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Special Coverage: Oakland A's Move to Las Vegas Would Include Demolition of Tropicana Hotel Casino · Vegas Revealed

• 0:00
  Sean McAllister: This is Vegas revealed special coverage of the Oakland A's hospital relocation to Las Vegas.
• 0:06
  Dayna Roselli: I'm Dana Roselli along with John McAllister.
• 0:09
  Dayna Roselli: Listen, there are some new twists to the tale of the Major League Baseball relocation.
• 0:14
  Dayna Roselli: And even if you aren't interested in sports, the latest developments would mean the demolition of that classic propaganda hotel and casino on the Las Vegas trip.
• 0:28
  Sean McAllister: So we're turning to longtime Las Vegas-based journalist Howard Stutt, who is senior reporter on gaming and tourism with the Nevada Independent.
• 0:37
  Dayna Roselli: Hey Howard, how are you doing?
• 0:39
  Dayna Roselli: Um pretty good.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: What do you think for the next story to drop here on this?
• 0:44
  Dayna Roselli: You've been staying really, really busy.
• 0:45
  Dayna Roselli: We love it.
• 0:46
  Dayna Roselli: Um listen, we love the stories you've been doing for the Nevada Independent, and we want to jump right in and talk about the A's.
• 0:52
  Dayna Roselli: I feel like a lot of people have questions about this when it comes to like, is this a done deal?
• 0:57
  Dayna Roselli: Does it mean the other land deal is not being considered anymore?
• 1:01
  Dayna Roselli: Is it now the the site of the Tropicana only?
• 1:04
  Dayna Roselli: What can you fill us in about?
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: Well, the sources that we have said, you know, this is now the deal, talking about that they're dealing with is the Tropicana site.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: Uh that doesn't mean anything else is off the table the way this as fluid as this is good as this has been.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um remember this team has looked spent two years looking at 20 different sites around the valley, kind of centered on um on a few down in the resort corridor.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: That that's where they wanted to be, they decided the team decided and really liked the the the the wild wild west site, you know, over where it's located.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: But I and our understanding is it was the public financing package was tough to come by.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: I mean it's about five they were looking for five hundred million, so they reduced it by going over the Tropicana.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: There's two things.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: One, uh I'm partnering with Bally's Corporation.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: Uh you know, you have a casino partner there.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: Uh two, but Bally's the site is actually owned.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: The Tropicana site is actually owned by Gaming and Leisure Properties, a uh real estate investment trust.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: So they will continue to own the site.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: Bally's pays the pays GLPI, as they're known, uh, about ten point five million dollars annually in rent.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: So and for the thirty-four acres.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: So that will just continue.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: So what that does is it takes a big chunk of money out of the deal.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: So the A's don't have to buy the land for the stadium.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: So in census, they won't own the land.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: That will be owned by GLPI, but they'll you know build a stadium on that site.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: So that kind of reduced they believe it reduced the public uh uh tax commitment to about uh you know about a hundred by a hundred and five million standards you know with three hundred and ninety-five million dollars.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: That's what we're and what we're weighing on is really the language to come through whatever legislation that has to be approved in Carson City, and that's what we're weighing on right now.
• 2:58
  Sean McAllister: And I know uh under the the previous you know binding land deal uh over at the Wild Wild West site, the A's were talking about like kind of building out an entire entertainment complex that would that would supplement what was being built for the stadium.
• 3:14
  Sean McAllister: And and that's kind of been scrapped from the deal with the the Tropicana location, right?
