SPRINGFIELD, MA (WSHM) -
MGM Resorts and Penn National Gaming had a chance to explain their in-depth plans for traffic and entertainment in the city of Springfield during a public presentation held at CityStage Monday afternoon.
Traffic was the first topic on the agenda.
"Our traffic flows go the opposite way of downtown traffic. The biggest peak is between eight and nine for business traffic our biggest peak is between the hours of seven and eight in the evening," said the President and Chief Marketing Officer of MGM Resorts Bill Hornbuckle.
"We think that we provided a clear, very concise plan for how we are going to move vehicular traffic in and out of our site in a way that doesn't affect any residential areas, that's important," said the Senior VP of Public Affairs of Penn National Gaming Eric Schippers.
There was a lot of common ground and both companies spoke of implementing a trolley system, incorporating union station and of putting up new signs throughout the city to help casino patrons navigate their way around Springfield.
In terms of entertainment, the companies touched on everything from partnerships to restaurants to musical acts.
"To make it a success to drive jobs that will drive Mary and Bill from East Hartford to come up here, I think our pedigree and our background, I think the kind of acts that we've demonstrated that we do across the globe, particularly in Las Vegas, we know we can bring that entertainment to Springfield," said Hornbuckle.
"The most important part, first and foremost, is our relationship with the Paramount Theater," said Schippers. "We're going through our relationship with New England Farm Workers Council restoring that historic theater back to glory and bringing about a number of very diverse acts that are going to be great."
Tuesday city officials plan to begin negotiating a host agreement with both companies.
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