Future WSOP home? Caesars to build large "Caesars Convention Center" on strip
There have long been talks regarding Caesars selling the Rio, which is the redheaded stepchild of its Vegas properties. It's their only non-strip Vegas hotel, they've removed its entire Brazilian party theme, and they seem to have intentionally let the property fall into a state of disrepair.
Its only real use to the company occurs 7 weeks per year, when the WSOP takes place.
But if the Rio sells, where will Caesars hold the WSOP?
It's a question I've long pondered, and has been discussed (without much conclusion) on radio.
We may finally have our answer.
Caesars has announced the construction of "Caesars Forum" -- a new convention center which is stupidly named due to the confusion it will obviously cause with the existing Caesars Forum Shops.
(NOTE: As of 2018, this name was smartly changed to "Caesars Convention Center"!)
But name aside, it seems to be a fairly large project.
The company will invest $375 million in this conference center, slated to open in 2020. It will feature two gigantic 108,000 square foot ballrooms (billed the "largest pillar-free ballrooms in the world"), as well as two other ballrooms of approximately 40,000 square feet in size.
The total is roughly equivalent to the space of five football fields -- clearly enough space for running the WSOP.
It will be on the east side of the Las Vegas strip, apparently located near the LINQ shopping area and High Roller observation wheel.
Three hotels will have direct connections to the convention center, via pedestrian bridge: Harrah's, The LINQ (formerly Imperial Palace), and Flamingo.
It is also walking distance from the other Caesars Las Vegas properties (except the Rio): Caesars Palace, Bally's, Paris, Cromwell, and Planet Hollywood.
A drawing of its location is shown below:
https://www.smartmeetings.com/wp-con...ertainment.jpg
Here is an article describing the project: https://www.smartmeetings.com/news/1...ference-center
While Caesars has NOT announced that they plan to move the WSOP there, it seems that this space would be perfect for it. The giant ballrooms would be perfect for a large poker tournament. The facility will be modern and new, rather than the rundown, 1990s-looking Rio. Most importantly, players can stay in one of 8 nearby Caesars propeties, and still be able to walk to the tournament (even in the summer heat). This would alleviate some of the common complaints regarding the Rio, where players express disgust regarding being stuck away from the strip and staying at a substandard hotel.
If the WSOP were to be housed at this new center, there would be eight different, walking-distance Caesars properties to choose to stay -- all with different room types, amenities, restaurants, and pricing.
This seems like a natural move, but I'm guessing they aren't announcing it yet, because it hasn't been decided upon. Still, you have to imagine that's going to be the WSOP's ultimate destination, whether in 2020 or some year following that.
Will be interesting to see how this plays out.
