The landscape – and skyline – of Las Vegas will soon change, as MGM Resorts International has agreed to sell the operations of The Mirage Hotel & Casino to Hard Rock International for $1.075 billion in cash. VICI Properties, Inc. owns the property and will lease it to Hard Rock; terms of that agreement were not disclosed in Monday’s announcement.
Hard Rock, owned by the Seminole Tribe of Florida, plans to rebrand the property to Hard Rock Las Vegas. MGM will keep the rights to The Mirage brand and will let Hard Rock keep the name on the casino resort for up to three years while new owner goes through the rebranding process.
Hard Rock will also build a guitar-shaped hotel on the location, similar to its iconic hotel in Hollywood, Florida. An artist’s rendering that accompanied the press release shows a gigantic purple and blue-glowing instrument in the middle of the Strip, with beams of light representing guitar strings reaching into the sky. The current Mirage building has also been recolored blue and white in the image; it is currently white and gold.
It does not appear that much of anything will change for the time being, as Jim Allen, chairman of Hard Rock International “welcome(d) The Mirage’s 3,500 team members to the Hard Rock family.”
The Mirage, opened in 1989, ushered in an era of mega-casino resorts on the Las Vegas Strip. “The Mirage is the casino, more than any other one, that’s inspired what Las Vegas is right now,” David Schwartz, UNLV ombudsman and gaming historian told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “The fact that that brand is going away means quite a bit.”
The Mirage has been home to two of the most legendary entertainment acts in Las Vegas history: Siegfried and Roy’s white tiger show and Cirque du Soleil’s LOVE, based on the music of The Beatles. There is no word on if LOVE will remain at the property with the change in ownership (though considering it’s the Hard Rock and the show involves the greatest rock band of all time, I’d guess that the show will stay).
MGM president and CEO Bill Hornbuckle revealed in early November that his company was planning on selling The Mirage. It’s a diversification play, he said at the time, adding, “We have enough of Las Vegas.”
That the buyer is Hard Rock is not a shocker. The company has made it known for a while now that it wanted to find something to acquire on the Las Vegas Strip. It also bought the naming rights for Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Las Vegas in May of last year, so Hard Rock International was certainly ready.
With the deal, the Seminole Tribe will become the first Native American tribe to have a gaming presence on the Strip. Mohegan Gaming & Entertainment operates Virgin Hotels Las Vegas (coincidentally, formerly a Hard Rock property) and the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians bought The Palms and is waiting for final regulatory approval; both properties are off-Strip.
Image credit: Hard Rock International