Review-Journal reporters Elaine Wilson, Todd Prince and Jason Bracelin discuss the latest news surrounding the Mandalay Bay and a website selling Las Vegas benefit concert tickets.
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The newly relocated Las Vegas WNBA franchise will begin play in the 2018 season. New owners MGM Resorts will integrate a professional franchise into Las Vegas’ busy sports landscape that’s shared with the 51s, Lights FC, Golden Knights and Raiders. Here are some of the expectations and challenges the team will have. 1. Ticket prices: The key to any sports franchise is selling season tickets and group outings. For Las Vegas’ team, that starts with locals. “(You don’t) just open the doors and tell everybody you’ve got a game and stand there waiting to sell tickets,” 51s president Don Logan said. “You’ve got to get out, you’ve got to get out into the community and you’ve got to do everything we do. There’s no easy way.” Last year, San Antonio charged $12 to $165 for single-game tickets for 17 home games. 2. Creating an identity: Coach Bill Laimbeer inherits a team from San Antonio that hasn’t made the playoffs or had a winning season since 2012. Las Vegas’ team is also a franchise that lost its first 14 games last season before finishing a league-worst 8-26. 3. Patience will be required: Will they have to fill all 12,000 seats at Mandalay Bay for the season to be deemed successful? “They have to be realistic,” Connecticut Sun CEO Mitchell Etess said. “If they could get 5,000 bodies into every single game, that would be pretty good for the first year.”
The SLS Las Vegas hasn’t turned a profit since opening in 2014 and is on the ‘verge of bankruptcy,’ according to a lawsuit. The lawsuit was filed in Los Angeles County by 60 Chinese nationals who lent money to the project in exchange for citizenship. The investors lent roughly $400 million and each investor paid $45,000 in administration fees. The plaintiffs are seeking $255 million in damages plus attorney fees and other costs. The plaintiff’s investment is at risk of being completely wiped out and some plaintiffs will not be able to get their permanent green cards.
Months after a mass shooting took the lives of 58 people, Las Vegas’ Mandalay Bay still grapples with the effects. Several restaurants and amenities in the hotel are taking longer breaks this holiday season. The spa, which shut for five days last year, will be closed for a month. One restaurant will be closed for lunch for six weeks. A restaurateur says revenue in the six weeks after the shooting was down 30 to 50%. The hotel closed several floors this holiday season, including the 32nd, where the shooter stayed. Hundreds of workers’ hours were cut. Many full-time employees were put on a reserve list. The hotel boosted security, including more undercover officers. Meanwhile, Mandalay Bay’s average room price for December is up 5%.
Formula One racing may be coming to Las Vegas. According to documents obtained by the Review-Journal, Formula One Licensings has filed trademark applications for merchandise and other items related to a proposed Las Vegas Grand Prix A city tourism official said the possibility of Formula One returning to Las Vegas is only speculation at this point, but a Formula One spokesman confirmed Las Vegas is on its radar as a future race site. *quote* The timetable for adding a U.S. race or races to the schedule is not known, nor has a location for a proposed Las Vegas race been identified.
The Oct. 1 mass shooting that occurred at the Mandalay Bay raised questions about how the hotel would weather the stigma of the shooting. (Nicole Raz/Las Vegas Review-Journal)