UNLV Las Vegas Themed Football Field

UNLV has a new Las Vegas themed football field. It appears to be inspired by the Googie architecture that was present in so many classic Las Vegas hotels.

The field's yard line numbers feature diamonds reminiscent of the old Stardust sign.

The 50 yard line has a star similar to the one on the famous Welcome To Las Vegas sign. The sign itself is also painted in each end-zone.

UNLV's football coach tweeted this picture of the field before their first home game of the season a few weeks ago:

Pete Rose Bar and Grill

Pete Rose has opened a restaurant in Las Vegas. In an interview with Robin Leach he introduced Pete Rose Bar and Grill, which will be open 24 hours a day.

The location is across the street from CityCenter, at the Hawaiian Marketplace. Although the official grand opening is in a few weeks, the restaurant is apparently open and ready for business.

Pete Rose Bar and Grill features dishes from places Pete Rose played baseball. For example Cincinnati Chili, Philly Cheese-steaks, and Montreal Poutine. Wait, Pete Rose played for the Montreal Expos?

It's also a good place to watch sports with 32 TV's - but you won't be able to bet on games here. Pete's still trying to get into the hall of fame after all.

I'm having trouble deciding if I think this will be successful or not. It's a good location on the Strip, but people tend to walk right on past the Hawaiian Marketplace without stopping. I think there was a failed sports-bar in this location previously, but they didn't have Pete Rose's name on the door and possibly Pete himself hanging out there.

September 2015 Las Vegas Stock Recap

With the calendar now showing October 2015, let's take a look back and see how Las Vegas stocks did in the month of September.

Boyd Gaming was the only stock I track that was up in September. It's performance was likely buoyed by strong trends in downtown and the Las Vegas locals market.

Penn National was brought down by the rest of the sector, but since they don't have any international exposure they weren't down as much as the others.

MGM Resorts International was down almost ten percent. Their exciting upcoming projects including the Las Vegas Arena and The Park were overshadowed by their exposure to Macau, which was weak.

Las Vegas Sands and Wynn Resorts both declined significantly again in September. Along with general softness in Macau, reports of troubles in the high end junket market has sent these two stocks into a tailspin.

Caesars Entertainment was the big winner in August soaring an incredible 83.3%. They came crashing back down to earth in September though falling 38.32%. The Caesars bankruptcy proceedings are very uncertain at this point, and it looks like investors are becoming less certain of a turnaround.

Company	Symbol	Start	End	Change
Boyd	BYD	16.10	16.30	+1.24%
Penn	PENN	18.16	16.78	-7.60%
MGM	MGM	20.43	18.45	-9.69%
Sands	LVS	46.23	37.95	-17.91%
Wynn	WYNN	75.05	53.12	-29.22%
Caesars	CZR	9.55	5.89	-38.32%

August 2015 Revenue and Visitation Numbers

August 2015 Gaming Revenue and Visitor Statistics have been released.

Las Vegas visitation was up slightly increasing +1.6% in August year over year. Citywide occupancy was also up slightly (+0.7%) but surprisingly average room rates and revenue per available room were down somewhat significantly (-5.8% and -5% respectively). Total room nights occupied were flat. I'm pretty surprised that room rates dropped, especially considering that convention attendance was +26.1% year over year.

Downtown however was strong with occupancy (+5.3%), average daily rate (+6.8%), and revenue per available room (+14.3%) all trending upwards.

Air traffic was also up again in August, increasing +7.2% year over year.

Gaming revenue on the Strip was down -4.65%. Every major table game was down double digits, reflecting continuing softness in the high end market. Slot machines on the Strip were +12% though which was probably reflective of the higher visitation and conventioneers in town.

Downtown had more good news with total gaming revenue up +15%. This result was fueled by slot machines (+23.2%) offsetting a small decline in table games (-3.39%). Higher visitation helps slot play, and downtown has definitely been busy lately.

The up and down Las Vegas locals market was up this time, as the Boulder Strip was +29.74% in August while North Las Vegas was +21.2% year over year.

It looks like the Strip has been pretty average over the past few months, while downtown remains strong. I'm not sure you can say that "gamblers are moving downtown" since the two markets are so different, but you can definitely sense the continuation of the downtown resurgence that has been a few years in the making. The strong locals numbers for August probably helped downtown as well.

The Real World at Gold Spike

The Real World is filming an upcoming season in Las Vegas. Gold Spike downtown has been reported by multiple sources as the residence for the show's participants.

The Real World was one of (maybe the first?) reality television shows when it first debuted on MTV in 1992. This upcoming season will be the show's 31st overall, and third time in Las Vegas.

The 12th season of The Real World in 2002 took place at The Palms. The popularity of that season cemented The Palms as the place to be for younger tourists to party in Las Vegas in the early to mid 2000's.

The 25th season in 2011 also took place in Las Vegas at The Hard Rock. By this time the show's popularity wasn't as high, so I don't think it gave The Hard Rock the cool factor boost they were hoping for.

Gold Spike definitely has the hip factor being owned by Downtown Project and recently removing their old-people casino in favor of millennial approved board games and live music.

It will be interesting to see if the TV show will attract any additional foot traffic to the struggling Downtown Grand across the street.

George Strait to Open MGM Arena

George Strait will be the first person to perform at the new MGM-AEG Arena.

His first show will be on April 22, 2016 - which is presumably the first night the Arena will be open for business.

Six 2016 dates have been announced for the country legend at the new arena: April 22-23, September 9-10 and December 2-3. It's expected that more dates could be announced later.

George Strait has 60 number 1 country hits, and has sold almost 70 million records. No stranger to large crowds, Strait also headlined the first event in the new Dallas Cowboys stadium in 2009.

His catalog of hits, along with the setting of a brand new arena will likely make this a hot ticket. I would definitely consider seeing this show if the timing worked out.

Ellie Goulding - On My Mind - Music Video

Yesterday I wrote a blog post about the Sam Smith music video for the song "Money On My Mind" which was set in Las Vegas.

Now we have another Las Vegas music video, this time by Ellie Goulding and similarly titled "On My Mind."

The video features Ellie in various stages of undress highlighted by her riding a horse right into a downtown Las Vegas casino. Fremont Street and El Cortez are featured heavily.