Major League Baseball took another step toward coming to Las Vegas after it emerged that the Oakland Athletics had its sights trained on excess land on the Bally’s Corporation owned Tropicana hotel site as the location to build a professional ballpark in Sin City.
It was revealed last month by the Athletics' President Dave Kaval that the team had put an offer on a site to build a $1bn. It was not known then where that site was, but, with yesterday’s news, it seems likely to have been the Tropicana.
Reportedly, the Athletics initially had their eyes on over 20 sites. In addition to the Tropicana, at the top of the running was the golf course at the Wynn Las Vegas and an unspecified property owned by Caesars.
The move is the latest in a campaign on the part of the city to attract professional sports. The last five years have seen both the NFL and the NHL set up franchises in the city.
If the estimated 30,000-35,0000 seat stadium is built, it will be within close proximity to other edifices of spectator sports that have emerged toward the southern end of the Strip, including the T-Mobile Arena, the MGM Grand Garden Arena, the Michelob Ultra Area and Allegiant Stadium.
As quoted in the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Clark County Commission Vice Chairman Jim Gibson said: “As we have seen with the NHL and the NFL, Las Vegas is a great place to have a pro team. We have the best fans in the country, and if this comes to fruition, it would be very exciting to welcome Major League Baseball to our community.”
The Athletics’ move from Oakland, though, is by no means pre-ordained. While the baseball commissioner, Rob Manfred, has given the team the go-ahead to explore the option, they are also reportedly still in discussions with the city of Oakland to build a new ballpark on the waterfront there.
If the move does go through – and if the new ballpark is constructed at the Tropicana – it will represent a significant coup for the Bally’s Corporation which has, over the last several years, been on a huge push to grow and diversify its brand. Bally’s Chairman Soo Kim – the driving force behind this growth – is going to appear for an in-depth interview in Gaming America’s Jan/Feb issue.
