Tropicana demolition moving ahead as planned, Bally’s CEO says

Tropicana owner Bally’s Corp. says the demolition of the Rat Pack-era resort is moving ahead as planned.

Plans still call for the gutted Tropicana hotel towers to be imploded in October, Bally’s Corp. CEO Robeson Reeves said Wednesday during a company earnings call.

“We’re moving forward with the demolition of the Tropicana,” he said.

This supports details noted in a blast permit application filed in July with Clark County, which pegs the potential timeframe the Trop will be imploded as between Sept. 30 and Oct. 8.

Bally’s remains on track to hand over 9 acres of the 35-acre site for the A’s to begin construction on their planned $1.5 billion ballpark in April, Reeves said. Bally’s also continues to assess its options to what will be built on the remaining acreage surrounding the planned stadium, he said.

Bally’s Corp. executives didn’t take questions from investors on their recently announced $4.6 billion merger with hedge fund Standard General, stating further info would be available at a later date, as the regulatory process takes place.

Bally’s Chairman Soo Kim, who manages Standard General, previously told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that the pending merger wouldn’t have an impact on the Tropicana project, including the A’s stadium and planned future hotel.

A’s executive Sandy Dean is also confident of the ballpark plan moving forward post Bally’s merger, stating their project isn’t dependent on Bally’s planned project.

“Bally’s has been working on this transaction for a while, and our ballpark project is independent of these changes in Bally’s ownership,” Dean said in an email to the Review-Journal.

Before construction can begin on the ballpark, the A’s must have a trio of agreements approved by the Las Vegas Stadium Authority. That would be the next step to making the up to $380 million in public funding available to the team to go toward financing a portion of the stadium’s costs.

The development, lease and nonrelocation agreements are expected to be discussed and refined over the next few months and be up for approval sometime in December, Stadium Authority chairman Steve Hill said.

Once those agreements are approved, the A’s will need to secure their share of the stadium funding and have spent the first $100 million on the ballpark project, before the public money is made available. The A’s plan to use $300 million in debt financing and $850 million in equity from team owner John Fisher’s family. The A’s will also seek to bring in minority investors in the team, which would decrease the amount of equity the Fisher’s would contribute to the ballpark’s construction.

The A’s new ballpark is still planned to be completed in time for the 2028 MLB season.

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