(The Center Square) – Las Vegas is looking to bring baseball to the city – the Vegas way – with a shiny, new 35-acre casino resort next door.
With some vague details of the resort now released, the massive question – who is going to pick up the check? – remains at large.
Along Las Vegas Boulevard and on the site of the former mob-era Tropicana casino, the proposed resort casino by Bally’s Corp. would wrap around the Athletics baseball stadium.
The development rendering shows two towering hotels fit for 3,000 rooms, a separate 2,500 capacity “entertainment venue” and a variety of retail and dining options. The 26-acre resort casino would share a 35-acre plot of the old Tropicana with the Athletics stadium.
Or at least, that’s the plan.
The Athletics’ “ground-breaking” event in June may have given the impression that the baseball stadium was a certain deal, but the project board is still riddled with holes.
For one, construction on the project has not actually begun, and there are some large checks that still need to be written for the project to look possible.
Here’s some quick math: $380 million in Clark County tax funds have already been approved for the project, while Athletics owner John Fisher is trying to sell his MLS team, the San Jose Earthquakes, for $600 million to use on the Las Vegas stadium.
That leaves a roughly $1 billion funding gap – half the project – on a stadium planned to complete in 2028. Fisher, personally valued at $3 billion by Forbes, has not indicated any plans to use personal finances.
But the Athletics have kept a steady stream of construction permits flowing in recent months, keeping anticipation high. Last week, they applied for $523 million in building permits, bringing the total to over $900 million.
With the Athletics’ questionable construction status in mind, Bally’s accompanying resort adds little substance in the form of price tags or funding sources.
“Bally’s Las Vegas represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to redefine the heart of the Strip,” said Bally’s Chairman Soo Kim in a press release.
Kim added later, “We are not just building an integrated resort. We are creating a landmark destination that unites sports, entertainment, dining and hospitality on a scale only Las Vegas can deliver.”
The planned project comes as online gambling, low tourism rates and economic hardship have put Las Vegas resorts in a tough position for 2025. According to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, visitors to the city have dropped by 6.5% since 2024.
Between high anticipation and unanswered costs, Las Vegas and Clark County residents will have to wait and see if their city becomes a baseball stadium. Many will be holding their breath that Fisher learns from the failures of previous top-heavy entertainment projects, such as former NBA player Jackie Robinson’s 2013 basketball stadium.
