Atari Hotel That Was Never Happening Makes Headlines for Not Happening
The plug has officially been pulled on the Atari Hotel, a project we told you was never happening.
Why is this news? Because our local journalists in Las Vegas can’t dig up real stories, so to fill column inches they confirm stories and “break” previously reported stories like they’re new. It’s fun and cheap and helps divert attention away from the fact traditional journalism is dead!
Anyway, here’s a story from 2020 where we said the Atari Hotel wasn’t happening, and another in 2022 where we confirmed the Atari Hotel wasn’t happening.
Atari officials finally came clean about the fact they never secured a location in Las Vegas for their whimsical project, and never had the funding.
Now, it’s “all eyes on Phoenix” for the first Atari Hotel. We’ll save you some time, no Atari Hotel is happening there, either.
Atari Hotels will also not be happening in Austin, Chicago, Denver, San Francisco, San Jose and Seattle.
Las Vegas projects that have been announced but “never came to fruition” are too numerous to mention.
Our local news outlets just cheerfully regurgitate whatever news release they get that day, never really engaging any critical thinking or skepticism or basic common sense.
Questionable projects with zero hope of becoming reality fill our news feeds every day.
For example, Brightline’s high-speed train project recently announced it would cost $20 billion. It only had $6 billion of the $12 billion it previously estimated the project would cost. That means Brightline’s train now needs $14 billion in funding to exist. Local news coverage: “Brightline West High-Speed Rail Project Now on Track for Late 2029.” No, really.
When projects aren’t funded, construction sometimes begins to keep the shell game going. Construction gives the illusion something is happening. Starting isn’t funding. Please refer to the abandoned Dream Las Vegas Resort & Debacle.
Our local news is a lot like The Onion, but without the satire.
Other projects announced but not happening include the A’s ballpark ($1 billion-plus short of funding), Bally’s resort on the Tropicana site (infinity dollars short of funding), The King David Hotel, anything on the Riviera site (65SLVB and Fontainebleau high roller accommodations), LVXP, Las Vegas Spaceport, Z Athlete Village, Majestic Las Vegas, Bleutech Park, the list goes on and on.
The Atari Hotel might be dead, but long live the dreamers of dreams.
Local media can’t survive on stealing scoop from social media alone! Don’t get us started.
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