Up to bat: The Tropicana demolition awaits as A’s prepare move

With Senate Bill 1 providing funding for an A’s ballpark in Las Vegas now signed into law by Gov. Joe Lombardo, Bally’s Corp. will now turn its attention to when the Tropicana hotel will be demolished.

Those at the Tropicana were in a wait-and-see mode as the legislative session played out. Now with the public financing deal set, that planning will get underway, according to Soo Kim, Bally’s Corp. chairman.

“Now that this is going to happen, we really need to put some pen to paper and start planing out how the months go,” Kim told the Review-Journal. “We still need to talk to the A’s and make sure we’re coordinating on timing. We don’t have specific times yet.”

The redevelopment of the Tropicana property is long overdue, with the resort opening in 1959, Kim said. Bally’s Corp. is eager to get that underway as soon as possible.

Bally’s Corp. and Gaming and Leisure Properties Inc.—which owns the land the Tropicana sits on— first offered the A’s the 9 acres of prime land on the 35-acre site for free ahead of the A’s legislative dealings.

Kim estimates that land to be worth about $180 million. The SB1 bill includes up to $380 million in additional public money —$180 million from the state and $145 million from Clark County — toward the planned $1.5 billion, 30,000-seat ballpark.

“I think people will look back at this and call this a no-brainer,” Kim said. “Look we put up as much money as the county or the state and we did that because the economic benefits, to us, were clear. I think that the risk to all the talk of ‘what if the revenues fall short,’ I just think that is overblown. I think this is going to be a great success.”

What Bally’s Corp. plans to do with the other 26 or so acres is still being determined, with Kim previously floating a potential resort-casino project for the site.

“We’ve actually looked at smaller and larger projects, but it’s too early to say,” Kim said.

Projections attainable

Some of those in opposition to the project often questioned the projected economic and tourism impacts the proposed stadium would have. Kim said with Las Vegas already being one of the premier tourist destinations in the world, that truly makes those numbers floated during the A’s pitch to lawmakers attainable.

“All of the projections, over the life of the team being there versus if it would not be there, it’s going to make a huge difference,” Kim said. “The market size itself wouldn’t necessarily merit a team, but because you have tourism and its the world-famous Strip, I just think it’s an amazing opportunity for the sport, as well as the state.”

Another topic raised by those against the A’s receiving the public funding and relocating to Las Vegas is the A’s performance on the field of late. The team is struggling this season, although they recently put together a seven-game win streak.

Kim expects the A’s to be a different team when they potentially arrive in Las Vegas in 2027.

“It’s so interesting that people are like … the A’s are doing badly now, so this is not the team they want. That doesn’t make any sense,” Kim said. “Sometimes teams have losing seasons, but I think a move is going to energize the team … I can’t imagine it not doing well.”

An avenue of sports

An A’s ballpark added to Las Vegas Boulevard would further what already is a vibrant sports district, Kim said. Allegiant Stadium and Michelob Ultra Arena at the Mandalay Bay are located just to the south of the Tropicana site, with T-Mobile Arena located just to the north.

“(Las Vegas Boulevard) will be the avenue of sports,” Kim said. “There’s a lot of logic with that. You see the Vegas Loop plans and that will connect all of them… It just all works.”

The Boring Company has yet to expand outside of the Convention Center Loop that has an offshoot to Resorts World across the Strip from the Las Vegas Convention Center. The next portion of the Vegas Loop Boring Company is set to work on is the Tropicana loop area, Kim noted.

That will connect UNLV to the Tropicana and feature stations at Mandalay Bay, Allegiant Stadium and other properties in the south Strip area.

“I think that will be pretty nice,” Kim said. “Then they will go in and connect all the Strip properties. There’s a lot of reasons why our site was preferred. For all the talk about traffic, it’s actually a place that has a lot of traffic advantages.”

MGM Resorts was among those who voiced its support multiple times for the project during public comment periods of the legislative meetings. With the resort giant having multiple resorts and over 20,000 parking spaces at those properties that surround the Tropicana site, the ballpark will be equally beneficial to MGM Resorts.

“The A’s told me that the best way to do baseball is to have a distribution of parking spots and a walking experience,” Kim said. “So whatever is built we’ll be a beneficiary of. But just as close of a beneficiary is MGM, because they are literally on three of the four corners. People will absolutely park at one of the MGM properties and walk across. That’s good for them, good for us and good for everyone.”

Contact Mick Akers at makers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2920. Follow @mickakers on Twitter.