Lauding the benefits of professional sports, casino executives from Wynn Resorts and Red Rock Resorts discussed the prospects of an NBA franchise being awarded to Las Vegas and how that will help tourism as the A’s baseball relocation to the Strip takes place in 2028.
“There are a number of different benefits we get from it and a lot of interest as these professional teams come to Las Vegas,” Lorenzo Fertitta, vice chair of the board of Red Rock Resorts said during a second quarter earnings call Tuesday. “They generate and draw a lot of fans and help the overall hotel room base for the city. For us specifically, we’ve had a lot of success partnering up with the Golden Knights. There’s a lot of fan base and affinity for the Golden Knights here. Obviously, the Raiders have been great as well. We do have a lot of the visiting NFL teams staying at our properties. I think you will see more of the same with the A’s and potentially with an NBA franchise coming to Las Vegas. I think when you start to get that amount of activity, Las Vegas is really turning into an events’ city. That’s what’s driving a lot of these weekends, whether it’s a major sporting event, a fight, and entertainment. There’s always something going on.”
Fertitta said it helps with Red Rock’s high-end play, adding that their properties get more robust business on their table games. Anytime there’s a large boxing event or UFC fight they benefit, he noted.
“People flying in stay with us at Red Rock, Durango, and Green Valley Ranch,” Fertitta said. “From a local standpoint, our casino marketing department does a good job taking a lot of our higher-end local guests to Golden Knights and to Raider games. We use them as other casino properties do as a benefit and amenity to create brand loyalty and excite our guests about playing with us and staying with us. Overall, it’s a big net benefit.”
Wynn Resorts CEO Craig Billings responded to a question from a Wall Street analyst about resort properties, such as Caesars Entertainment and others, doing partnerships to build an arena for a potential NBA franchise coming to Las Vegas. The analyst wondered if Wynn would partner with someone and use its vacant land across the Strip from Wynn Las Vegas for an arena. Billings said they have no plans for an arena, but would benefit from more sports teams coming.
“If you think about the various sports teams in Las Vegas, you can think about leagues that tend to have a very high game count,” Billings said. “Those leagues tend to be more locals teams. The NFL has a very limited game count and those games tend to occur on or around weekends. It is the latter category – the Raiders in particular – that are most beneficial, in my humble opinion, to the town, because they drive visitation and in particular to us, they drive premium visitation for a subset of customers that go to those games.
“The NBA sits somewhere in between,” Billings said. “We would love to see an NBA franchise in Las Vegas. We obviously want to be very supportive of whoever ends to the extent it happens with the NBA owning that franchise. We would play the same role we play with the Raiders. We tend to get the premium end of the visitation and folks who are affiliated with the league and opposing teams when they’re in town. They’re great customers and good for our business.”
Billings was also asked about Tilman Fertitta’s move to acquire Caesars Entertainment and take them private and about Barry Diller’s People Inc.’s attempt to acquire MGM Resorts International. The Wall Street analyst asked how that might change the competitive landscape in Las Vegas.
Billings said the deals are a reflection of the undervaluation of the gaming industry. As for the impact of any operators going private, Billings said, “That ship sailed a long time ago,” with a set of public companies in the past that owned their real estate. There’s a mix that has led to fragmentation in values, he said.
“It’s quite difficult to compare over the past 10 years,” Billings said. “That creates complications for investors. I don’t think having a smaller set of public comparables makes it any more or less complicated.”
