Don’t like the misshapen circles which now represent Caesars Entertainment? Well, get used to them, especially if you’re a New Orleans Saints fan. The casino giant is dickering with the Mercedes-Benz Superdome for naming rights, although Saints and New Orleans Pelicans Senior Vice President of Communications Greg Bensel grumps that “there is not a signed deal with any company at this time. We continue to have conversations with numerous interested companies.” Yes, but how many of them are as heavily invested in the New Orleans area as Caesars? Its Kate Whiteley demurred that “we have nothing to share beyond our current, valuable relationship with the teams.” There’s also the question of throwing tens of millions (at least $60 million) at naming rights at a time when Caesars casinos are snowballing a reputation as outdated, unkempt properties … something that company itself has obliquely acknowledged. (Former CEO Gary Loveman ran the company into the ground and successor Mark Frissora was mainly tasked with rearranging debt, er, deck chairs on this particular Titanic.)
At present, Harrah’s New Orleans is the subject of a $400 million renovation and expansion, which will culminate in its renaming as Caesars New Orleans. One thing that we like about CEO Tom Reeg is that, unlike Loveman, he’s not shy about deploying the prestigious Caesars brand name, previously reserved for really important destinations like … Windsor, Ontario. The Superdome would be the fourth, casino-affiliated stadium in major league sports, joining Gila River Arena (hockey’s Arizona Coyotes), Mohegan Sun Arena (home of the WNBA‘s Connecticut Sun) and Hard Rock Stadium, venue of the Miami Dolphins. The makeshift home of the Las Vegas Aces—Mandalay Bay Event Center—doesn’t count. While it might not be the highest and best use of CZR bucks, we see no reason not to have a Caesars Superdome, do you?
Fans of the Arizona Diamondbacks, Phoenix Suns and Arizona Coyotes will be bereft if they try to tune in Fox Sports Arizona. No, the telecasts aren’t gone but Fox Sports AZ is. It’s been rebranded as Bally Sports Arizona, quite a coup for Bally’s Corp., which got the overarching naming rights darned cheap: $88 million for 10 years nationwide. And it’s not just Arizona: All Fox Sports regional networks are going over to the Bally brand, symbolic of the omnipresence of sports betting in the U.S. Fox Sports GO is also Bally’s-branded now. The move has nothing to do with national Fox Sports and everything to do with Sinclair Broadcasting Group, which owns the rights to the regional webs and liked the color of Bally’s money.
Speaking of Bally’s, its Richmond casino proposal is—as we mentioned earlier this week—one of the few left on the table. Going in Bally’s favor its its willingness to spend large ($650 million) and to front the city $100 million. Better still, its design has the “wow” factor that Urban One‘s sadly lacks, despite a lot of big talk. But what of those casino proposals that didn’t make the cut. The Pamunkey Tribe already has a solid foothold in Norfolk and its almost contemptuous level of proposed spend on Richmond—$350 million—surely doomed it. Wind Creek has very little Class III experience, which probably undid it, despite an offer to spend $547 million and build the most hotel rooms. Then were was Golden Nugget, which didn’t offer much investment (only $400 million) and, worse still, didn’t have a site. (Bally’s had dibbed it.) Tilman Fertitta needed more than bluster to elbow his way in.
Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale, the most “george” sports bettor in the U.S., is going all in for the home-town, second-seeded Houston Cougars, putting $1 million on them to win the NCAA tournament. Knowing McIngvale, he’s going to up that wager if the Cougars advance. Alas for Texas, he has to place his bets in Colorado at Mardi Gras Casino, since the Lone Star State still lacks sports betting. If McIngvale wins, he collects $9 million from DraftKings, which says it’s the largest flutter on college b-ball the site has ever accepted. (The consequent publicity doesn’t hurt, either.) He won nearly $3 million on the Super Bowl, taking the points on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who came through for Mattress Mack in historic fashion. He’s an even savvier horse player, too.
Jottings: Sheldon Adelson‘s MSG Sphere moves closer and closer to fruition. Massive roof trusses are now in position … Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers (D) has green-lit a $405 million tribal casino in Beloit (above). The project includes a water park, Ho-Chunk-branded casino and convention center. The news made backers of Rockford‘s stalled Hard Rock Casino fume even more. However, the Ho-Chunk still have to clear the federal land-into-trust hurdle, no small obstacle. Meanwhile, construction of a temporary casino in Rockford is promised “soon” … Sports betting in Wyoming, already approved in the state House of Representatives, has cleared the state Senate. Unfortunately, the Lege must approve it twice more before sending to the governor’s desk. The bill would tax operators at 10% … Between March 14 and 20, hotel occupancy in the U.S. reached its highest level since March of last year, when all hell broke loose. Last week’s numbers show occupancy running at 59% with an average daily rate of $108. Tampa and Miami led the pack (85% and 81% respectively), although the numbers are still well shy of 2019 marks … Exacta Systems, supplier of Class II “instant horse racing” games to Kentucky Downs and other venues in the Bluegrass State and elsewhere, had its machines declared unconstitutional last year. It seems to have found a workaround by sub licensing Scientific Games products. SGMS content will be mounted on Exacta machines.
It’s Manatee Awareness Day today, honoring our favorite animal, the curious and gentle herbivore that plies the waters of the Southeast. Your bucket list should include a trip to Crystal River, Florida, to swim with manatees. Once you’ve seen them up close your life will never be the same.