21,000 seat amphitheater planned for Las Cruces

While the city of El Paso’s downtown arena is caught in a legal battle, an effort to build a 21,000 seat amphitheater in Las Cruces is starting to take shape.

The area between A mountain and New Mexico State University’s golf course is for the most part undisturbed desert.

That will change if Barbara “Mother” Hubbard gets her way.

Her big plan started with the idea of building a competitive rodeo arena on the land which belongs to the college.

“I got to thinking, I am going to wrap a lawn around the back of it, then I have an amphitheater that I can use that can seat 21,000 people,” Hubbard said.

The amphitheater would be built in two phases at a cost of about $50 million and right now Mother Hubbard is looking for investors.

Hubbard said the amphitheater could be used about eight and a half months of the year.

And in the offseason she plans to rent 50 RV pads to snowbirds to bring in revenue.
Hubbard recently made a presentation to the university’s Board of Regents. The group has earmarked 55 acres for the project if the funding is secured.

Hubbard said the city of Las Cruces has also agreed to help with building roads.

Hubbard has a lot of friends in the entertainment industry from her years as NMSU’s director of special events. Country music legend George Strait is one. He’s agreed to perform at the amphitheater opening night and allow the use of his name as honorary chairperson.

But Hubbard’s project is meant to be educational as well.

She wants to create an academic degree program, working in tandem with UTEP, for students who want a career in performing arts, special events, or facility management.

Hubbard is the executive director of American Collegiate Talent Showcase (ACTS). The nonprofit raises money for scholarships. Country music stars Reba McEntire, George Strait and Brooks & Dunn have all contributed to the program.

“I mean the fact that it is located here so we can teach these young people here how to manage it. Even if they get the big arena down there (El Paso), they have to have personnel to run it. And how are these kids going to move through the system if they don’t know the knowledge of it?” Hubbard said.

Hubbard said the amphitheater could be used for everything from concerts, to rodeos to monster truck shows.

The Board of Regents has given her another year to come up with the funding.

The university’s master plan shows more of that area being developed for housing and retail.