The Athletics’ eventual move from Oakland to Las Vegas cleared a major hurdle Tuesday, with the team and Bally’s Corporation reaching an agreement to build a $1.5 billion stadium on a portion of the Tropicana hotel site near the southern end of the Las Vegas Strip, according to Howard Stutz of The Nevada Independent.
Bally’s plans to demolish the Tropicana, per Stutz, to build the 35,000-seat stadium in a move that’s expected to reduce public funding for the project to $395 million. The new stadium will have a retractable roof and take up nine acres of the 34-acre plot of land the Tropicana currently occupies.
The A’s reached a binding purchase agreement for land in Las Vegas in April, setting a path for the franchise to relocate after residing in Oakland since 1968. At the time of that agreement, the team was still in negotiations with Oakland to build a new stadium, though it has since shifted gears in a move supported by MLB commissioner Rob Manfred.
“We support the A’s turning their focus on Las Vegas and look forward to them bringing finality to this process by the end of the year,” Manfred told the Las Vegas Review-Journal at the time.
The A’s entered play on Tuesday with an 8-28 record and have been outscored by 128 runs this season, both easily the worst marks in the major leagues.
