Tropicana implosion paves the way for new era in Las Vegas — VIDEO

In 22 seconds the Rat Pack-era Tropicana’s two hotel towers were reduced to rubble, in part, to make way for the Athletics’ planned Las Vegas ballpark.

The seven-minute firework and drone show leading up to the early Wednesday morning implosion of the resort honored the property’s long history in Las Vegas, standing on the Strip since 1957.

“It is honoring what the Tropicana has meant to Las Vegas,” Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority President and CEO Steve Hill said Tuesday before the implosion. “It’s been a big part of our identity, our brand and certainly early in its history it was an iconic location. Now we’re going to turn into a new iconic location, which is very fitting for Las Vegas. It’s very exciting for our city to bring Major League Baseball here.”

Executives from Tropicana owner Bally’s Corp., the A’s, the LVCVA and Clark County were on hand for the ceremony and implosion.

The demolition paves the way for the construction of the A’s $1.5 billion, 33,000 fan capacity domed ballpark. The stadium will be built on 9 acres of the 35-acre site, with Tropicana owner Bally’s Corp. planning to construct a future resort on the remaining acreage.

Bally’s Corp. Chairman Soo Kim said since he has been involved with the stadium and resort project, it has always made sense, but he’s been in the business long enough to know that everything that makes sense, doesn’t always actually happen. With the implosion of the two towers early Wednesday being the next step in the process, Kim said it’s great to see this project through.

“In this case it’s nice to see a plan coming together,” Kim told the Review-Journal. “We’re very excited to do our part for the county and the state. We’re contributing this very valuable land, or a piece of it, to welcome the more than billion-and-a-half stadium. I think it’s going to be a game changer.”

In order to create a safety zone surrounding the Trop, roads around the shuttered resort were shut down starting at 11 p.m. Roads within the general boundaries of between Park Avenue to the north and Mandalay Bay Road to the south, and Koval Lane to the east and Frank Sinatra Drive to the west, are closed to vehicle and pedestrian traffic, according to Clark County. Reno Avenue and from Frank Sinatra to Koval were also closed.

All closures were to be in place by 12:30 a.m.,Wednesday, and are scheduled to be in place until 6 a.m.

A’s are finalizing agreements

Plans are still on track to have the site cleared in time for the A’s to begin construction on the ballpark in the second quarter of 2025. The A’s are working toward finalizing multiple agreements with the Las Vegas Stadium Authority, finalizing the design of the ballpark and working with their contractor, Mortenson-McCarthy on planning out when to bid out work contracts for various portions of the ballpark project.

“We feel very good about where we’re at and I think things are all moving forward according to plan,” A’s owner John Fisher told the Review-Journal after the implosion.

Part of Bally’s responsibility is clearing the rubble and then readying the land for the A’s ahead of the planned start of construction next year.

“Construction is going to start in the spring and baseball is going to be played in the spring of ‘28,” Kim said.

The $1.5 billion ballpark will be paid for by a mix of $850 million in equity from Fisher’s family, $350 million in public money made available by Senate Bill 1 and $300 million in debt taken on by the A’s. On Tuesday, Hill said he had viewed the Fisher family’s financials and they have no doubt they have to ability to take care of their portion of the stadium’s financing.

”We’ll have our financing plan out for everybody to see soon,” Fisher said. “But as you heard form Steve Hill yesterday, there’s a lot of confidence.”

Plans for the resort

Bally’s Corp. is in the early process of submitting their initial master plan for the rest of the site, including their planned resort, Kim said.

“We’re planning an up to 3,000 room integrated resort with all of the event and convention spaces, and F&B (food and beverage) that people come to expect in Vegas,” Kim said. “In Vegas now, gaming is only 30 percent of the revenue, so you need to have everything else working. We’re not a huge company, so we’re going to have to go slowly. So at this point we’re trying to break down those plans into bite size phases.”

With professional sports exploding in Las Vegas, leading to a new era for Sin City, adding Major League Baseball and the stars associated with the league, and not just the A’s to the mix, will build off that momentum.

“Shohei Ohtani had his humongous day a few weeks ago (for the Los Angeles Dodgers) … I sent my family a text saying ‘This guy is going to be playing baseball in Las Vegas in four years,’” Hill said. “Which is the same level as Frank Sinatra performing in Las Vegas. It’s just a fantastic location for a stadium and brings a whole new level of celebrity to our city.”

No simple feat

The aerial show leading up to the implosion was no simple feat. Fireworks By Grucci worked on planning the show for about five months and had a crew of nearly 100 people staged in-and-around the Tropicana to ensure the show went off smoothly, according to Phil Grucci, CEO and creative director for Fireworks by Grucci.

The finale of the show was a plunger made of drowns that pushed down and lead to pyrodrones, lined up in the shape of fuses next to both towers, appearing to light the fuses to bring the structures down.

“I get chills just talking about it,” Grucci said.

For Fisher it was his first implosion and it having the significance that it does in relation to the A’s planned new ballpark made it all the more special, especially with the drones forming multiple A’s logos over the Strip skyline.

“It was spectacular, it made me so happy and so proud and excited for the future.” Fisher said. “Seeing those buildings come down so quickly was astounding.”

With Las Vegas known for imploding old, aging properties to make way for the next big thing, Hill said this is the evolution to that.

“All of them have made way for what’s next,” Hill said. “The first one that I saw was when the Dunes came down and ultimately made way for Bellagio and everything through that area. That’s hard to beat. Then Sands comes down and D.I. (Desert Inn) comes down and makes way for these fantastic properties, like Venetian and Wynn.

“What this city has done with the land made available from these implosions has continued to raise our game and our brand.”