Madison Square Garden execs have announced that they're planning to build a 17,500-seat arena just off the Vegas strip in a partnership between Madison Square Garden Co., Sands Corp., Azoff MSG Entertainment, Michael Rapino's Live Nation and entertainment advisory firm Oak View Group, it was revealed this morning.

Located on Sands Ave. between Manhattan St. and Koval Lane, the new venue is expected to be a whopping 400k square feet, making it the world's largest venue built specifically for music and entertainment. For comparison, L.A.'s recently revitalized Forum is 330k square feet.

Apparently, all seats in the new venue will be in front of the stage, which is of course atypical for most sports arenas. The seating capacity will be scalable and is expected to accommodate a wide variety of shows, ranging from 4,000-17,500 attendees.

Permits are still being cleared, but “[they're] probably a couple of years away,” claimed Irving Azoff, who also shared, "We believe this opportunity in Las Vegas, which welcomes more than 40 million people a year, will take this model to a whole new level. Las Vegas is known for many things, but until now its entertainment options did not include a state-of-the-art, large-scale destination created specifically for major concerts. That will change with this never-before-seen venue, which will be an experience in itself, bringing people to Vegas for the biggest concerts and events in the world."

“Through our experience with the Forum, we’ve realized that there’s a real need for venues that focus specifically on music and entertainment," explained Madison Square Garden Co. Executive Chairman James L. Dolan. "Now we’re taking what we’ve learned and expanding MSG’s portfolio of celebrated venues into key markets, where we can use our building expertise, operational excellence and industry relationships to ensure they become thriving destinations that continue to set the standard for entertainment. Las Vegas, as an underserved concert market, is an opportunity that Irving Azoff cultivated and brought to our attention. With his continued involvement, and our relationship with Sands, we look forward to creating a world-class venue that exceeds the expectations of both artists and music fans.”