Ed Roski may have an EIR done, but AEG has the glitzy package in downtown LA, which may translate into the largest naming rights deal in sports history. The deal with Farmers Insurance starts at 30 years, $700 million and could escalate to at least $900 million over the same period if two NFL teams play there. It’s an absurdly, staggering large amount that actually has a chance of paying off if enough additional events provide the requisite exposure. Here’s a list of what they’re putting together:

• At least 10 Chargers NFL home games every year
• A new or relocated college bowl game (non-BCS) or a playoff game if a system is introduced
• The Pac-12 championship game
• A place in the college basketball site rotation (Final Four/regional finals)
• A future NBA All Star Weekend
• The X Games
• At least one high profile boxing/MMA event every year

Plenty of “one-off” possibilities are out there, such as World Cup games. Other soccer/rugby exhibitions are likely. It won’t hurt that the stadium is planned to be a extension of Los Angeles Convention Center, and that it’ll get a frequent broadcast nod after groundbreaking thanks to national exposure from Staples Center events such as Lakers games and the Grammys.

Even though Roski is putting up a fight for his City of Industry stadium concept, he can be forgiven for setting his sights elsewhere. Today he was a four hour drive away in Las Vegas, to unveil a unique stadium-arena concept at UNLV.

The stadium, which from the rendering above looks more like one of the vessel sinks my brother just installed at his house than typical sports architecture (not necessarily a bad thing), can function as either a 20,000-seat arena or a 40,000-seat stadium. It does this via a novel moving stand (the orange bowl) which retracts in and out based on the event. In arena mode, the stand moves in more than 200 feet and matches the other end, creating a round/oval seating bowl. For football the stand pulls out and exposes sideline seats, suites and club levels.

Roski’s partners in this venture are UNLV and Silverton Casino owner Craig Cavileer. The idea is first and foremost to have an on-campus home for the Runnin’ Rebels football team, which currently plays its home games eight miles away near the edge of town at Sam Boyd Stadium. The current venue also hosts a bowl game which would greatly benefit from being in an indoor venue, as a December night game in the desert isn’t always comfortable. Plus there’s nothing around the stadium.

Cavileer and UNLV are pitching the idea as a way to improve the campus, as it’s tied to an improved circulation plan, 3,000 new campus housing units, and a sizable retail/commercial component. Right now it’s common for travelers to pass the campus on the way to/from McCarran Airport, and the most prominent features are Thomas & Mack Center and the ocean of parking in front of the arena. If the plan comes to fruition, all of that parking would be turned into a new master planned community, with the new stadium as its anchor. Thomas & Mack would stay put as it’s still serviceable. No funding has been identified for the plan, so right now it’s in the earliest planning stages.

Given the site’s proximity to the airport, I’m curious if FAA height restrictions might come into play since the stadium may be only 1/2 mile from one of the runways.

When I first got word of the unveiling (thanks Dennis M.), I wasn’t sure if I had seen something like this before. Turns out I had, though not in person. Audio of the presentation had Cavileer mentioning renowned architect Dan Meis, who had done something like this before in Japan. The Saitama Super Arena is very much the same concept and was completed in 2000. While it doesn’t have a soccer/football tenant, it is unique in that it was designed to be able to stage American football exhibition games. That may sound weird but it makes perfect sense. If you go back to the 80’s/90’s you may remember that the Detroit Pistons played home games at the Pontiac Silverdome and the San Antonio Spurs played a few years at the Alamodome. The Georgia Dome was split into two venues for the 1996 Olympics, one half holding basketball and the other gymnastics. This unintentionally works well because an American football field’s width is 160 feet. Add 20-30 feet of buffer on each side to the width of the field and you basically get the length of a hockey arena or a regular indoor arena floor. All that needs to be done to stage basketball/hockey games is to put in the proper surface and add some portable seats.

At the Super Arena, an entire end is moved into place instead of collapsible risers. The change can take as little as 20 minutes to move the 15,000-ton, 9,000-seat stand.

As cool as it is, it’s not entirely ideal. 40,000 seats works for a second-tier NCAA football team and bowl game. It obviously won’t work for the NFL, not that the NFL is coming the Vegas anytime soon. There’s also an issue in the elongated configuration in that there are too many end seats and not enough sideline seats. Current design trends have end seats at a minimum. There’s probably a way to expand the footprint of the building in order to stuff more seats in there, but that’s not relevant to the UNLV concept.

I’m much more interested in the UNLV concept than Farmers Field, simply because it’s much more novel. If all of the involved parties can pull this off, it’ll be a great feather in Vegas’ cap. The preso describes a redevelopment (TIF) funding plan plus ancillary revenues. I never thought I’d see the rebirth of the “ballpark village” but there it is. Curiously, there is one thing missing from the preso – any mention of a pro franchise, like oh, the Sacramento Kings.