Daren Libonati often speaks of the importance in understanding the needs of others as the key ingredient to cultivating successful partnerships, commonly saying that, “We must always give more than a receipt.”
Libonati began his career 36 years ago as an intern in the parking lot of the Thomas & Mack Center. After a few short years this dedication paid off and he was promoted to Director of Booking. In this position, Libonati worked to become familiar with the world of arena & stadium management. Establishing relationships and special events, with all the boxing promoters, and concert touring professionals.
Libonati moved to become the Director of Booking for two buildings he assisted in opening. The MGM’s Grand Garden Arena (1993 – 1996) and later VP of Entertainment of Primm’s Star of the Desert Arena (1996-1998). Daren was instrumental in establishing a diverse entertainment brand in both venues, by developing MGM’s boxing program while cultivating concert events with each venue. He also accepted a high-level ticketing position with ETM before returning to the Thomas & Mack in 1998, as the Associate Arena Director over seeing all Booking, Marketing & Special Events.
In August of 2001, Daren was named Executive Director of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas three special events venues: the Thomas & Mack Center, Sam Boyd Stadium and Cox Pavilion. Libonati brought a diverse arena management experience to the position and played a prime role in the current success of these facilities. Through many events, most notably the NBA All-Star Game, Championship Boxing, Vegoose music festival, Supercross and Monster Truck Finals, Professional Bull Riding (PBR), USA Rugby Sevens, and the creation of what is called today, the NBA Summer League.
In 2002 he utilized his experience in ticketing and launched a first of its kind in-house ticketing business called UNLVtickets.com. In-house ticketing was a first for major venue operators in a time where 3rd party partners like Ticketmaster paid for the exclusivity of the ticket business.
In September of 2010, Libonati became the President/COO of Justice Entertainment Group (JEG) The team, booked and cultivated many special events, concerts to several properties in the Las Vegas and Laughlin markets. Libonati, accomplished a huge first in the sports and entertainment world of Las Vegas when he promoted an International Soccer event featuring the world’s most sought after team Real Madrid, with Cristiano Ronaldo vs. Santos Laguna of Mexico in August 2012. The event drew 30,000 fans to Sam Boyd Stadium.
In April of 2013, Libonati created his own company which secured contracts with Laughlin to build a 10,000 seat amphitheater and one with MGM to build, produce and facilitate outdoor events. The festivals were built from ground zero. These diverse entertainment experiences included; Rock in Rio, Route 91 Harvest Festival, iHeart Music Festival, ACM Party for a Cause, Wine Amplified, Boulevard Brew Fest, to name a few.
In 2016, Libonati joined MGM full time as the Vice President of Entertainment & Sports with a focus on the outdoor and festival business. In 2019, Libonati orchestrated a deal with GoldenVoice, that delivered Day N Vegas, which 180,000 guests attended over three days.
With the new Allegiant Stadium in our back yard, the LEG team created a new venue experience. The MGM Tailgate site, which accommodated the visiting teams, through an assortment of hospitality experiences for special events and convention business, utilizing all the festival assets, stage, sound, lights, vip experiences and personal vip locations.
At the same time LEG was managing and building the Tailgate experience, Libonati Co-Founded, Jampack, a fintech platform to help event organizers by turning their ticket into something more – an experience their attendees are looking for and will remember forever.
It was inevitable that this team would enable organizers globally to bundle everything from the event ticket to hotels, restaurants, entertainment, and add-on or inclusions of your choice from start to finish.
In three years, the company has grown from 3 to 85, with sales of over 150k packages, and in 2023 paid out to its partners and clients $12m dollars.