Arash Markazi: Las Vegas' new home for sporting events

— -- LAS VEGAS -- Two hours before Canelo Alvarez faced Amir Khan on Saturday night, Oscar De La Hoya was walking around Hyde Lounge, a swanky club perched above the new T-Mobile Arena, greeting business partners and invited guests. Hyde is known for its decadent nightspots in Hollywood, South Beach and Las Vegas but has never opened anything quite like the 18,000-square-foot club which was built inside of the arena. Its calling card is two lighted triangular platforms on each side, protruding over the lower bowl of the arena, where guests pose for pictures, leaning over the pointed railing with their arms outstretched, as if they were recreating a scene from "Titanic."

While preliminary fights took place below, VIP guests sat on plush couches and looked over the bottle-service menu while a DJ played music next to a dance floor between rounds.

The scene was quintessential Las Vegas, while at the same time being something the city had never experienced before.

For all of its excess and extravagance in constructing a neon-lit fantasy world in the middle of the desert, Las Vegas has always lacked a professional sports-quality venue.

The MGM Grand Garden Arena and the Mandalay Bay Events Center have served as the two most popular locations for events along the Strip over the past two decades, but both are quaint by major league standards, built into the casinos with fights and concerts in mind. They were already outdated compared to other NBA and NHL facilities before they even opened their doors for the first time in 1993 and 1999, respectively.

In the new $375 million, 20,000-seat T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas not only has its newest attraction, but one that has finally gained the attention of teams and leagues that had for years viewed the city as nothing more than an exhibition game pit stop at best and a wasteland with legalized gambling at worst. Now, they are thinking about the city in terms most never thought possible before. They're thinking about it as a future home.

"This is a game-changer," De La Hoya said as he looked over the crowd. "This is one of the best arenas I've ever seen."