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Tropicana Las Vegas operator Bally’s Corp., and real estate investment trust Gaming & Leisure Properties (GLPI) formally announced an agreement Monday with the Oakland A’s to bring the Major League Baseball team to Las Vegas, contingent on state lawmakers approving a nine-figure public financing package to assist with stadium construction.
Under the terms of the “binding agreement,” GLPI, which owns the 34-acre site at Tropicana Boulevard and the Strip, will provide up to $175 million toward “certain shared improvements within the future development in exchange for a commensurate rent increase.”
GLPI and Bally’s said the team would be given nine acres for the stadium.
The plans for a $1.5 billion, 35,000-seat retractable roof facility still require legislative approval for $395 million in public financing sought for the project. No bill to do so has been introduced with three weeks left in the state’s 120-day Legislature, but action on any financing deal is expected to quickly ramp up this week.
Last week, The Nevada Independent first reported the A’s had scrapped a deal for a site on 49 acres west of Interstate 15 that it had announced on April 20 and was now working with Bally’s on the Tropicana site for the ballpark.
The A’s were initially looking to secure legislative support for a $500 million public funding package involving tax credits and the creation of a special taxation district to help fund stadium construction. Sources told the Independent the new location reduced the public financing requirement by $105 million.
The early morning announcement marked the first time the two public companies acknowledged the deal. Bally’s operates the Tropicana under a lease agreement with GLPI, which owns the land. The casino operator pays $10.5 million in rent annually under a 50-year deal.
GLPI Chairman and CEO Peter Carlino said in the joint statement that the company was on board with helping in the A’s “exciting vision for a new ballpark through our contribution of 9 acres of the Tropicana site and look forward to the prominent place that the overall project will occupy in the Las Vegas skyline.”
Carlino said the REIT would have additional opportunities “to invest in the various aspects of the overall project.”
In the statement, Bally’s said it would continue to operate Tropicana Las Vegas for the foreseeable future “while evaluating all available options for a broader redevelopment of the remainder of the site that will be adjacent to the new ballpark.”
Bally’s, which also owns Bally’s Lake Tahoe, acquired the operations of the Tropicana from Gaming and Leisure in September as part of a $148 million deal that involved Penn Entertainment. Sources told the Independent last week the hotel-casino would be demolished to give the A’s a clean slate on which to build the stadium.
“The Tropicana has been a landmark of Las Vegas for generations, and this development will enhance this iconic site for generations to come,” Bally’s President George Papanier said in a statement. “We are committed to ensuring that the development and ballpark built in its place will become a new landmark, paying homage to the iconic history and global appeal of Las Vegas
Bally’s predicted the ballpark would attract more than 2.5 million fans and visitors annually.
(This story will be updated)
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