Mad Apple Is Closing. Turn the Theater Into Vegas’ Top Sports Destination.

1,200 seats, next to T-Mobile Arena, and a lot more potential than another 90-minute gymnastics show.

This weekend I was talking online about how Cirque has given me some of the most expensive naps of my life.

I just don’t get it. People in costumes doing gymnastics. It’s not my thing. Never has been.

Then Mad Apple announced it’s closing for good on September 5.

That got me thinking, and kind of pleading.

Please, MGM. Do not put another one of these boring shows in that theater.

Cirque is not timeless. They haven’t really innovated in a meaningful way for a long time. Whether the whole brand needs a hard look is a bigger conversation. But what happens to the empty theater at New York-New York actually matters. It sets a tone. And that tone needs to change.

The Room

The theater holds roughly 1,200 seats. In recent years, the upper balcony was often closed because sales were soft, so they were regularly running 600–800 or less.

MGM already has the room. No replacement has been announced.