Sunday Morning Coffee — May 11, 2025 — Sunday Morning Scramble

By Roy Berger, Las Vegas, NV.

As we’ve written many times in this space, Las Vegas hotels and casinos are getting considerably full of themselves. And the visitor numbers for the last two months show that the public is starting to rebel. Go ahead and blame tariffs. No, not the Trump tariffs, not the 145% on China, but time to look inward at the self-imposed tariffs the resorts are slapping on their guests. In fact, comparing year to year, February Vegas visitation was down 12% and the just-released March number is off 8% from 2024. Some of the decline is from Canadians who won’t come to the States anymore; that will continue to grow once the summer tourist months hit. But a large majority of former visitors are finding other places to go and not pay a resort fee tariff amounting to $50 a day for nothing. Or the $20 to park, which should be included in the resort fee but isn’t. Or maybe the $10-$12 bottle of beer or $25 martini. Whatever it is, the numbers are down and with the country sitting on economic unease it might be a while before it comes back. I am a Las Vegas fan, but not so much for the Strip properties that look to take advantage of its patrons at every cash register. Now is the time to show some love to the people who made them the monsters they are today.

We’ve all heard the perilous ship cry of ‘man overboard!’ but rarely do we hear ‘jet fighter overboard!’ If you happened to be cruising the Red Sea on April 27 that was the scream as an aircraft carrier on the USS Harry S. Truman made a sharp turn while on a US bombing mission in Yemen. The turn forced the F/A-18 aircraft and its tow tractor overboard. It was an expensive cruise, even more than a Crystal voyage, as the jet fighter costs about $70 million. No word on whether the plane reported to its muster station before the mishap.

While Vegas is far from teetering on the brink of extinction, a first class letter might be. The US Postal Service has petitioned the Postal Regulatory Commission to hike the cost of a first-class stamp from 73 to 78 cents, a 7% increase effective July 13. That will ultimately produce less business driving more and more online bill paying and expediency alternatives. It’s akin to the dying newspaper industry charging between $3-$5 for its product on a newsstand, if you can still find one. Few if any would pay that price. I wouldn’t. What we have is inversive marketing— charge your loyal customers more if nobody else is using the product. It can’t sustain.

Another hike that will produce less interest is the Mega Millions jackpot ticket which is being raised from $2 to $5. Sure, ultimately the jackpot will be exponentially larger but the price to get there is too steep for those who can’t afford to buy lottery tickets in the first place. The impact on other goods and services in lieu of a lottery ticket, over time, will be substantial.

Some recent milestone birthdays for legends: Toni Tenille, one of my old faves is 85; Engelbert Humperdinck celebrated number 89; Frankie Valle who just did two concerts at Vegas’ Westgate, and former 1950s/60’s White Sox shortstop Looey Aparacio both are 91; Willie Nelson is 92 and still going strong, while Roy Berger turned the relatively young age of 73 last Tuesday.

Attendees begin to filter in for a USPS cocktail reception in the Tucson foothills. Hopefully “how to shave expenses” was on the agenda.

Bad optics. What can the USPS rate hike and my birthday have in common? Well, never anything until our worlds collided last week in Tucson, Arizona. Andi and I went to Tucson to spend a few days at one of our favorite resorts, Lowe’s Ventana Canyon, high in the Catalina foothills. It’s been over 20 years since we visited so we went back hoping the resort was the same. It was and in a lot of ways enhanced. Not cheap by any means with a lovely daily $39 resort fee ala Vegas that I was told covered two bottles of water a day, free wi-if and complementary general parking. Okay, whatever you say. However, also joining us at the resort were some 160 postal worker from Arizona and New Mexico for their annual managerial confab about whoknowswhat? What I do know is what we paid per night for the stay, not for the feint of wallet. You’d think, with the US Postal Service on the brink of going private and rates rising every couple of years along with declining service, this would have been a fiscally conservative group maybe more in tune with a midtown Hilton or Marriott brand, not a plush resort built into the mountains. Not good optics at all. My guess is they were commissorating over declining business, concerns about government employment cutbacks and in general how to bring costs down. For starters I have an idea.

This is Wild. The Minnesota Wild, who lost in the opening round of the Stanley Cup playoffs to Vegas, is the first team in NHL, NBA, NFL or MLB to make the playoffs eight-plus times over a 10-year span and lose in the first round every time.

Fake News. Please add the NHL to the graphic above. When you do then the Buffalo Sabres join the Jets as the only teams during Pope Francis’ papacy not to make the post-season. At least we don’t suffer alone.

