Can the Coliseum be a castle? Sands unsure

Daily Point

Las Vegas Sands has plans

The latest stop for Las Vegas Sands in its quest to build a $4 billion casino resort at the Nassau Hub: a meeting with the Newsday editorial board on Wednesday afternoon.

Sands senior vice presidents Ron Reese, Michael Levoff and David Paterson, New York’s former governor, along with NAACP regional director Tracy Edwards, who’s working with the Sands on workforce development issues, met with the board to discuss their bid for one of three downstate casino licenses, and their broader proposal for development.

Sands executives emphasized that their concept was for an “integrated resort” — a development that could stretch across the 70+ acres of available land at the Hub and that could include an entertainment venue, a spa, a hotel with about 800 rooms, and, yes, it would be anchored by a casino. Specifics about the casino’s size and how many gamblers it could accommodate were few because the Sands execs didn’t want their competitors to be able to calculate the revenue projections they would submit in their bid.

“This is probably the best economic proposal the county is ever going to see in terms of activating that site,” Reese said.

But there’s a long way to go before that happens. First step: Nassau County officials have to negotiate a new lease for Nassau Coliseum and the surrounding land that would hand the reins over to Las Vegas Sands. That negotiation is “ongoing,” Levoff said. But, he noted, the lease, which will require county legislature approval, will include payments to the county that, even at their minimums, are higher than the current agreement with leaseholder Nick Mastroianni II, which originally required a minimum annual payment of $4 million, but later allowed for pandemic-related relief and delayed payments.

“The proposal we’re bringing forward to the county would provide the county with more revenue than it’s making today, across the board, with no risk, even in the event that there was no casino license,” Levoff said, calling the lease that’s under discussion “better than the current state of play.”

But what happens if Sands secures the lease — and then doesn’t win the casino license bid?

Reese told the board that the company is “not a Plan B company.” In that event, he said, executives would “regroup.”

“That development would not move forward as currently contemplated. It can’t. The economics don’t work,” Reese said.

But, Sands executives added, that doesn’t mean they don’t recognize the obligation they’ll have as the leaseholder.

“Certainly, our intention as the lessee of the Coliseum would be to ultimately see a reactivation and re-imagination of that site,” Levoff said.

Added Paterson: “We wouldn’t be turning our back on the stakeholders and running out of town because we didn’t get what we wanted … We see ourselves as part of the community, and we would not want to leave a bad impression … It’s not as if the minute something goes wrong we’re going to turn, run out of town, and leave Long Island with a whole bunch of economic problems that weren’t there before.”

Among the many details of Las Vegas Sands’ plans that remain to be determined: the future of Nassau Coliseum itself. Executives said they’re considering scenarios both with — and without — the Coliseum.

“It wouldn’t be in its current form,” if the arena were to stay on the site, Levoff said, adding that the Coliseum is a “largely obsolete structure.”

“We would have to re-imagine it and reinvest into it in a substantial way to make it work for us," Levoff said. "It has some very strong pros and some very strong cons and I think we’re doing an assessment of that right now to make that decision. We’re kind of at a fork in the road on that.”

It appears that Las Vegas Sands is polling to help make some of its decisions, too. Reese would only say “We might,” when asked whether the company was polling. But multiple residents have confirmed that they’ve recently been polled on whether they’d approve of a “world class” resort with a casino at the Hub. The poll seeks residents’ opinions on everything from Canyon Ranch spa to Jennifer Lopez, Tiger Woods, David Beckham, and Billy Joel. It also inquires about potential amenities at the resort, like a botanical garden, events spaces, a beer garden, and family activities, along with possible community benefits, while also seeking to gauge the concern over arguments against a casino resort, from traffic to the burden on resources.

“If somebody was doing that poll, I would assume it’s going to help them think about their programming and what things would be attractive to the local community,” Reese said, noting that the questions aren’t about the details of the casino, but about what residents would want in the broader resort.

Reese noted that Beckham is a “global brand ambassador” for Sands who has done local clinics and other events for the company, and is part of a “pretty deep network” of individuals who could “add value” to a project at the Hub. He also said they were looking at a music venue with up to 8,000 seats that might include artists who would have several days of “residency.”

Some of the details and ideas Sands is contemplating may be rolled out soon, Reese noted. And the larger plans, including the fate of the Coliseum, will come within months. While the state hasn’t unveiled the final deadline of applications, the expectation is that by the beginning of April, the bids will have to be submitted.

— Randi F. Marshall @RandiMarshall

Talking Point

Cairo doesn’t have to bet on Hub casino … or against it

With Las Vegas Sands making a hard push to get the Nassau Hub named the site of its casino plan, Joe Cairo has deep involvement in two ways.

As the president of Nassau Off Track Betting Corp., which allows Genting’s Resorts World Casino at Aqueduct to operate its 1,000 video lottery terminals in exchange for more than $20 million annually, he has to consider how a Uniondale casino would impact the OTB and the county.

And as the chairman of the Nassau County Republican Party, whose base of power is centered in the Town of Hempstead, he has to consider how a casino, or even just the fight over one, would impact the party, especially with county legislative and town supervisor elections coming up this November.

As far as the OTB side goes, Cairo told The Point that the expectation continues to be that two of the licenses will go to Resorts World in Queens, where Genting runs his machines, and Empire City Casino, which MGM Resorts operates at Yonkers Raceway. He conceded that Genting might want to make changes to its operating contract with Nassau OTB if Aqueduct expands to include full gaming. And again, if a full casino is licensed in Uniondale. But he said he believes, and his lawyers assure him, that he has no downside, that Genting is obligated to keep paying that money regardless, and that any agreement that lessened Genting’s payment on those machines would include other money for the OTB.

But as far as the politics go, Cairo remains skeptical that the casino in Uniondale will ever come to fruition. Cairo said the key for Sands, and for gaining GOP support, would be getting the community behind the deal. But he doesn’t really see why Gov. Kathy Hochul would give the third license to Nassau. And, having tried unsuccessfully to site 1,000 machines in an old Nassau shopping center and taking a bit of a beating in the process, he doesn’t necessarily see why the community would, either.

— Lane Filler @lanefiller

Pencil Point

The takeaway

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Final Point

Polling for 2024

A text poll was in the field this week asking some pointed questions about freshman Rep. Anthony D'Esposito.

“Anthony D’Esposito raised money with George Santos while he was lying during his election,” one of the survey questions asked, according to screenshots sent to The Point. “Should Anthony D’Esposito return that tainted money immediately?”

Another question asked for respondents’ favorability views on the Island Park Republican.

The provenance of the poll, which also had an approval question about President Joe Biden, was not immediately clear. Both the Nassau GOP and D’Esposito’s camp denied it was them, and Democrat Laura Gillen, who lost to D'Esposito in 2022 and is expected to look closely at a rematch in 2024, did not comment.

But clearly, the prep work for next year is getting underway in what will be a closely watched seat nationally. It was a major pickup for the GOP during this last midterm cycle, given the Democratic lean of the district, but the turnout patterns will likely be much different in 2024 with a presidential race on the ballot. And in primary world, Gillen faced friction from her own party leadership en route to her congressional bid, a situation which could repeat itself if she looks to run again.

The Santos situation, too, could certainly bleed over to D’Esposito’s district, if Nassau voters voice their disgust with the wider GOP cohort. That’s something the former NYPD detective is clearly eager to avoid. His office sent to The Point receipts of December-dated checks they’ve returned to Santos and his committees, whose money is no longer as welcome as it once was.

— Mark Chiusano @mjchiusano