Harrah’s has dropped out of a partnership with AEG to build a new 20,000-seat arena in Las Vegas designed to lure an NHL expansion franchise. The void left by Harrah’s has been filled by a consortium comprised of Hollywood film producer Jerry Bruckheimer, MGM Studios CEO Harry Sloan and Wall Street financier David Bonderman to allow the new partnership to assume the $500 million risk needed to build the arena. As reported by Muret and Mickle of the Sports Business Journal: When the joint venture was announced in August 2007, Harrah’s CEO Gary Loveman said the arena was part of the casino’s master plan in Vegas. The site, one block east of the Strip outside the city limits, is key because it’s within walking distance of 200,000 hotel rooms, Leiweke said. One year later, Harrah’s is out as arena developer in part because NHL executives believe it needs to be a stand-alone project, one source said. If one casino operator is exclusively involved, it would be difficult to sell arena inventory to its gaming competitors, knowing that Harrah’s would keep part of that revenue.
AEG has set 2010 as the targeted opening date for the facility to open, but as Daren Libonati, general manager at Thomas and Mack Center who has been involved in talks with AEG about the project said, “It’s been a rough scenario,” in reference to getting through dissecting Harrah’s and Bonderman’s group, adding,“Nobody’s in a hurry to fail.”
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