[DVaut1]

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So, if 30,000 people @ $10K can be managed, let's have it.

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probably can't happen logistically

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30,000 entrants * $10,000 entry fee * 4% rake = $12 million dollars generated for Harrah's, not to mention plenty of branding value/free publicity/pedestrian traffic at the Rio/hotel rooms booked at the Rio and other Harrah's properties in Vegas...I suspect a company with HET's resources will find a way to handle the logistics of an event that will generate so much profit (in a way that satisfies the market, i.e., the players).

There's nothing that poor quality of play will do to make the spectacle of watching people play for 8 digit jackpots uninteresting -- that is, the profitability of the ME for Harrah's should correlate strongly with the size of the field and prizepool, and not the quality of play, meaning (I see) little to no incentive to raise the buy-in from Harrah's perspective.

The same crowd of players that are demanding a higher buy-in for the ME are intense poker fans/players that Harrah's knows will be trying to qualify/watching on ESPN/playing in smaller events/paying for special content like PPV broadcasts of the FT, regardless of how donkified the ME becomes. The branding value the WSOP has is that high, and only grows higher as the prizepool gets larger.

The reason this discussion sucks is not only that it's a discussion that's been had dozens of times on this board, but it also sucks because there's practically no incentive for Harrah's to raise the buy in, hence this discussion is as pointless as it is redundant.