Goodbye to a Las Vegas mainstay

The skyline of the Las Vegas Strip is about to change yet again, as Bally’s has announced that the Tropicana will cease operations on April 2 before being razed to clear the site for a new stadium for MLB’s A’s. The team has been in Oakland since 1968 and plans to move to Las Vegas after the upcoming 2024 season.

The entire process is expected to take nine to 12 months, end-to-end.

The hotel is in the process of canceling reservations and transferring them to other properties. After that, it’s time to clear everything out – from furniture to gambling equipment – and prepare the site for demolition. The entire process is expected to take nine to 12 months, end-to-end.

This also, of course, means that hundreds of Tropicana employees will be out of work in about two months. The company will offer some positions at other Bally’s locations, but the problem there is that there are none nearby. Bally’s will extend severance packages to those who are “eligible” and work with local agencies on employment services.

Bally’s set the wheels in motion

The road to the Trop’s demise dates back to April 2021, when Bally’s bought it from Gaming and Leisure Properties, Inc. (GLPI) for $150m. GLPI maintained control of the land and Bally’s agreed to pay $10.5m in annual rent for 50 years.

Two years later, the A’s inked an agreement to buy the land where the Wild Wild West casino once stood from Red Rock Resorts. With that site, the A’s wanted $500m in public financing for a stadium.

Shortly thereafter, though, the team agreed with Bally’s on the Tropicana site. One of the upshots of the location is that the public funds for the ballpark dropped to $380m, with the A’s pitching in another $1bn.

The intention is to build a $1.5bn, 33,000-seat stadium on nine acres of the Tropicana land. Plans for a larger resort on the rest of the land will come later. Construction is scheduled to start next year and the stadium should be ready to go for the start of the 2028 MLB season.

A’s in limbo

That leaves the A’s as a lame duck team in Oakland, where they have had stretches of both great success and miserable futility. They won three World Series titles in a row from 1972 to 1974 and another in 1989, the latter bookended by two other World Series appearances. Though 1990 was the last time the A’s made the Fall Classic, they have won the American League West division seven times in the 2000’s.

where to play for three years while the stadium is being built

After a couple decades of flirting with relocation, it will finally happen after the 2024 season ends. The conundrum for the A’s in the meantime is where to play for three years while the stadium is being built.

One of the possibilities that is being explored is the 10,000-seat Las Vegas Ballpark, home of Triple-A Las Vegas Aviators. Team officials are also looking at other cities such as Sacramento, Reno, and Salt Lake City. The San Francisco Giants’ Oracle Park is even on the table.

The most awkward possibility: continuing to play at the Oakland Coliseum while waiting on the A’s new Las Vegas home.