It’s Valentine’s Day and I’m at Lee’s Family Forum falling in love with the game of box lacrosse. Or, as I like to call it, hockey at room temperature.
Our own Las Vegas Desert Dogs have wrestled the upper hand from the Vancouver Warriors, and I’ve discovered these athletes have just as much game on foot as their hockey equivalents do on the ice. But what the Warriors don’t have is a furry, four-legged mascot like we do. His name is Duci the Desert Dog, and that detail alone is enough to keep me running with this pack.
By the third quarter, my voice has gone raw from screaming. I’ve memorized every syllable of Baha Men’s “Who Let the Dogs Out,” a track that plays each time we score a goal. And I can’t help but notice how the families waving their team flags and the couples stealing kisses on the jumbotron also recite the song by heart as the Desert Dogs near their victory lap.
Action from the Las Vegas Desert Dogs-Halifax Thunderbirds lacrosse game at Lee’s Family Forum in Henderson.
We’re all very much invested in this game. And over the last few years, it’s obvious the City of Henderson is, too.
Factor in the $84 million investment of Lee’s Family Forum, currently home to four professional sports teams; the nearly $26 million America First Center on Water Street, where the Henderson Silver Knights practice; and the Las Vegas Raiders headquarters and Las Vegas Aces facility, where both teams train, and it’s clear Henderson has used sports to bolster its economy and develop the community in a very significant way.
“We like to think of Henderson as the place where sports come to do business,” says Jared Smith, director of economic development and tourism for the City of Henderson. “The Raiders have their headquarters here, the Aces have their headquarters, and we have pitched Henderson as a headquarters for other sports teams as well.”
The Aces’ 64,000-square-foot facility, located at St. Rose Parkway and Raiders Way, garnered national attention when it opened in 2023 as the first building of its kind built exclusively for a WNBA team. That historic moment happened in Henderson, and it isn’t the first time sports have made this city proud.
Lee’s Family Forum, the 5,500-capacity arena on Green Valley Parkway originally known as the Dollar Loan Center, began as a partnership between the City of Henderson and the Vegas Golden Knights. Built on the site of the former Henderson Pavilion amphitheater to house Bill Foley’s American Hockey League team the Silver Knights, it opened in 2022 with a dynamic first event: the Big West Basketball Championships, which returns this year and is being played now through March 15.
Members of the Vegas Jr. Golden Knights line up with the San Diego Angels during the USA Hockey Pacific District Girls Championships at the America First Center in downtown Henderson.
“We had three pillars when we opened the building: sports, families, Henderson,” says Kerry Bubolz, president and chief executive officer of the Vegas Golden Knights. “We’ve got over 100 sporting events now that take place at that facility. The American Hockey League, without playoffs, has only 38 events. So how do you build a business model? It doesn’t work with just one team. So we went to work to build out that portfolio.”
The arena has since become a flagbearer for Henderson sports and entertainment and is also home to the Southern Nevada Sports Hall of Fame. In addition to the Silver Knights, it hosts the games of the Desert Dogs, the National Lacrosse League team that decamped from Michelob Ultra Arena and moved to Henderson in 2024; the Vegas Knight Hawks, an Indoor Football League team also owned by Foley Entertainment Group (FEG); and the professional women’s volleyball team the Vegas Thrill.
“This year, I think, is where we really hit a tremendous stride. We’ve got the two teams that I specifically oversee, the Silver Knights and the Knight Hawks, but also with adding the Thrill last year, it’s unbelievable to have not only professional volleyball, but women’s professional volleyball in the Valley,” says Gabe Mirabelli, chief business officer for FEG’s minor league properties. “That building is so intimate and accessible to the community. Being able to get fans so up-close to those tremendous female athletes, I think is fantastic.”
Bubolz says he’d love to host state high school basketball tournaments, and to see indoor soccer and professional women’s hockey eventually join the Lee’s Family Forum portfolio, but so far, “it’s been a really good start and there’s more to come.”
For Mirabelli, a Bostonian who grew up playing pond hockey, the community aspect of sports—and having access to arenas and facilities in the neighborhood—was a crucial part of his upbringing.
“One thing that I kind of hearken back to my childhood is being able to go to Red Sox games, and just walk down to the front row and watch batting practice. We’re offering that across four different sports for youth here.
