By Jeanne Brei
LVCVA Approves $600 Million Renovation for 2023
The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority board of directors approved its 2022-2023 budget on May 23, including funds for the previously announced nearly $600 million renovation of the LVCC’s North and South halls.
A major part of the renovation will be construction of a climate-controlled corridor linking the North, Central and South halls and, fortunately, the LVCVA has scheduled construction around major conventions so that they won’t have to go elsewhere during the renovations.
Delayed by the lockdowns, renovating the LVCC will keep the venue up to the standards required to host the largest of conventions.
MSG Sphere Tops Off with Late 2023 Opening on Schedule
On May 24, crews working on the first-of-its kind MSG Sphere topped off the massive Las Vegas entertainment venue. Owner MSG Entertainment says that topping off the venue’s steel exosphere (the outer skeleton of the building) is a key milestone that marks the completion of primary structural work. The Sphere has already inked a deal for content with Formula One when the races come to Las Vegas in November 2023.
Once complete the $1.3 billion venue is expected to be the largest spherical structure in the world at 366-feet tall and 516-feet wide. According to MSG Entertainment, the exosphere will be covered with approximately 580,000 square feet of fully-programmable LED paneling, which will form the largest LED screen in the world, allowing the Sphere to entertain inside, and out.
Inside, the 17,500-seat venue (with a scalable capacity of approximately 20,000 with a mix of seated and standing), will have a high-resolution display plane, which is larger than three football fields, the world’s largest beam-forming audio system with 164,000 individual speakers, employing a technology that will make the audio sound as if it’s being directed at you and delivering superior sound to every seat in the house. The audience will be surrounded by nearly four acres of video screens made up of one of the highest resolution screens in the world enjoying total immersion.
Outgoing Cosmo CEO Spends $27 Million on Bonuses for Every Employee
The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas surprised all of its 5,400 employees with a $5,000 bonus at an employee appreciation and awards buffet on May 11—totaling more than $27 million.
The employees were waiting to see which lucky employee would receive the $5,000 bonus – when Retiring resort President and CEO Bill McBeath (pictured left) surprised them by saying, “Congratulations to… every one of you!” A confetti cannon then began shooting into the crowd of cheering employees.
McBeath says the resort had donated more than $9 million to charities during the last seven years. He also awarded vacation trips to San Diego and Hawaii to two company employees: Staci Stafford, a housekeeping worker trainer, and Samira Harbali, a server at the resort.
New York-based private equity firm Blackstone owns the approximately 3,000-room, two-tower property located between the MGM’s Bellagio and CityCenter. It plans in coming weeks to complete a $1.6 billion sale of property operations to casino giant MGM Resorts International.
