Ashley Day

USA TODAY

There’s a reason Las Vegas’ first freestanding arena fits right in just off the Strip. The 650,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art structure was designed to blend in seamlessly with the desert on one side and with the Strip on the other. Plus the T-Mobile magenta is kept at bay until you’re inside (at least during the day).

With a 200-foot-wide video mesh wall and telescopic seats to customize sightlines, the $375M T-Mobile Arena incorporates some groundbreaking technology. The new venue seats up to 20,000 and will host concerts, awards shows and sporting events, including a just-announced NHL expansion team.

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Levy Restaurants, the group behind 36 arenas and 15 entertainment venues around the country, combines the top features of its event spaces here, then makes them Vegas-sized. Hyde Lounge has locations in LA’s Staples Center and Miami’s AmericanAirlines Arena, so Vegas went with an 18,000-square-foot version spanning the entire back end and overlooking the action. Catering to VIPs, T-Mobile Arena has 550 club seats with membership benefits, 44 luxury boxes and eight fully-furnished event-level suites.

Event promoters have free reign of the two-acre Toshiba Plaza outside the entrance, with two outdoor stages and two different elevated decks. Private box and suite holders can customize their party size, catering options and beverage offerings, as well.

Every attendee can appreciate connectivity with T-Mobile’s 4G LTE network and Wi-Fi, and charging stations abound. The main concourse hosts additional crowd pleasers with a Shake Shack and local Pizza Forte. The upper concourse has a poke bar (as in ahi tuna ... in an arena) and a wok cart serving dumplings, and Neon Alley pays homage to Vegas' famous signs and a Pink Highlighter cocktail is served in a light-up, blinking souvenir cup.

While celebrity chefs have residencies in arenas across the country, Levy chose a celebrity mixologist in light of arenas’ beverage sales outweighing food sales. Tony Abou-Ganim, also known as the Modern Mixologist, has designed signature cocktails for the venue – two on tap on every level of the space. General admission ticketholders can sip on an Electric Lemonade, Cable Car or Margarita right from the concession stand, and box and suite holders can roll in a cocktail cart to mix their own mojitos and more.

The carts don’t stop there. Chef Garry DeLucia from Levy Restaurants (and previously at Las Vegas Motor Speedway) has carving stations and dessert carts venue-wide. Eventgoers can find the burgers, nachos and popcorn they’ve come to expect, but the concessions are anything but standard. Everything is made in-house and nothing is frozen. Hot dogs are made from Angus beef, sausage is served on a pretzel bun and pizza is prepared on French bread. For guests seeking more elevated offerings, a carving station churns out fresh fare like roast beef sandwiches or BBQ Pork Banh Mi, depending on the event.

Chef DeLucia develops unique menus for varying events often based on theme, from New York strip steak and popover rolls when Elton John performed, to barbecue and southern fare when country singers perform. Guests in private suites, boxes and clubs can purchase a catering package based on these menus in advance.

“Look at any arena around the country, and our food isn’t as good, it’s better,” says chef DeLucia. “We’re raising the bar. We keep creating.”

So while you won’t be disappointed if you come hungry, it doesn’t hurt that MGM's new The Park just outside of the arena plaza offers four restaurants in an inviting al fresco space. Fans can grab a beer and play a round of cornhole at the new Beerhaus beer garden or snack on starters at California Pizza Kitchen’s wide open deck and bar before a show or game, or spill out for revelry afterward.

The park’s location in between Monte Carlo and New York-New York puts parking and taxis well within walking distance, and MGM’s coming Monte Carlo Theater is under construction just across the street.

The entire area has all the right elements to be a destination attraction for visitors and locals alike, and the arena’s a place concertgoers and sports fans can arrive early to and stay late — on purpose.

Preview The Park Las Vegas