LAS VEGAS (CelebrityAccess MediaWire) — A British tabloid, The Sun, is reporting on an alleged 5-year, $1 billion dollar residency being offered to Madonna by an unnamed Las Vegas casino.
Since the Sun's report, numerous media outlets have picked up the story and run with it, however, it is likely untrue, as illustrated by a cogent rebuttal of the rumor published by the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
The deal in the Sun's story, which is completely unsourced, would be tough to make work by the numbers.
"If Madonna landed in the 4,300-seat Colosseum at Caesars Palace, the most likely suitor, she would have to average $200 a ticket, net $3 million a week and work four or five nights for 50 weeks to make $750 million over five years." one Las Vegas-based agent told the Journal Review. "That’s impossible. She’s not going to work 50 weeks." he added.
It's not the first time that Madonna's name has been floated in connection with a Vegas residency however. Las Vegas deal-maker Jack Wishna, president of CPAmerica, says he pitched a three-year, $150 million deal to Madge 5 years ago, although the singer eventually declined.
"[She] liked living in England with her kids and didn't want to do a sit-down show in Vegas." the singer reportedly told Wishna.
Wishna, who is no stranger to residency deal-making, helped to put Wayne Newton in a long-term residency at the Stardust and helped to engineer Michael Jackson's return to the U.S. in 2006. Wishna's plan with Madonna and Jackson was to have up to four rotating headliners at one property. "Creating the next generation of 'headliner in residence' if you will, but utilizing multiple headliners in one theater. Four major names in one year, one showroom," Wishna told the Review-Journal.
have rotating headliners working at one property, "creating the next generation of 'headliner in residence' if you will, but utilizing multiple headliners in one theater. Four major names in one year, one showroom."
Although Jackson and Madonna both appear to be out of the running to participate in Wishna's plan, he says it's still on track for a Las Vegas hotel/casino. The headliners and location will be announced upon finalization, he added. – CelebrityAccess Staff Writers
