MGM Resorts has built a Sports Arena on the Las Vegas Strip – but …. ummm, let’s see … it seems that the corporate dunderheads who run that company kinda forgot something – seems they left out an important part of that plan. Now … what could that be?
Oh yeah – Parking!
I can just see the thinking in the Board Room.
Great plan there, Boss!
So say the legions of brown-nosed executives as they wallow at the feet of Jim Murren, licking his boots to a pristine shine.
And don’t worry about that parking thing! We’ll think of something.
But what?
Oh, yeah … we got it!
Let’s stick it to the Customers!
Yes, that’s it! Let’s flood the parking garages with people who DON’T gamble, so that all the people that DO gamble will now have to pay to park there – and so pay for the privilege of losing money in our casinos!
Perfect!
That’s how we can squeeze more money from this money-pit of a project – stick it to the guests! What do you say, Boss?
Jim Murren must have been drooling with excitement at that idea!
He has already invested yet more hundreds of millions of his investor’s money into building a PARK, in between New York New York and the Monte Carlo! A Park! With walkways, trees, statues, fountains, cafes, and whatnot.
Why?!
So that people who come to Las Vegas – to experience CASINOS – now have yet another place to go where they DON’T gamble?
I can just hear that discussion in the Board Room. Ummm, Boss … We have this idea, see, where we can waste another $500 million or so of our investors’ money by destroying and wasting a huge portion of our Real Estate holdings along the Las Vegas Strip – by building a Park there!
What’s even better, is that we won’t have ANY parking there! So, along with the Sports Arena, we will now have wasted nearly a Billion, while at the same time keeping as many players OUT of the casinos, and forcing them into the Arena and into the Park – and then … get this now, it’s a doozey! … we’ll make sure that they CAN’T PARK anywhere!
And when they get really angry over it, we’ll charge them $10 just to go into one of the parking garages we already have.
Yes, we know these were supposed to be for the CASINO players and guests – but heck, who cares about them, right? I mean, you want all the casinos out anyway, right? I mean, you’re an East Coast guy anyhow, and you’ve wanted to destroy everything and anything that was unique about Las Vegas anyhow, so why not, right?
And I can just see Jim Murren drooling with pride over his minions, and how well trained they are in all things that kill Las Vegas.
So what has all this actually achieved?
It cost MGM’s investors billions. Their stock is in the toilet, and dropping, the company has had to “restructure” by shifting itself into REIT’s, they have alienated their entire client base, caused a worldwide anger against themselves and their properties and plans, and – worst of all – have disrespected the founding visionaries of Las Vegas by this insanity and sheer stupidity.
Well, at least so it seems – unless, of course – as a journalistic conjecture – you realize that Jim Murren’s plan has been all of this all along. He’s been wanting to destroy Las Vegas, and his company, so that he can then move back East, and brown-nose it with his Banker and Hedge Fund buddies as they gloat over how well the plan worked: Short the stock, destroy the business, leverage the real estate, and then plunder it!
Hasn’t anyone seen the movie “The Big Short?”
Hasn’t anyone learned anything from what is still happening at Caesars Entertainment?
Are the investors and the regulators so blind that they just don’t see what’s happening in front of their eyes?
Well, I guess not.
They seem to be just that – deaf, dumb, and blind. To everything, and to all of it.
Why can I say this?
Well, all you have to do is listen to the latest proposal by Clark County Commissioner Chris Giunchigliani. Her latest “brilliant” idea?
Turn the Las Vegas Strip into a pedestrian MALL!
Seriously!
I mean, really? Just how STUPID can you people get?
Not only because of the transportation logistics, and the fact that there is no infrastructure in place to handle all that displaced traffic, but to yet again legislate to kill the thrill of cruising the Strip?
Already – thanks to Giunchigliani and her cronies – we have those idiotic trees lining the Strip, and blocking out what’s left of the Neon.
So much for the Neon Jungle, that once could be seen even from Space.
THAT’S what made Las Vegas famous, and a destination unlike any other.
So what do we have now?
A Sports Arena, with no parking.
A Park with walkways, statues, fountains, and cafes – and no parking.
The Las Vegas Strip lined with trees, and no real Neon. Just advertising signs for Drug Stores.
And now – yet another Shopping Mall in front of the Wynn and Encore. Like Las Vegas needs yet another shopping mall!
And what about the casinos?
Oh yeah! You mean that old thing – that, whatever it was, that was once there, right? I mean, Las Vegas is now just another Convention Destination, right? I mean, it’s now the same as every other city, right? I mean, every city everywhere has Parks, Sports Arenas, tree-lined walkways, and Shopping Malls, right? So what’s different about Las Vegas?
Nothing. That’s what. Not now. Not anymore.
Didn’t Las Vegas used to be something? I mean, something really nice, and unique?
Whatever happened to that?
Who killed Las Vegas?
And why?
Victor H. Royer is President of Gaming Services & Research and can be reached at: DrVHR@aol.com
