Like a Rolling Stone…Casino? Ownership of Iconic Magazine Eyes Vegas

_{Las Vegas’ Downtown Grand Hotel & Casino, the potential future home of a Rolling Stone-branded hotel and casino. (Image: Chon Kit Leong / Alamy}

One of the constants about Las Vegas is change. Many lament the loss of the iconic volcano outside where the Mirage once stood, which is being replaced by the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino’s signature guitar tower. 

“Old school” visitors remember when Fremont Street wasn’t covered by an awning. If another corporation has its way, change will come again to downtown Las Vegas as it looks to bring another American icon to the city.

Global Media Company Looks for Las Vegas Base

According to reports from Billboard magazine, Penske Media Corp. (which also owns Billboard) is in discussions with CIM Group, owner of the Downtown Grand Hotel & Casino, for a potential sale. 

Several organizations are reportedly negotiating with CIM Group since Downtown Grand started looking for a buyer, but PMC has pulled ahead after another suitor dropped out. Corvus Collective failed to provide a cash guarantee, leading CIM Group to end talks and revive negotiations with PMC.

PMC would look to put one of its other iconic brands on the Downtown Grand. The company owns Rolling Stone magazine and is considering rebranding the hotel as a Rolling Stone Hotel & Casino. The Downtown Grand has a prominent location just off the Fremont Street Experience near The Mob Museum.

A PMC spokesperson declined to comment on the potential acquisition but confirmed the company is looking to expand beyond media. 

“We are committed to growing our international and domestic footprints in both experiential and hospitality for Rolling Stone,” the spokesperson told Billboard. 

“As producers of more than 300 events annually across our portfolio, Las Vegas—like other entertainment centers—remains an important market for us.”

If PMC brings the Rolling Stone brand to Las Vegas, it could also introduce other high-profile music ventures. PMC owns the Billboard Music Awards and partly owns Dick Clark Productions, which produces the American Music Awards. The American Music Awards will be held in Las Vegas in May, and discussions are ongoing about moving the Academy of Country Music Awards (also produced by Dick Clark Productions) to the city.

Rolling Stone in Vegas? It’s Already (Almost) Happened

From the time of its creation in 1967, the man behind Rolling Stone, publisher Jann Wenner, has had ambitions of taking the brand beyond simply journalistic pursuits. In 2009, the Los Angeles Times reported that the mogul was looking to move into the restaurant business; after a soft open in 2010, the restaurant opened for business (with a nightclub on the weekends), but by February 2013 it had closed.

Before that, however, came the move by Wenner that sounds eerily like what the Seminoles want to do on the Strip with their Hard Rock property. In the Aughts (and at the apex of his power in the entertainment industry), Wenner entertained the idea of creating a Las Vegas resort. 

According to Joe Hagan’s writing in the biography of Wenner (Sticky Fingers: The Life and Times of Jann Wenner and Rolling Stone Magazine), the property would be a VIP casino featuring a “guitar-shaped pool,” a 5,000-seat concert hall, and a club that would feature a musical version of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. 

Perhaps thankfully, the 2008 collapse of the real estate industry prevented Wenner from realizing that dream.

The proposal to bring a Rolling Stone Hotel & Casino to downtown Las Vegas—and the possibility of PMC introducing its high-profile productions to the city—is worth watching. Talks are in the early stages, but a decision could come within months rather than years.