Back on October 13, the Las Vegas Review-Journal unveiled the timeline that Bally’s would be working with to develop its mixed use hotel-casino surrounding the A’s ballpark in Las Vegas. That timeline included four phases in total, with only phase one set to be finished in time for the Athletics Opening Day 2028 timeline.
Per the LVRJ, “Phase 1 includes a shared central utility plant, the southeast parking garage, a shared access way encircling the ballpark, and retail, dining and entertainment spaces on the northwest corner of the site. Phase 1 is planned to be completed in unison with the opening of the A’s ballpark, scheduled to be completed in early 2028.”
Phase two of the project is the actual resort, hotel, casino and sportsbook, while phase three is set to be a 3,000 seat theater. Phase four is expected to be a second tower for the hotel.
On Halloween, the Review-Journal was serving up some tricks for this project, and some treats for onlookers. In an article by David Danzis (notably not Mick Akers, who covers most of the A’s news for the paper), the main headline is that Gaming & Leisure Properties Inc., who owns the 35-acre parcel of land for both Bally’s and the A’s projects, said they will not be bankrolling the envisioned resort at this site.
That’s the big takeaway. Though, the specific phrasing is that they won’t be “footing the full bill for an envisioned resort project at the site, an indication that its gaming partner may require additional backing to make the deal work.” While they may not be getting the full bill funded, that phrasing still leaves room for a large chunk of the bill to be footed.
If the A’s funding is as secure as they keep promising everyone it is, then there should be no concerns here for them specifically. That is, unless GLPI has a change of heart on the whole project with two-thirds of the site lacking funding.
Let’s take everything at face value here. The Bally’s project will be built in phases, but otherwise everything will be terrific, while the A’s project will open in 2028.
Phase one is set to include some shopping and retail, along with a parking garage, but there is not enough time to finish the enitre project by the time the A’s plan to open their ballpark in early 2028.
Here is a timeline of events for the A’s: 1. Uproot and entire franchise from a city that loved the team. 2. Get ridiculed constantly for that decision, so much so that you have to make a temporary home in Sacramento because the fans were so effective at changing the narrative against you. 3. Draw even fewer fans in Sacramento than you did in Oakland, failing in yet another city en route to Vegas.
4. Completely tank the brand of the A’s so that as you’re trying to fundraise for this project nobody wants to be associated with it, which constantly puts some doubt into how this will end up getting paid for. 5. Your partner in Bally’s doesn’t have the money to outright build their own project.
From the A’s perspective, having a half-finished project surrounding their fully completed ballpark isn’t going to present much of a “wow” factor for those that choose to visit the ballpark during the first season. Also, who knows how long the Bally’s timeline will actually last? This could be an unfinished plot of land for years and years.
There is no way that this ballpark project will be given a grace period for everything to get up and running. This is Vegas, baby! There will be a level of spectacle expected on day one, especially with how much noise and how many enemies ownership made in their exit from Oakland.
In the diagram below, the A’s ballpark is seen as the largest piece of the project, while it’s only supposed to be nine acres of the site.
Here’s the Trop site layout at full build out. Bally’s project will be built in phases. The 9 acres of shared space for dining, retail & entertainment on NW corner & the utility plant (CUP) & parking garage on the SE corner planned to be ready w/ the A’s ballpark in 2028. #vegas pic.twitter.com/ZovVBYy6cK
— Mick Akers (@mickakers) October 10, 2025
It’s also funny that the A’s ballpark will also just be hidden once the area is complete.
Conceptual drawings show the layout of the A’s ballpark and Bally’s mixed-use project at full build on the 35-acre former Tropicana hotel site.
Heights:
Ballpark: 350ft
NE hotel: 420ft
SW hotel: 350ft#vegas #athletics #mlb #ballyslv pic.twitter.com/jzFsXlo9ZR
— Mick Akers (@mickakers) October 10, 2025
That the A’s ballpark in Las Vegas is expected to be hidden when everything is complete, and on an active construction zone prior to that is far from ideal for the franchise, but completely on par with how the franchise has operated throughout this entire relocation process.