Here’s what’s on our MGM Springfield casino playlist this week:
At Last: MGM executives cleared two major hurdles on Aug. 6, when the Massachusetts Gaming Commission voted to approve a historic preservation agreement between the company and local and state historical commissions — which means that final site plans can finally be developed — and also to grant MGM a one-year extension on opening the complex, to avoid opening before the completion of repairs to the adjacent stretch of Interstate 91. This would mean an open date of September 2018.
Don’t raze any buildings just yet — $800 million buys a lot of red tape, so MGM must now seek approval from Mayor Sarno and the Springfield city council to amend the casino opening date in the Host Community Agreement.
Hopefully this won’t happen again. State officials expect the I-91 work to be done in 2017 — although, as MGM Springfield President Michael Mathis pointed out, the end date listed in the construction company’s contract still says August 2018. Knowing how massive projects like this come together, we’re guessing the deadlines will all sync up perfectly and this will be the last we’ll hear about it.
Fight For Your Right: On Aug. 4, MGM filed a suit against Connecticut governor Dannel Malloy, arguing that the go-ahead he gave to the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes to seek an additional casino license in that state was unconstitutional. MGM, it turns out, would like to consider getting in on the casino game in Connecticut. Company president Bill Hornbuckle said in a statement: “While our company is supportive of tribal gaming as permitted under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act … Connecticut gives two preferred tribes an unfair and unjustified preferential treatment by designating them as the only entities, tribal or commercial, authorized to negotiate … for a new casino on non-reservation land in Connecticut.” For a man named like a dandy in a Dickens novel, Hornbuckle is surprisingly quick to get down to brass tacks.
We’re in the Money: MGM is carrying $12.5 billion in long-term debt, but there’s no need to be a Debbie Downer about it. Following a report of strong second-quarter profits this year, CEO Jim Murren told the Associated Press that some cost-cutting could yield an extra $300 million annually by 2017. He called it a “seminal internal transformation,” which sounds to us like a Marvin Gaye lyric fed through Google Translate.
What does Murren mean? For one thing, he said, MGM will be more selective about the towel and linen brands used in the rooms at its resorts. Why should guests have their choice of different towels at the Bellagio and the Aria? What do they think this is, a Holiday Inn?•
How else should MGM Resorts pay down its multi-billion dollar debt? Send your thoughts to hstyles@valleyadvocate.com
