A’s Las Vegas ballpark may be flanked by Bally’s towers
Newly released plans are providing a glimpse of how Bally’s Corp. might develop an integrated resort around the Athletics’ Las Vegas Ballpark on the former Tropicana site.
The initial plan’s renderings place the $1.5 billion, 33,000-fan capacity Major League ballpark near the center-rear of the 35-acre site. Three 495-foot-tall hotel towers will rise beside the 290-foot-tall stadium on the property’s northeast and southwest corners, providing a combined 3,005 rooms, according to plans submitted to Clark County.
“The most significant information I think is the A’s and Bally’s and GLPI (Gaming and Leisure Properties Inc.) have come to an agreement on the master plan for the site that accommodates both the ballpark and a planned casino-resort in a way think we each think is really good for our respective projects,” A’s executive Sandy Dean said during Thursday’s Las Vegas Stadium Authority meeting. “We’re excited that the master plan has the ballpark on a location that has a good view of the Las Vegas Strip.”
Dean noted that the plans are preliminary and must be reviewed by Clark County and other stakeholders in a process that will include public meetings.
What’s to come
The plans show 2,500 spaces of onsite parking between two garages on the northwest corner and the southeast corner of the property and a surface lot on the southwest corner.
The rest of the site will feature a 90,000-square-foot casino, a combined 110,000 square feet of meeting space, several food, beverage and retail outlets, and a dayclub.
The casino is expected to feature 1,500 slot machines, 75 table games, a poker room and a 12,000-square-foot sports book.
“The designs are initial massing diagrams intended to ensure that both our resort program and the A’s stadium program can be successfully accommodated on the site,” a Bally’s spokesperson said in an email Thursday. “We anticipate that the designs will evolve as we advance the project.”
The ballpark will feature 30,000 seats and room for 3,000 standing-room-only spaces. It will also offer 60,000 square feet of office space for the A’s.
With 30,000 fixed seats, the plans note that a game at the ballpark will be considered a sellout when 29,400 fans are in attendance, or when 98 percent of the stadium is full.
Each area will be built out in phases, with the ballpark and parking garage going up first, with portions of the integrated resort to be built in three phases.
Parking and more
The plans note a sold-out event would require 5,370 parking spaces, supplied by the 2,500 onsite spaces (100 spots reserved for office parking), and more than 4,400 offsite spaces, which includes 1,500 employees who will park offsite.
It is estimated 9,328 fans will walk to the stadium from surrounding parking garages.
The plans identify 10 nearby parking structures or parking lots with 43,920 spaces within walking or shuttle distance from the Tropicana site. Those include six MGM Resorts properties, Showcase Mall, Planet Hollywood and UNLV-owned land.
Other travel options to and from the stadium include the Boring Co.’s Vegas Loop, taxi and ride-hailing services, Regional Transportation Commission transit, shuttle buses, limos and walking.
The site plans did not list dates when construction would begin on any of the phases of the ballpark or hotel projects. GLPI owns the 35-acre site, and Bally’s Corp. has a ground lease for the property, with both groups gifting the A’s 9 acres for its the stadium.
Bally’s portion of the site would take up 14.7 acres, with nearly 11.4 acres of shared space, according to the plans.
The A’s plan to begin construction n the second quarter of 2025, once the site is cleared and readied following last week’s Tropicana implosion. The aim is to have the ballpark completed and ready to host the A’s for opening day in 2028.
Bally’s Corp. Chairman Soo Kim told the Las Vegas Review-Journal last week that Bally’s would build their resort out in phases, but he did not provide a timeline as to when construction on their portion of the project would begin.
Clark County Commissioner Jim Gibson said he’s confident both projects would come to fruition, but not concurrently.
“The stadium is going to take several years to build and the commitment that GLPI and Bally’s have made is one that is firm, but it takes the same kind of work in advance of construction as the design of the stadium and rounding up the financing,” Gibson said last week. “I’m confident that they’re going to get after it. But I believe that it won’t open that day that the stadium opens.”
Contact Mick Akers at makers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2920. Follow @mickakers on X.