Speaking of the Pope, it took the Catholic cardinals two rounds to select Pope Leo. It took the NFL five rounds to select Shadeur Sanders.

Some good news for downtrodden Las Vegas Raiders fans? Really not sure who keeps track of this stuff, but Wrestlemania was a huge success last month in Allegiant Stadium. Five of the last six times an NFL stadium hosted the WWE event, the home team made the playoffs the following season.

Yankee Stadium — the house that one built and the other maintains. Through the first 1,000 games of their careers legendary Babe Ruth and Hall of Famer in-waiting Aaron Judge have hit exactly 321 home runs each.

Is anyone paying attention? The former Oakland Athletics, playing their next three seasons in Sacramento until their new stadium in Vegas on the site of the old Tropicana Hotel is ready, are blacked out on the MLB cable package in Vegas. A great way to build local fan interest, eh?

With only a two year career it takes a pretty exceptional athlete to be inducted into their sports Hall of Fame. That athlete was Secretariat who raced in 1972 and 1973 before being retired. Of course he won the Triple Crown of racing in 1973 in dramatic and convincing style. Incredibly and almost unbelievably in this year’s Kentucky Derby on May 3 every one of the 19 starters is a descendant of ‘Big Red’, from fourth to seventh generations. That is a legacy.

Beating a live horse. On the ugly side of Secretariat’s sport it appears animal abuse is live and well in racing to an absurd and unexplainable degree. On Friday jockey Junior Alvarado who rode Kentucky Derby winner Sovereignty in last weekend’s Kentucky Derby was fined $62,000 and suspended for two days for violating whip rules. It appears under the Horseracing and Safety Authority standards implemented five years ago allegedly for optics and horse welfare, a jock can only strike a horse in the ass with the whip six times before sanctions set in. One to three times more and a fine and suspension is merited. Ten or more smacks in a given race means disqualification. Alvarado popped Sovereignty eight times on the way to the Churchill Downs finish line, two over the limit. Upon being fined and suspended Alvarado said, “I couldn’t keep track of it. It’s such a big race, there’s so much that you’ve got on your mind.” Apparently animal welfare wasn’t one of them.

For Boomers who grew up in metro-New York City we remember AM radio station WINS — 1010 WINS, which 60 years ago last month converted from a rock and roll format to all-news. “All news all the time” and “You give us 22 minutes and we’ll give you the world” was their mantras that still live. An all-time great music trivia question is the last rock song WINS ever played before all-news became the norm? It was Out in the Streets by The Shangri-Las.

Its only been 52 years but New York Knicks fan are dreaming and riding high as the hometown Knickerbockers hold a two games to one lead over defending champion Boston in the second round of the NBA playoffs. The Knicks last won the NBA in 1970 and 1973. We lost a key member of those championship teams on April 27. Shooting guard Dick Barnett did at age 88. Mr. Barnett averaged about 15 points a game in the pre-3pt-shot era. He easily would have been over 20 a game with treys. The Knicks traded for Barnett in 1965 sending Bob Boozer to Los Angeles. His famed kick-back jump shot was key to both 70s world championships ironically over his former team, the Lakers. Number 12 joins fellow legends Willis Reed and Dave DeBusschere in the heaven shoot-around. The other core Knicks of the era— Walt Frazier, Bill Bradley and Earl Monroe survive.

Not to brag but hell yeah why not? In the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs I bet six of the eight series and had winners in all six. Toronto, Winnipeg, Vegas and Washington came home as series favorites while Edmonton and Dallas had a little meat on the bone as ‘dogs. That’s an improbable double hat trick for this lousy gambler.

Staying on the ice, this time of the year I always say there are no better or dramatic playoffs in any sport than the NHL. This season, so far only in the middle of the second round, might be better than ever. Dramatic come-from-behind wins; overtimes; last second game winners and then tonight Vegas comes from off the mat to beat Edmonton with half a second left on the clock. And we are not even halfway finished. Not sure it can get any better but it probably will.

The bloom is off the rose. Why wait for the notification from HR to pack up your personal effects and come for a visit? Jim McCann, the founder and CEO of 1-800-Flowers.com for the past 40 years didn’t like the direction the company was headed so he fired himself. As he explained, “In this case the best thing I can do is fire myself and hire someone going forward who’s much more skilled than I am in the areas that are important to the company.” He found that candidate in Adolfo Villagomez from the real estate industry. No word whether or not McCann has put himself in outplacement.

And finally, happy day to the most special people in the world— mom’s everywhere! Wish I still had mine.