The Tropicana, one of Las Vegas' oldest casinos, will cash out its chips in April
The Tropicana, one of Las Vegas' oldest casinos, will cash out its chips in April
Nathan SolisThe house does not always win.
Starting April 2, the Tropicana Las Vegas will shut its doors to make way for a new baseball stadium and resort, nearly 67 years after the casino opened its doors.
The 44,000-square-foot casino and 1,400-room hotel will be demolished and replaced with a 30,000-seat ballpark, the future home of the Athletics, announced Ballys, the Rhode Island owner of the Tropicana since 2022.
The Athletics agreed to relocate to Las Vegas from Oakland in November. The teams move follows the 2020 relocation of the NFLs Raiders from Oakland to Las Vegas and the NBAs Golden State Warriors from Oakland to San Francisco in 2019.
The new ballpark is projected to bring more than 2.5 million fans and visitors annually to the Las Vegas Strip, Ballys said in a news release.
The electric rail to Las Vegas keeps rolling with new federal funding approvedThe Tropicana will close out all hotel bookings and relocate customers with reservations booked beyond the closure date. More information about bookings, reward club cards and gambling transactions can be found online at troplv.com.
The Tropicana Las Vegas opened April 4, 1957, and was billed as the Tiffany of the Strip in promotional advertising. The then-300-room hotel also boasted that it was the most expensive property in Las Vegas, with a $15-million price tag, the Nevada State Journal reported at the time.
The casino played host to Elvis Presley in the 1964 movie Viva Las Vegas; the 1971 James Bond film Diamonds Are Forever; and the 1972 film The Godfather, in which it was renamed the Tropigala.
After its humble beginnings, ties to organized crime and numerous changes in ownership, the Tropicana completed a $157-million renovation to embrace a South Beach motif in 2011, replete with white marble floors throughout the casino.
Super Bowl LVIII: Start time, teams, betting odds and halftime showBut all of that will soon be history. The hotel-casino takes up 35 acres on the south end of the Las Vegas Strip and, once demolished, will clear a path for the proposed $1.5-billion ballpark that will take up 9 acres of land. A proposed resort will be integrated into the master plan, according to Ballys.
Company President George Papanier said in a statement that Ballys is honored to be a key partner with the Athletics on bringing a Major League ballpark to the great city of Las Vegas. The land is currently leased to the Tropicana by Gaming & Leisure Properties.
In November, Major League Baseball owners approved the move by the As to Las Vegas, and Nevada offered the team $380 million in public funding to help pay for the project.
The stadium is expected to open by 2028, but the Athletics current lease with the Oakland Coliseum terminates at the end of the 2024 season, potentially leaving the team, temporarily, without a home.
Categories
Recent Posts
