Cher: "[a] well-preserved diva-saur." -- The New York Post

(Props to Jessica Roe for spotting this gem.)

MGM Mirage 2.0? Two separate companies, one in hotels and one in gaming? Makes sense, especially with so much non-casino expansion into Dubai and China. Besides, it might afford a graceful way around the potentially awkward problem of obtaining gaming licenses for Dubai World. After all, that Pansy Ho probe was still dragging along in New Jersey, last I heard. Had MGM Mirage been bifurcated earlier, perhaps Pansy could have been nominally responsible for the Macao hotel operations while MGM Mirage was titular owner of the casino.

It's an idea that merits further discussion. (Steve Friess got there first and has a just slightly different take.)

Keeping up with Friess. He's been way ahead of me on the unfolding Tropicana collapse. Interesting how the Columbia Sussex company line to Friess was "pure speculation" (i.e., a non-denial denial), even though Tropicana Entertainment had already confirmed it to The Associated Press. Sounds like another case of the ColSux left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing.

Friess has the official filing, too, and he's less than impressed with the new management team, seeing as their last gig was The Cosmopolitan, not a project renowned for its robust financial health.

Note that MGM Mirage's Alan Feldman tells Friess that acquiring The Trop is something "we have not considered," as though to say it's beneath MGM's notice. To say it's unlikely is one thing; to it's not even been thought about, quite another. (It would give MGM complete control of the "new" Four Corners at Tropicana Avenue and The Strip, though.)

Back during the Aztar bidding war, Feldman had been openly disappointed that Dan Lee and Pinnacle Entertainment didn't emerge victorious (see penultimate paragraph). Perhaps MGM would like to see a classy property on that corner -- just so long as somebody else goes to the trouble of buying and building it. After all, it's not like they don't have an iron or two in the fire already.

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