Commentary: A Press Conference — MGM Style
Massachusetts Gaming Commission Chairman Stephen Crosby was undoubtedly speaking for everyone in the room.
“After seven long years, I’d say it’s about time to party.”
He’s right. About everything.
It has been seven long years since the state initiated the process of bringing casino gambling to the Commonwealth. And it is time to party. And while the real party gets underway today at 11 a.m. — only minutes from now — when MGM officially opens the doors, never to close them again, the partying started Thursday with a press conference. Crosby was just one of many who came to the microphone.
It’s not written down anywhere, but you can’t open a $960 million resort casino without a press conference. Well, maybe you can, but not in Massachusetts, and not if you’re MGM.
And this was a press conference MGM style, with the Blue Man Group leading things off, and the dance group Jabbawockeez providing a fitting climax.
And then, there was the video promoting MGM Springfield and the entire MGM family at the start of things. MGM has shown it, or something like it, before. It’s fast-moving, complete with a lot of cool imagery and a few subtitles, including: “We’re not in the hotel business” … pause … “we’re in the ‘holy sh#t’ business.”
That line gave a number of the speakers, elected officials and MGM executives alike, something to talk about — even Jim Murren, MGM’s chairman, mentioned that his mother wasn’t particularly fond of it — but they already had plenty of good material.
As Crosby stated, it’s been seven long years. Seven hard years. Seven years of hard negotiating. Seven years of shaping a vision and bringing it to reality. Seven years since the tornado roared down Main Street and devastated the property where the casino now sits. Seven years of doubt and question marks turned into reality.
Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno equated MGM Springfield to a phoenix rising in the South End. Murren, who was determined to reflect the history and culture of Springfield and this region in the design and the details of the casino, quoted Emily Dickinson and Theodor Geisel (Dr. Seuss). Gov. Baker recalled how he visited the casino a month and a half or so ago and was blown away by it.
Most of all, though, people talked about how promises were made, and promises were kept.
It was an auspicious start for MGM Springfield and a clear indicator of how things — right down to your typical press conference with a long line of people to get to the microphone — are going to be different around here.
Yes, it is time to party.
