‘Drop the Trop’ and ‘spherical armadillo’ will change Las Vegas skyline

Sunday (29 September) the A’s finished out the regular season with a 4-6 loss to the Mariners at Seattle. The team’s final home game at the Oakland Coliseum, its home since 1968, was a 3-2 win against the Texas Rangers three days earlier. Fans packed the decrepit stadium one last time and erupted in cheers after the final out was recorded.

All three of the Oakland’s professional team’s–the A’s (MLB), Raiders (NFL) and Warriors (NBA)–have left in the last six years. The A’s will now join the Raiders in moving to Las Vegas; the Warriors went across the bay to San Francisco.

In its 57th and final season in Oakland, the A’s went 69-93, good for fourth in the American League West division. Their last postseason appearance was in 2020, and their last ALCS appearance was in 2006. The franchise has not won a World Series since 1989.

For the next three seasons at least, the A’s will play at Sutter Health Park, a minor-league stadium in Sacramento. According to The Athletic, the team will not adopt a Sacramento moniker during its time there. If all goes according to plan the A’s will move to Las Vegas for the 2028 season.

But for that to happen, the team’s new $1.5bn (£1.13bn/€1.35bn) stadium must be built. And the Tropicana Las Vegas must be imploded to make room for it.

Tropicana implosion set for next week

Last month, Bally’s Corp., owners of the Tropicana, announced that the casino’s demolition is set for 2:30 a.m. PT 9 October. The iconic Las Vegas mainstay had been open for 67 years before it closed 2 April.

Safety restrictions prohibit any public viewing of the implosion. But interested viewers have been snapping up hotel rooms nearby, and the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) will livestream the event on its X page. A fireworks display and a drone show with 555 drones is scheduled ahead of the implosion.

Controlled Demolition, Inc. (CDI) will perform the implosion, which will utilize 2,149 pounds (947.7 kilograms) of explosives. CDI has felled more than 30 Clark County structures, including the Stardust, Riviera, Frontier and Hacienda. A total of 917,400 square feet is being demolished between the Tropicana’s two towers.

Stadium is one of Bally’s many developments

Bally’s bought the operations of the Tropicana from Gaming & Leisure Properties (GLPI) in 2022 for $148m. GLPI still owns the 35-acre plot the casino sits on, but the stadium will only encompass nine acres. The two sides are now long-term partners through a $2.07bn financing agreement, and Bally’s will eventually build a new casino-resort on the remaining acreage.

Over the last year-plus, Bally’s has said little about its plans for the site. This is likely due to the fact that its new casino won’t be built until after the stadium, which is multiple years away. The national casino operator has a lot going on, to put it lightly.

It was bought out earlier this year by its biggest shareholder, Standard General. It currently has developments pending from coast to coast. In addition to the Tropicana, the company is currently building its flagship casino in Chicago, vying for a New York casino at its golf course in the Bronx and bidding for another Missouri casino, just to name a few.

Sydney Opera House? Try ‘spherical armadillo’

Renderings of the stadium, released in March, depict a structure with a tiered roof that closely resembles the Sydney Opera House. The architects behind the design, Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), have described it as a “spherical armadillo.” BIG has also said that “direct sunlight” is blocked despite the fact that the roof is not enclosed. Given Las Vegas’ extreme summer climate, the playing conditions and fan experience are still somewhat of a concern.

The stadium will be positioned so that the outfield faces the Strip. Renderings have called for the largest-ever cable-net glass window looking out onto the Strip, and this will reportedly not affect batters’ views from home plate. Notably, the 33,000-seat capacity will be the lowest in Major League Baseball. Its 18,000-square-foot jumbotron, however, will be the biggest.

Completion is slated for 2028, in time for Opening Day of the MLB regular season in late March or early April.

Still unclear how stadium will be financed

One question still lingering is how the A’s will pay for the stadium. Last June, Nevada lawmakers in a special session approved up to $380m in public funding for the project, in the form of tax credits and county bonds. The legislation, known as SB1, also included a 30-year property tax exemption.

That leaves a little over $1bn for the franchise and owner John Fisher to come up with. Fisher, the son of billionaire GAP Inc. founders Donald and Doris Fisher, has said previously that his family would supply a portion of the funding if need be.

The stadium is also expected to fetch a hefty naming rights deal. When the Raiders moved to their Las Vegas stadium in 2019, they partnered with Allegiant Airlines for naming rights. The deal is worth $20-25m per year and was the most lucrative stadium deal in the NFL at the time, per Forbes.

“We hope that, in time, this site will become a place of unforgettable experiences for fans of the game,” Fisher said in a statement Monday. “We extend our gratitude to Bally’s and GLPI for their partnership as we embark on this project together.”

Kornegay: A’s on-field performance will be critical

Jay Kornegay, executive vice president of race and sports operations at Westgate Las Vegas, told iGB that the A’s have been a topic of conversation among the city’s sports betting community. He posited that the team’s arrival will have a “small” impact on baseball betting handle. But on-field success, he said, will be “the true impact.”

“If the local team does well, you can really see the impact it makes on the handle and interest from the crowds we see in the sportsbooks,” Kornegay said.

Kornegay noted that when the NHL Golden Knights started play, they were competitive. The Knights, a 2017 expansion team, reached the Stanley Cup Final in their first season and immediately raised interest in hockey betting. The Raiders have not made the playoffs in Las Vegas, but football is the dominant sports betting handle driver anyway. “That’s not what we expect from the A’s,” he joked.

According to the Nevada Gaming Control Board, Nevada sportsbooks won $10.8m and $19.1m from baseball betting in June and July, the two months with the least crossover from other sports. Those totals were year-over-year declines of 25.4% and 4.3%, respectively.

Kornegay estimated that baseball currently encompasses about 18% of Westgate’s overall handle. Those who do bet baseball, he said, tend to be sharper, more dedicated bettors. Games are every day and lines are heavily contingent on pitching matchups, travel and other factors. This means that the margins are often even lower than that of other sports. Football games, he said, come with “a whole week of anticipation and buildup” that helps drive handle. But baseball betting is “diluted” because of the frequency.

“I’m sure the average bet on a football game is like $200,” he noted. “The average bet on a baseball game is probably somewhere around $50.”

Original article: https://igamingbusiness.com/casino/property-development/as-las-vegas-tropicana-implosion/