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The Oakland Athletics have reached an agreement with Bally and Gaming & Leisure Properties to build a potential stadium on the site of the Tropicana hotel on the Las Vegas Strip.
Bally’s Corp. made an announcement on Friday for a 30,000-seat stadium on a 35-hectare site. This project is expected to cost about 1.5 billion US dollars, and A asked for almost $ 400 million in public support from the Nevada Legislature, which can vote on the proposal this week.
The A’s previously signed an agreement to build a stadium also on Tropicana Avenue but on the other side of Interstate 15 which runs alongside the Strip. They are expected to ask the Legislature for $500 million in public funds for a 49-hectare site that will include more than a stadium.
The new agreement is a scaled-down proposal, but the location is within walking distance for fans who stay in hotels on the south side of the Strip. “We are excited about the potential to bring Major League Baseball to this great location,” A’s president Dave Kaval said in a statement. “We are happy to work together with Bally and GLPI and look forward to finalizing plans to bring Athletics to Southern Nevada.”
Kaval has said he hopes to break ground on the new ballpark next year and open the venue in time for the 2027 season. The A’s have a lease on the Oakland Coliseum through 2024, and they could play the 2025 and ’26 seasons at Las Vegas Ballpark, home to triple -A Aviators affiliate.
Tropicana opened in 1957 and in its heyday attracted A-listers like Sammy Davis Jr. Now Trop is overshadowed by nearby megaresorts such as MGM Grand, New York-New York and Mandalay Bay, and soon it is likely to meet its fate. of many other historic Las Vegas hotels that are no longer around.
“We are honored to have been chosen to partner with the Oakland Athletics in this monumental step in helping to bring Major League Baseball to the great city of Las Vegas, and to be part of the once-in-a-generation opportunity of having a professional baseball team located a short distance from Las Vegas. Vegas Strip,” Bally president George Papanier said in a statement.
“Tropicana has been a Las Vegas landmark for generations, and this development will enhance this iconic site for generations to come.”
The A’s have been looking for a new home for years to replace the outdated and dilapidated Oakland Coliseum, where the team has played since arriving from Kansas City for the 1968 season. It averaged less than 9,500 fans at home this season, the lowest among 30 teams.
The team had been negotiating with the city of Oakland to build a stadium on the waterfront but turned its focus entirely to Las Vegas last month. An exclusive negotiating rights deal with the Port of Oakland for the Howard Terminal site expired last Friday, allowing the port to negotiate with other parties interested in using the downtown site.
There, A also reached an agreement with the Culinary Union, a politically powerful Nevada union that represents more than 60,000 workers mostly in the Las Vegas area, which guarantees that A’s workers have the right to organize and negotiate a union contract.
“We hope that there will be a way forward for all stakeholders so that the Las Vegas A’s can join the Las Vegas Golden Knights and the Las Vegas Raiders to continue this transformation as Las Vegas, the entertainment capital of the world, is also the sports capital of the world,” said the secretary -culinary union treasurer Ted Pappageorge in a statement.
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