Last show of 2015:
Encore Players Club
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Sheldon Buys LVRJ
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One of the oddest Vegas Gang Podcasts yet (Not that there’s anything wrong with that.) Very interesting. Too much to remember, but:
Imo, the future of Vegas entertainment will be huge celebrity shows like at Caesars now and planned for Las Vegas Arena. Ticket sites already have events listed through January 2017. There is no need for Aria to have a theater once MGM Resorts controls big names coming into Vegas.
After reading about Encore Players Club on VegasTripping, hearing you guys talk about it and looking at it on Wynn’s site, I still don’t get it. However, one of you said something that makes a lot of sense. If it is successful, it may be expanded to take over Encore’s casino. That would leave Wynn’s casino as the traditional high roller place for older, more conservative clientele.
I’ve been following the Adelson newspaper saga closely, and I believe you’re going to see a huge turnover of reporters and editors because they have integrity and won’t bend under Adelson. Either they’ll leave on principle or will get pushed out by Adelson’s henchmen. Journalism has to be a tough business in a one-industry town, sort of like Detroit newspapers in the glory decades of the Big 3 auto manufacturers in the ’50s and ’60s.
Wish I felt as confident about Resorts World as some of you.
Thanks for another great year of Vegas Gang; looking forward to all the new episodes in 2016!
Aria will have 500,000 square feet of convention space once the new convention space is completed and in 2014 9% of the 41 million visitors to Las Vegas attended a convention/trade show. MGM Resorts International is also building a new 5,000 seat concert venue next door at the Monte Carlo so they probably think they already have enough entertainment options in Las Vegas.
Interesting topic about the new You Tube/social media stars that the Palms is promoting. This is a good idea for the Palms because they are 1 mile or so west of the Strip and it gives people a reason to visit their property.
Actually there were 5.2 million conventioneers in Las Vegas in 2014 and if you divide that by 41 million visitors it comes out to
around 12%.
Howard Stutz predictions article for 2016 said this: Here’s a shot in the dark: merger talks might heat up between two unusual partners — Genting and Wynn. A deal would give Wynn a location in Singapore — a market he coveted — and Genting a foothold into Macau. Macquarie Securities gaming analyst Chad Beynon liked the idea but considered it a long shot.
This is interesting also because Wynn would be part of the Resorts World Las Vegas project that Genting might start construction on sometime this year. $4 billion dollars seems like a lot of money for this ambitious project but with Steelman Partners designing Resorts World Las Vegas this should turn out fantastic.