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Will the Rio be Demolished for a MLB Stadium?
The saga in what will happen to the Rio All-Suites Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas took an interesting turn this week. According to the latest from the rumor mill, the casino may be demolished en lieu of building a Major League Baseball stadium.
Of course, Caesars denies any claims that there is a potential sale in the works for the casino, but the number of recent rumors makes one suspicious that there may be more to these claims.
Vital Vegas Ups the Ante on Rumor
Vital Vegas has been the go-to source for rumors regarding the Rio in Las Vegas and they posted a new “juicy tidbit” on Monday via Twitter:
We'll up the ante on our Rio sale rumor with another juicy tidbit: As we've shared, could very well be a land play. New rumor suggests Rio could be demolished, site to be developed as (wait for it) Major League Baseball ballpark.
— Vital Vegas (@VitalVegas) October 8, 2018
You read that correctly. The newest rumor is that the Rio will go extinct and a new Major League Baseball team taking over the area. This is definitely the most sensational of the rumors surrounding the Rio over the last few years.
There have been rumors about a potential sale of the Rio for years now and often they involve moving the World Series of Poker to Caesars Palace. A new twist on that rumor developed in August when it was rumored that the WSOP would move to the new Caesars Forum that’s expected to open sometime in 2020.
Of course, the WSOP and Caesars have consistently denied these rumors and all rumors regarding a sale of the Rio. That’s not surprising because casinos don’t like to tip their hand, pun intended, on what they intend to do with properties.
A move for the WSOP is seen as inevitable though as the series continues to grow and there have been increasing complaints about the current venue for years. As someone that has been to the WSOP multiple times, I can understand some of the concerns from players and fans and a move to a new venue, Caesars Forum or otherwise, may be the best idea for the franchise.
Is Major League Baseball Heading to Vegas?
The rumor that an MLB team coming to Vegas is nowhere near as outlandish as it would have been even a year ago, especially considering that the ban against sports betting has been overturned by the Supreme Court.
Vegas already has an NHL franchise in the Vegas Golden Knights. The team made the NHL Finals in their first year of existence this year. The Oakland Raiders are moving to Vegas once a stadium is completed, and there has already been positive talk from MLB commissioner Rob Manfred on the matter.
Manfred stated that Vegas was a viable option for expansion. He is looking to up the total number of teams to 32 and with sports betting starting to become regulated across the country, an MLB franchise in Vegas could be a huge boom for not just the city, but also sports betting in general.
The only downside to having a team go to Vegas is that the team would be an expansion franchise rather than a straight move. Most expansion franchises take a while to develop into a serious contender. Granted, Vegas sports fans have proven their loyalty with their NHL franchise, but then again it is pretty easy to back a team when they come out the gates winning. How much will Vegas support an MLB franchise if it takes then 10 years to make their first playoff run?
Of course, everything stated is pure speculation at this point, but you often don’t continually hear rumors about things like this unless there is at least some information backing it up. A sale of the Rio by Caesars is probably the most likely scenario at this point, but regardless of what happens, it will certainly have a lasting impact on the future of the World Series of Poker.