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: Right, that's correct.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: They're they're only it's only nine acres now.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: They're getting on this on the Tropicana site.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: That's big enough for the baseball stadium.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: Now the the plan is that uh Bally's they're gonna demolish the tropic close and demolish the Tropicana.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: And that sounds kind of shocking to people, obviously.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: But uh Bally's bought the Tropicana last year, and they had talked about re renovating and remodeling it or doing something with it.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um so but then tearing it down is not a surprise.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: That's probably the easiest thing for them to do to demolish it and start over.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: And Bally's right now is a company, they're out of they're headquartered out of Rhode Island, they have uh 14 casinos in 10 different states.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: They own what's now called Bally's Lake Tahoe.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: It used to be the the Mount Blue up in up in up in Lake Tahoe.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: Uh they're focused on a they're building a$1.7 billion casino resort in downtown Chicago.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: That is like the focus for the company.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: So what this does, it allows them to not worry about so much about the Tropicana.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: They get a baseball stadium on the site, and then in a few years, whenever or whenever they'll be able to go ahead and build a new hotel casino.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: It won't be attached to the baseball stadium, but it'll be part of the site where you know to replace the Tropicana.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: So that's where that's that's kind of one of the the factors that weighed into this deal.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: And yes, we won't see the urban village, but you they may see something down the road.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: There may be some stuff added on, added on later once Bally's figure out what they're gonna do with that site.
• 4:50
  Sean McAllister: Yeah, because that's a huge site.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, 34 acres is a good chunk of land.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of land that's not being used there right now.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, bat you know, Tropa's sitting on the site, uh, but there's a lot of a lot of land in the back, you know, behind off Las Vegas Boulevard.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um that's not being used right now.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: So we'll uh you know, we have uh you know, we'll see where that's where this all where this all plays out.
• 5:11
  Dayna Roselli: Any time frame, like how long will this go on until it's like it's final, we have a decision, we're gonna start construction.
• 5:17
  Dayna Roselli: Could it go on for a year, months?
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: Well, Dana, here's the thing, you've you hit a good point.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: Uh the legislature ends, I think, on June 6th.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's coming up.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: So they have to have something done in the legislature by before then.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I don't think the legislature wants, or the governor would have to call a special session.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think Governor Lombardo in his first term, you know, six, seven months in is going to want to call a special session.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: They also are on a kind time constraint with Major League Baseball, uh, the ASAR, that Major League Baseball needs to approve the relocation by the first of the year, first of January, you know, January 1st, 2024.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: So they're basically looking at this year to get everything in place, get the deal in place, and then they can move forward on what they're going to do in 2024.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: They'll they'll, you know, they can start construction.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: If that if this is what happens, they'll go ahead and start construction.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: But then, you know, where do they play next year?
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: You know, may probably Oakland again, maybe they come to Vegas.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: We don't know yet.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: So there's a lot to be worked out.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: But if you're looking at timelines, you know, adopt deadline.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, one, the legislature ends on June on June 6th, so this has got to be done before then, and then June and January 1st of this year of next year to finally have everything all in place.
• 6:28
  Sean McAllister: Yeah, so the clock really is ticking.
• 6:29
  Sean McAllister: Hopefully, we'll know some definitive answers about things relatively soon here because uh everything up until now has just been possible.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: Our understanding is what the bill will come pretty quick here.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, they're they're working on it.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's the language in this.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: That's it.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: And I look, I'm not I I don't cover the legislature.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: I've got a team of three reporters that I work with that they're they're doing that, but I'm working with them on this.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: And it's a language of this tax district.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: The county's gotta be okay, you know, they've got to work with the county to make sure the county's okay with this.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, there's a lot of moving parts in in a short amount of time, and that's what we're and that's what we're seeing here.
• 7:05
  Sean McAllister: Yeah.
• 7:05
  Sean McAllister: Howard, thanks so much for your time and reporting.
• 7:08
  Sean McAllister: We know that you're gonna have a lot more to come.
• 7:11
  Dayna Roselli: Yeah, and if you want to check out the Nevada Independent, you can go to their website.
• 7:15
  Dayna Roselli: It is thenevadaindependent.com.
• 7:18
  Dayna Roselli: Now we expect more development soon.
• 7:20
  Dayna Roselli: We're gonna follow all the details here on Vegas Revealed and on our social media, which you can find at Vegas Revealed.com.
• 7:28
  Dayna Roselli: Thanks for joining us, everyone, and we'll have a new episode out on Saturday.