You may have read this story in the morning "newspaper" about MGM Resorts curbing its enthusiasm for the UNLV stadium project.
And now, as Paul Harvey used to say, for the rest of the story:
Last Friday, stadium guru Don Snyder and Majestic Realty's Craig Cavileer made a presentation to the Nevada Resort Association, of which MGM Resorts is a member. It did not go well, I'm told.
Although NRA boss Virginia Valentine was diplomatic in the RJ story, I'm reliably informed that there was near-unanimous skepticism about the deal. That is, that most gamers who heard the presentation felt the same way as MGM Resorts described itself, that it could only support a stadium that is "appropriately configured and responsibly financed."
Said one person with knowledge of what occurred: The NRA is supportive of "a stadium concept," although not necessarily this one; and, the group found the financial aspects to be "inadequate and unrealistic."
It's clear that the gamers, always protective of the room tax, don't want any of it diverted to an off-Strip project of questionable benefit to any of them. But these folks understand complex financing schemes all too well -- and they weren't buying.
This is not just MGM; it's all of them -- or at least most of them. "Nearly every member is in the same place," one insider told me.
This is big trouble for Snyder, who generally has good Strip connections and who was able to make an impossible dream like the Smith Center come true. But this one, it now seems, has become much more quixotic.
You may have read this story in the morning "newspaper" about MGM Resorts curbing its enthusiasm for the UNLV stadium project.
And now, as Paul Harvey used to say, for the rest of the story:
Last Friday, stadium guru Don Snyder and Majestic Realty's Craig Cavileer made a presentation to the Nevada Resort Association, of which MGM Resorts is a member. It did not go well, I'm told.
Although NRA boss Virginia Valentine was diplomatic in the RJ story, I'm reliably informed that there was near-unanimous skepticism about the deal. That is, that most gamers who heard the presentation felt the same way as MGM Resorts described itself, that it could only support a stadium that is "appropriately configured and responsibly financed."
Said one person with knowledge of what occurred: The NRA is supportive of "a stadium concept," although not necessarily this one; and, the group found the financial aspects to be "inadequate and unrealistic."
It's clear that the gamers, always protective of the room tax, don't want any of it diverted to an off-Strip project of questionable benefit to any of them. But these folks understand complex financing schemes all too well -- and they weren't buying.
This is not just MGM; it's all of them -- or at least most of them. "Nearly every member is in the same place," one insider told me.
This is big trouble for Snyder, who generally has good Strip connections and who was able to make an impossible dream like the Smith Center come true. But this one, it now seems, has become much more quixotic.
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