MGM Grand built the original monorail line between itself and Bally's in 1994 and 1995; the inaugural run took place in June 1995. It cost MGM Grand $25 million to construct the one-mile line to public-transportation standards; MGM correctly expected it to be extended at some point in the future into a major transportation system. The free train cars, bought from Disney, ran for seven and a half years, carried 40 million passengers, and closed in January 2003 when the rest of the Las Vegas Strip monorail started going up.
At the time, MGM Grand executives were happy to turn the system over to the monorail company.
We haven't heard anything that indicates MGM Mirage is building or even financing the proposed extension of the monorail to the airport and as you point out, it simply wouldn't be feasible, especially since the extension, as you also point out, will cost a cool billion or so. In addition, we doubt that it's even possible, given that the monorail company is already planning its own airport line (as well as lines to downtown and the west side of the Strip).
The Las Vegas Strip Monorail is struggling, but we believe that, as time goes along and it continues to perform without any hitches, it will come into its own. And when the McCarran line opens (perhaps in the next five years), it will be a huge boon for the monorail company and a major mitigation of the traffic problems in the Las Vegas tourist corridor.
