I thought that following up all of the news and rumors from last week is going to be difficult. There’s so much happening in Las Vegas that I actually had to break out a section because the article would have been impossible to read. I probably should have done that today, but I didn’t. There’s a lot happening in the Las Vegas sports world, so let’s start there.

Big 3 Draft At Planet Hollywood

The NBA playoffs are just getting moving but there’s some hoops news in Las Vegas this week. The new Big 3, 3-on-3 basketball league will host their first draft lottery followed by a player draft at Planet Hollywood this week. The league will hold a draft lottery on April 28 and the draft on April 30.

I’m probably a bit too excited for the Big 3 League. If you’re not familiar, the Big 3 is a 3-on-3 basketball league with players from the past 20 years and eight teams. To date, more than 70 players have signed up to play in the Big 3. Some of the players include former NBA stars such as Latrell Sprewell, Charles Oakley, Chauncey Billups and Steve Francis. The eight teams will include 3’s Company, Three-Headed Monsters; Killer 3s; Ghost Ballers; Trilogy, Tri-State, Power and Ball Hogs. Hall of Fame basketball players Julius Erving, Clyde Drexler, George Gervin, and Gary Payton are scheduled to be coaches.

USA Today has a look at the teams and their logos. You can find more information on the league at big3.com. If you’re in Las Vegas this week, be on the lookout for a lot of tall dudes in their 40’s walking around the casinos. You can see more in the video below.

NFL In Las Vegas

By now, you should be aware that the NFL has given the Oakland Raiders permission to move to Las Vegas. They’re currently negotiating with the city to build a stadium. Even though they’re making progress, the deal isn’t done. The stadium doesn’t have a location and a timetable hasn’t been set. You can read more about negotiations at the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

There’s one immediate action that did come from the negotiations. This week at the NFL draft, the Raiders will be holding a draft event at the “Welcome To Fabulous Las Vegas” sign. They will be announcing their day three picks there on Sunday. Silver and Black Pride has more information and all the Raiders news you could want.

Major League Baseball Open To Las Vegas

Nothing is happening here. This shouldn’t be news but this is Las Vegas. Anyway, last week Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred said that if the league was looking to expand that Las Vegas would be on the list. Of course, Las Vegas is on the list. Who would defiantly say no to a city that offered more public money for an NFL stadium than any other city ever? You can read more here.

NHL Awards and Expansion Draft Happening In Las Vegas At Same Time

T-Mobile Arena will play host to the 2017 NHL Awards on June 21. The Vegas Golden Knights expansion draft will take place during the show. The players will apparently be chosen prior to the draft and announced during the show. This is a unique way to present the newest team in the league. You can find more information on the awards and draft at NHL.com.

Planet Hollywood Hotel Room Renovations Finally Complete

This renovation was initially set to be finished before 2016 was over. Well, all of the rooms at Planet Hollywood have been made over. The renovations look great. You can see pictures of the different room types at the Caesars Las Vegas blog.

Jim Murren Made Over $16 Million Last Year

MGM Resorts International CEO, Jim Murren received a 25% pay increase last year when he took home $16.6 million. The Las Vegas Review-Journal breaks out his base salary, cash bonus, and stock bonuses. Like most CEO’s and many corporate executives, his pay is tied to how the stock performs.

Yes, part of his drive to increase stock revenue is to increase his pay. This is just like every other CEO of a billion dollar corporation.

MGM Resorts Parking Fees Generated A Lot Of Money In 2016

Speaking of driving MGM Resorts Internation stock prices. Motley Fool did some very rough math to figure out approximately how much revenue parking fees generated for MGM Resorts International in 2016. Since MGM Resorts doesn’t itemize the revenue in their Profit Growth Plan it’s impossible to find an entirely accurate number. Having said that, they created an imperfect estimate with the information below:

1. Revenue per available room was $140. The total room revenue was $2.02 billion in 2016.
2. Assuming that on average the number of full-day self-serve parking customers equals the number hotel guests, a fee of $12 per guest would be about $173 million.

This estimate uses a flat rate for all parking and doesn’t account that only 54% of people who visited Las Vegas last year came by automobile according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. Only 16% of people visiting Las Vegas rented a car so not all hotel guests paid for parking.

However, the estimate doesn’t include valet charges, which are higher and local visitors who may have driven to a casino for dinner, shows, or meeting friends or colleagues. This could round out the estimate to be closer than it appears.

Having said all of this, the estimate of $173 million does offer some insight into how much revenue paid parking can generate for a large casino company like MGM Resorts International. Caesars Entertainment could see similar revenue in 2017 while the Cosmopolitan might see about 10% of this number. The revenue number for MGM Resorts this year will be even greater. In addition to increasing prices, they will see a full year of revenue from parking fees.

Hopefully, it will be a few more years before casino operators have to dig around looking for a new source of revenue.

I’ve Got Pac-Man Fever

Ainsworth will be releasing a series of slot machines featuring Namco games. The first game on slated to be released is a Pac-Man slot machine! Specific dates and locations of the Pac-Man Wild haven’t been released yet but you can expect to see it in a few months.

This isn’t a skill based slot machine but a slot machine that uses imagery from the original video game. You can read more about it the game at Casino Center.

Namco is now called BANDAI NAMCO and this relationship could give Ainsworth access to a ton of video games. However, I’d love to see more vintage games like Galaga, Galaxian, and Pole Position. My mom would love to see Ms. Pac Man and Dig Dug. You can see a full list of the older games here.

Expanded Quick Hits

Las Vegas might get a light rail someday connecting LAS to downtown Las Vegas. Don’t hold your breath. You can read more about the light rail here. If you’re looking for a cheap way to get from LAS to downtown Las Vegas try the bus. The fine folks at the Fremont Street Experience have more information here.

The Linq is hosting a cornhole tournament. The prize pool is $5,000. Put this tournament in the mix with beer pong, frogger, chess, and golf and you’ve got a sweet wave of skill-based contests in Las Vegas. You can read the cornhole tournament press release here.

PlayStudios announced a big update for MyVegas and their other games. You can read the press release about the update(s) here.

Is the Vegas All-Inclusive Caesars TOTAL DEAL actually a good deal? A very brief analysis.

Aces of Comedy at the Mirage will host another one of my favorite touring comedians. Iliza Shlesinger will perform at the casino on September 3rd. You can read more here.

Reports of the death of outdoor concerts at the Cosmopolitan may have come too soon. They recently announced S.P.F at the Boulevard Pool. The concert will take place on May 20 and feature DNCE, Jason Derulo and others. You can read more information on tickets and other performers here.

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