MGM Springfield reopens, renegotiates deal with the city

MGM Springfield reopened to the public Monday, after being closed like the rest of Massachusetts’ casinos since the middle of March due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Monday’s grand reopening at the two-year-old, $960-million casino in the city’s South End, followed weeks of preparation work and a weekend soft opening for invited guests from MGM Springfield’s M life rewards program. Encore Boston Harbor opened Sunday and Plainridge Park opened last Wednesday.

The property is running at about one-third its former operation, with poker and roulette shut down, about a third of the slot machines disabled, some restaurants closed and newly installed Plexiglas panels, hand washing and sanitation stations.

MGM Springfield is NOW OPEN! There’s #AlwaysAReason to visit, safely. https://t.co/Gme1vq1ENa pic.twitter.com/WinDlTMERh

— MGM Springfield (@MGMSpringfield) July 13, 2020

MGM Springfield drew about 200 M life members Friday, 500 on Saturday and 1,000 on Sunday, said Seth Stratton, vice president and general counsel at the casino, as reported by Mass Live. Players were invited over the weekend based on their M life status. “Part of that was to have a nice reward our M life members,” Stratton said. “But the main reason for that so that we would have a slow ramp up to full operation.”

The new capacity at MGM Springfield is 3,000, down from 8,000 pre-COVID. The hotel is not open. It’ll be MGM’s decision when to reopen and in the meantime it’s referring overnight guests to the Sheraton Springfield Monarch Place. 

Regal is planning to reopen its movie theaters at the casino soon, Stratton said. As for restaurants, the Tap sports bar is open as is the pizza counter and South End Market are also open.

Stratton said customers complied over the weekend with mask requirements and on Monday only a few visitors could be seen with them pulled down under their noses. Harder to enforce, Stratton said, are now policies about drinking in the slot areas. Players can be served only when actively playing and cannot move from machine to machine with a drink .

To enforce occupancy limits, MGM has electronic counters on all its doors, Stratton said. If the building begins to near its new capacity limit, a security team goes out and blocks entrance to the parking garage.

MGM Springfield has recalled about 700 employees — compared with about 2,500 before the shutdown.

MGM is also reopening negotiations with the city, looking to reduce, or at least delay, payments it’s obligated to make under a host community agreement. Talks are on hold until both sides know how business will bounce back. 

The city receives $24 million to $25 million annually from MGM Springfield, including payments in lieu of taxes, community impact payments and development grants, according to the city’s host community agreement signed prior to development. City Council President Justin Hurst said Friday that he expects the city to be paid in full all the revenue called for in the agreement.