“In addition to all the shows, it’s just having something that is so close to your house that you can get to in 10 to 20 minutes, depending on where you are,” Mirabelli says. “But even in communities like Boulder City, we’ve got a strong number of folks that … come out to our games, and even Lake Las Vegas. We’re the closest entertainment venue to that part of the Valley, and I think it’s wonderful to give them something to do on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday.”
Especially when it comes to hockey, the Silver Knights can get up close and personal with their neighbors in ways their older brother squad cannot, Mirabelli says.
“Kids 14 and under, if they stay for the whole game, can actually come down onto the ice and take a slap shot. That’s our version of kids running the bases,” he says. “We’ll sit there, whether it’s 45 minutes or two hours, until we get all those kiddos to have that experience.”
Sports has been touted as an economic engine in Las Vegas well before major league teams arrived, and now the same claim can be made in Henderson. The construction and development of these facilities factor into the city’s growth in a high-profile way.
“Companies that we talk to everyday, when they’re deciding on where they want to relocate to or expand, are always looking for a high quality place,” Smith says. “They want their employees to be thrilled to live, work and play in the community in which they [live].
“Those investments that Henderson and our other sister cities in Southern Nevada make into their quality of place, their quality of life, makes us very competitive as a community.”
As Bubolz points out, each time Lee’s Family Forum hosts an event, the entire area feels it. Fans who come for a game or one of the arena’s many concerts might also dine or shop at The District at Green Valley Ranch or visit the Green Valley Ranch Resort.
Every venue and event feeds into something larger. Bubolz experienced that first hand when the Golden Knights worked with the City of Henderson to open a 120,000-square-foot hockey facility, now the America First Center, on Water Street in 2020.
“It was a very similar story in that the city presented this location, which was previously called the Henderson Event Center, but it was an old facility. It really was deteriorating, and they needed an economic catalyst on Water Street,” Bubolz says. “We were able to partner in a public-private partnership on close to a $30 million investment.”
Chicken N Pickle
Since its arrival, restaurants and other businesses have popped up along the historic main road of Downtown Henderson. “Joe DeSimone, who owns the Pass Casino there, built a hotel. All of a sudden Water Street is taking on a whole new feel, whereas 10 years ago, it just kind of lost its appeal,” Bubolz continues. “We were excited to … be a catalyst, to have a name and a brand like the Golden Knights say, we’re making an investment in Water Street and it’s led to a lot of other investments. We were really proud of that.”
America First Center has also striven to “build the game of hockey here in the Valley,” Bubolz says. It has hosted several unique tournaments, including the USA Hockey National Championships and the Pacific District Championships. On March 19-22, it’ll host the Amerigol LATAM Spring Classic, which features Latin American hockey teams.
Just like the Golden Knights’ practice facility, City National Arena in Summerlin, America First Center has also become a true community rink for youth hockey and ice skating.
Recreational activities also have incredible value in the big picture of Henderson sports. The Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce-backed pickleball chain Chicken N Pickle recently opened its first Nevada location here, offering a three-acre, multi-level compound for the popular paddle sport. And just recently, the city announced the development of the 160,000-square-foot West Henderson Fieldhouse, an indoor sports and entertainment complex right behind Chicken N Pickle at St. Rose and Maryland Parkways. According to a press release, the facility will have four basketball courts, 24 bowling lanes, outdoor mini golf, parks and recreation programming and more. And it’s the second such development under way in Henderson.
Rendering of the West Henderson Fieldhouse.
“The West Henderson Fieldhouse is going to have certain amenities that are going to be great for local kids and leagues in its own right,” Smith says. “The [sports facility] that we are envisioning for the former Fiesta site [near the southeastern Beltway] is also geared towards local leagues, but large enough to bring in these national tournaments. So it’s not just a quality of life asset, it’s a tourism asset as well.”
Smith foresees the fieldhouse becoming “a worldwide magnet” for minor league and recreational sports and more.
And these new facilities are being added to a community renowned for its collection of parks and outdoor recreation hot spots. In 2024, Henderson’s park system ranked in the top 25 in the nation, according to the Park Score Index of Trust for Public Land. The annual Sin City Classic sports festival utilized many of Henderson’s facilities during its citywide takeover in January.
Smith says he’d love to see this momentum build into new industries such as sports medicine and media production. With educational staples like Touro University and College of Southern Nevada’s Henderson Campus nearby, growth in those areas could be imminent.
“Henderson is a place that is choosing its own destiny,” Smith says. “We’re making these investments, and we’re not stopping no matter how good things get.”
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