

Strait. What has that residency

meant for the venue?

It was a big gift for us when we

opened the building. From a

booking perspective, [having]

three to four weekends of

two sold-out shows is a

great pillar to build around.

It is great having a semi-

exclusive. He doesn’t tour

anymore. He doesn’t play a

lot of dates in North America, period.

We have become the destination play

for that fan base.

Arena residencies are not common

in the industry. Why did T-Mobile

attempt one with Strait?

Only two artists have made this

model work: George and Billy Joel

at Madison Square Garden. It's an

interesting model, and it’s a tough

one because you’re talking 30,000-

plus seats every weekend we do this.

We have to have an artist with that

kind of draw, and there’s not many of

them out there. Luckily, we have one

of the greatest artists in the history of

country music partnering with us.

ARTIST(S)

Venue

Date(s)

GROSS

Ticket Prices

TOTAL

AT T ENDEE S

No. of Shows

PROMOTER(S)

TOP BOXSCORES

Strait

VEGAS HEATS UP

T-Mobile Arena GM Dan Quinn explains how the venue has

turned one of the slowest times of the year into a cash cow

BY TAYLOR MIMS

BEHIND THE BOXSCORE

Quinn

13

CÉLINE DION

Spectrum Center, Charlotte, N.C.

Jan. 21

$2,161,228

$236/$138/$89/$56

13 , 4 5 8

1

AEG Presents/

Concerts West

14

CÉLINE DION

Bridgestone Arena, Nashville

Jan. 13

$2,103,662

$198/$139/$92/$56

13,023

1

AEG Presents/

Concerts West

15

CÉLINE DION

AT&T C enter, S an A ntonio

Jan. 30

$2,021,74 6

$196/$118/$90/$58

13,645

1

AEG Presents/

Concerts West

16

CÉLINE DION

VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena,

Jacksonville, Fla.; J a n . 8

$1,912,510

$197/$110/$99/$66

11, 2 7 2

1

AEG Presents/

Concerts West

17

GEORGE STRAIT

T- M obil e A r ena , L a s Ve ga s

Jan. 31

$1,874,504

$499/$50

14 ,9 3 3

1

Messina Touring

Group/AEG

Presents

18

COLD CHISEL

Mt. Duneed Estate, Geelong, Australia

Jan. 11

$1,858,670

$83

22,526

1

Frontier Touring

19

CALIBASH

T- M obil e A r ena , L a s Ve ga s

Jan. 25

$1,769,661

$577.25/$40.43

13 , 6 7 3

1

Spanish

Broadcasting

System

20

TOOL

T- M obil e A r ena , L a s Ve ga s

Jan. 17

$1,709,900

$150/$55

15 , 0 2 4

1

Live Nation

21

ELTON JOHN

Brisbane Entertainment Centre,

Brisbane, Australia; Jan. 16

$1,568,700

$206.22/$68.28

10 , 8 3 0

1

Frontier Touring

22

TOOL

Bridgestone Arena, Nashville

Jan. 29

$1,473,067

$143.50/$58.50

12 ,7 7 5

1

Beaver

Productions

23

TOOL

American Airlines Center, Dallas

Jan. 22

$1,471,076

$144/$119.50/

$79.50/$59.50

12 , 5 3 2

1

Live Nation

24

TOOL

SAP Center, San Jose, Calif.

Jan. 14

$1,316,260

$149.50/$59.50

10 ,9 61

1

Another Planet

Entertainment

25

TOOL

State Farm Arena, Atlanta

Jan. 28

$1,299,920

$157/$72

11, 7 51

1

Live Nation

26

IHEARTRADIO ALTER EGO

The Forum, Inglewood, Calif.

Jan. 18

$1,289,869

$201/$141/$96/

$46/$26

14 ,722

1

iHeartRadio

27

JERRY SEINFELD

Beacon Theatre, New York

Jan. 10-11

$1,263,004

$195/$99.50/$87.50

11,16 9

4

JS Touring

28

KEITH URBAN

The Colosseum at Caesars Palace, Las

Vegas; Jan. 17-18

$1,260,501

$224/$164/$114/

$94/$64

8,067

2

Caesars

Entertainment,

Live Nation

29

DIA NACIONAL DE LA BANDA

T- M obil e A r ena , L a s Ve ga s

Jan. 24

$1,260,454

$439.91/$39.88

12 , 2 8 0

1

Spanish

Broadcasting

System

30

TOOL

Frank Erwin Center, Austin

Jan. 21

$1,244,724

$150/$59.50

10 , 8 27

1

C3 Presents

TOURING RECAP / JANUARY

54 BILLBOARD • FEBRUARY 29, 2020