Las Vegas Strip losing an iconic casino (and maybe more)

The Las Vegas Strip has not seen an implosion since Riviera in 2016, which was removed in order to enlarge the Las Vegas Convention Center.

At one time, they were fairly common as the Aladdin (now Caesars Entertainment’s Planet Hollywood) faced implosion in the 1990s, and El Rancho, Desert Inn, Castaways, the Boardwalk Stardust, and Frontier all followed in the 2000s.

Those were all small, dated properties compared with today’s modern casinos. It didn’t make sense to gut them for a remodel because the core buildings were simply too small.

Now, because land on the Strip has become so expensive, it only makes sense to build the types of mega-resorts operated by Caesars Entertainment  (CZR) , MGM Resorts International (MGM) , Wynn Resorts  (WYNN) , and the other operators on the Las Vegas Strip.

Casino Royale, a smaller property with a 152-room Best Western hotel that sits in the heart of the Caesars empire won’t be around for much longer. The Federal Aviation Administration has approved a proposal to build a 699-foot-tall resort casino on the property.

That’s not a final approval as Clark County will have to sign off, but it’s likely that the third-oldest casino on the Strip won’t make it through 2024.

The second-oldest casino on the Strip, the Tropicana, definitely won’t last long as it’s slated to be demolished (probably not imploded) in April to make way for a new stadium for the Oakland Athletics.

It appears that those construction plans will continue with the resort casino celebrating its final day of operations on April 2. Unfortunately, what happens after that remains a lot more murky.

Tropicana will close for good on April 2. Image source: Shutterstock

Tropicana is going, but the A’s may not come  

On the surface, it seems like the A’s have a deal to move to Las Vegas beginning in the 2028 season. That’s a very extended timetable, which leaves the team in limbo for three years. It is slated to play the 2024 season in Oakland on a lease that expires at the end of the season.

Next step is an open question. Maybe they’ll play in Oakland. There are reports the team actually wants to play in Sacramento and/or Salt Lake City.

In addition, the extended timetable (although it’s not overly long by Las Vegas construction standards) raises a yellow flag. So does the fact that the team has not shown plans for the site. Nor, for that matter, has it explained its funding plan.

Those details, team officials have repeatedly said, will be coming soon, and they’re not needed imminently as it will take about a year to clear the site.

Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman, however, in an interview with Front Office Sports, said the team’s plan did not make sense and that it should stay in Oakland.

In the podcast interview, she openly doubted the team’s sincerity and suggested that Las Vegas was being used as leverage to get the waterfront stadium it really wanted in Oakland.

Baseball insists the A’s are Las Vegas-bound

Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred insisted during a press event Feb. 15 that all was well with the A’s move.

“I’m confident that the deal in Las Vegas is solid and the A’s will build a stadium in Las Vegas and play there in 2028,” he told a Las Vegas news conference. “…I think the delay in renderings is due to the discussions between Bally’s and the A’s to how the ballpark and what else is going to happen there is going to be most efficiently designed to make it the best possible experience for fans.”

The A’s, however, have muddied that water as to their intent, according to a statement from Alameda County supervisor David Hauber, who is part of the discussions for the team to stay in its Oakland home until its Las Vegas Strip stadium gets completed.

“We had a very open and frank conversation about all different scenarios and alternatives and options, and nothing was taken off the table,” he said, according to Sports Illustrated’s Inside the A’s.