The centerpiece of the proposal is Mandalay Bay, which has 4,700 rooms at three connected hotels on the StripGETTY IMAGES
MGM Resorts Int'l has "pitched several sports leagues," including the NBA, WNBA, NHL and MLS, on an "audacious proposal to house their athletes and necessary support staff to hold their seasons on a quarantined block on the Las Vegas Strip," according to sources cited by Kevin Draper of the N.Y. TIMES. MGM Resorts Int'l has "ownership stakes in more than a dozen hotel-casinos in Las Vegas." In the proposal for the NBA and WNBA, MGM envisions a "fully quarantined campus, essentially one full block of the Las Vegas Strip, where players would live and play out whatever schedule the leagues want." The athletes "would be joined by their families, league and broadcast media employees, as well as the staff and vendors needed to serve them, with access to lounges, spas, restaurants and all other perks the resorts offer (yes, even gambling)." The centerpiece of the proposal to the NBA is the Mandalay Bay resort, which has 4,700 rooms at three "connected hotels at the southern end of the Las Vegas Strip." As many as 24 basketball courts "could be built at the convention center at Mandalay Bay," which hosts the WNBA Las Vegas Aces. Five "would be used to telecast games, while the others would be for practice." Draper noted if quarantined games are held in Las Vegas, it "would further the city's budding reputation as one of the country's sports hot spots" (N.Y. TIMES, 5/1).
