In case you needed one more reason to believe that the highly-anticipated clash between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao will indeed take place at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, last night, that reason was given to you when the newest and most expensive addition to the the Las Vegas Strip, the Aria Resort & Casino, was publicly unveiled shortly before midnight to great fanfare. The 61-story, 4,000 room resort is at the heart of the luxurious $8.5 billion CityCenter complex, owned by MGM Mirage, who just so happens to own most of the casinos on the Strip, including, yep, you guessed it, the MGM Grand. If you thought Jerry Jones was eager to bring the mega-fight to his new $1.2 billion state-of-the-art Cowboys Stadium, you can bet that MGM Mirage also plans on taking full advantage of the biggest financial fight in the history of the sport.
I'm sure Jones was quite serious about his intentions to get the fight in Dallas, as his $25 million offer obviously suggested. He should definitely be commended for recognizing the fact that this fight belongs in a venue commensurate with its magnitude. However, how do you compete with a company that just opened an $8.5 billion complex during this down economy? Simply put, what Vegas wants, Vegas gets and given the latest addition to their family of casinos on the strip, MGM Mirage will definitely make sure this fight takes place in Sin City. Book your rooms now before they run out. Of course, even if they do run out of rooms at the MGM Grand, I'm sure MGM Mirage won't mind you staying at any one of their other lovely resort & casinos, including Mandalay Bay, Bellagio, The Mirage, Monte Carlo, New York-New York, Luxor, Excalibur, Circus Circus, Vdara and now Aria.