Tropicana Las Vegas has announced that it is expecting to close its doors on April 2 ahead of the planned demolition of the resort.
According to Las Vegas Locally on X, team members of Tropicana Las Vegas were told by Vice President and General Manager Arik Knowles in a memo that Bally’s is moving forward with the next steps to make the resort’s site the new home of the MLB’s Oakland Athletics.
Although describing the news as a “great opportunity”, Knowles recognised that there is also a “bittersweet feeling” as the resort closes to be demolished and redeveloped alongside the new baseball stadium.
Knowles commented: “Our expected closing date is April 2, 2024. In the interim, we will begin to close out all hotel bookings and relocate all reservations booked for April and beyond.
“The company will then begin its preparations to demolish the Tropicana Las Vegas and finalise its master plan, after which approximately nine acres will be granted to the Athletics to develop their stadium.”
Gaming and Leisure Properties Inc, Bally’s Corporation and Oakland A’s owner Athletics Holdings LLC entered into a binding letter of intent last May to develop a stadium as the new home of the A’s on the Tropicana site – which is owned indirectly by GLPI through its indirect subsidiary Tropicana Land LLC and leased to Bally’s.
On the 35-acre site, approximately nine acres will be occupied by the A’s for their stadium, with the casino resort development being built alongside it.
The stadium site will be transferred by Bally’s and GLPI after various conditions have been fulfilled, in exchange for the benefits that the build is expected to bring to the new integrated casino resort at the site, Las Vegas, and surrounding areas.
All associated design, development, and construction of the stadium costs will be taken on by the A’s, while Bally’s will pay all expenses for the resort and hotel.
Knowles noted in the memo that Tropicana and Bally’s are working closely to assist team members throughout the transition period, including providing “employment opportunities across the company and severance packages to eligible employees”.
She added that the resort will also be working with “local agencies to assist with unemployment benefits and employment placement services, along with local unions who can assist with placement of their members”.
Expected to open in 2028, the $1.5bn 30,000-seat ballpark will feature a partially retractable roof and an outfield playing surface that opens to the corner of Tropicana and Las Vegas Boulevard for a view of the Strip.
The A’s will continue playing their home games in Oakland until the end of the 2024 season when their lease at their current home, the Oakland Coliseum, expires. The team will then play at a temporary home between 2025 and 2027 before moving to their new stadium in Vegas in 2028.
