LAS VEGAS (KLAS) – It’s been a back-and-forth toss when it comes to where the Athletics Stadium will end up, ever since reports broke that the major league baseball team was planning to make Las Vegas their new home.
“People who want to see baseball here are excited and they want this to come to an end so let’s get about the business of funding and building a stadium,” Clark County Commissioner, Jim Gibson shared with 8 News Now.
All eyes are on the Tropicana Hotel site to be the new location for the stadium as Bally’s entered a binding agreement with the A’s to take over the location.
However, Bally’s corporation stated that it is in the preliminary stages of the deal. Tropicana Hotel employees told 8 News Now they are already preparing for what’s to come.
“We like playing here so I don’t know where we are going to go from here,” Joe Esposito a musician who performs at the resort shared.
His classic R&B band, “Cool Change” has been performing at the Tropicana for over 10 years.
Randy Hall, part of the “Cool Change” duo, said if the hotel closes, they will miss doing shows there, but mostly they feel for the full-time employees who may have to find new work.
“I really feel bad for the workers,” he shared. Even though it’s 18 months to 24 months away, those 18 months will be up just like that,” he added.
In a statement obtained by 8 News Now from the Culinary Union, their secretary-treasurer stated, “Culinary Union members at the Tropicana Casino have a strong union contract, which means that Tropicana workers are protected. The Culinary Union will negotiate to ensure workers’ rights under the contract are strictly followed and so that workers have additional compensation, health care coverage, and pension benefits while the property is closed for development.”
Again, Bally’s Corporation has not confirmed if the hotel will close for a ballpark to be built.
