New York Post Teaches Math To Steve Wynn
March 1, 2006 | 7:52
am
Michael Riedel of "The New York Post" has unloaded on Steve Wynn for his comments on "Mamma Mia!." As reported earlier on the Buffet, Wynn did an interview with local podcaster Steve Friess in which (in discussing the closing of "Avenue Q") he took some swipes at other shows, especially "Mamma Mia!." But as I mentioned and as the New York Post article points out, Wynn had his numbers all wrong on "Mamma Mia!," a show which he described as reaching Vegas "late in its life." Wynn, for example, claimed "Mamma Mia!" offered one more performance a week than it actually does (thus diluting the profitability by adding to the costs). But because of how secretive shows are on the Strip about their exact audience counts, we in Vegas were unable to do more than estimate just how far off were Wynn's numbers on "Mamma Mia!." Wynn claimed that the show based on the music of ABBA was playing to only about 800 people a performance in a theatre meant (according to the resort's website) to hold 1,600 folks. So, hats off to Riedel who reveals the actual numbers on "Mamma Mia!" writing "According to figures I obtained from the production office, the weekly capacity is around 90 percent, with the weekly gross hovering around $650,000."
In fairness to Steve Wynn, if you actually listen to the entire interview,in context, almost all of his comments about other shows are in passing and in direct response to questions by Friess. Listen to the podcast and you won't hear any grand strategy to demean the competition. Mostly, Wynn wants to talk to Friess about his plans for the Encore expansion at Wynn. Still, let's not be naive: Wynn knows how to dodge a question and surely he was aware of just how big the story would become the moment he talked trash about the other shows in town by name. I have interviewed many casino executives, and mostly you would think there was not a proper noun in Las Vegas that they didn't own. I remember one interview years ago with Harrah's honcho Gary Loveman about his Rio property just after the opening of the Palms nearby. I tried to get Loveman to comment on how he planned to compete with the flashy Palms. Yet, no matter how I asked the question, my tape recorded Loveman speaking only about the Rio. Ten direct questions from me and the word Palms never crossed the man's lips once. So, while he may not have planned to do it, Wynn just as surely didn't bad mouth "Mamma Mia!" accidentally. Once again the New York Post probably has it right noting that Wynn was likely: "Smarting from his "Q"-miliation"
