Watching the Tropicana Las Vegas Implosion Will be Tricky

Posted on: September 26, 2024, 01:36h. 

Last updated on: September 26, 2024, 02:33h.

Corey Levitan Read More
Expertise: Commercial Gaming, Entertainment, Expert Insight, Las Vegas, Las Vegas Myths.

A successful plan to watch the Tropicana’s implosion in person could require nearly as much strategy and coordination as the implosion itself.

The gutted skeleton of the Club Tower at the former Tropicana, foreground, is sturdier than the Paradise Tower and will require more explosive charges to implode. (Image: YouTube/Summerlin Realtor and Drone Pilot)

As announced in a joint press release from Tropicana owner Bally’s and the Oakland A’s on Wednesday, there will be “no public viewing areas” for the implosion. This was the first time this information was so clearly and disappointingly spelled out.

As previously reported, the implosion of what’s left of the Rat Pack-era casino resort will take place at 2:30 a.m. on October 9.

The early hour helps minimize disruption and maximize safety. It also makes it much easier for police and other officials to completely cordon off the streets and sidewalks in front of all neighboring casino resorts.

For people who make it to the MGM Grand, New York-New York, Oyo, Excalibur, or Luxor before the closures, stepping outside to see the implosion should be possible. And if Casino.org gets advance word of exactly when the closures will start, we will update this story.

However, attempts could be made by any of these properties to prevent lookie-loos from gathering in their parking lots, or elsewhere on their property, due to safety and insurance concerns.

They could conceivably even prevent people from exiting their casinos — at least in the minutes immediately preceding 2:30 a.m. — since the implosion is only scheduled to last 22 seconds.

Other Viewing Options

Of course, the best place to watch the implosion would have been from your Tropicana-facing room in one of the resorts mentioned above. But since you’re reading this, we assume you weren’t among the thousands lucky (and wealthy) enough to snag all of those up months ago.

Also now out of the question is a viewing party that was advertised by the House of Blues Foundation Room on Mandalay Bay’s 63rd floor. It’s completely full and no longer accepting reservations, even for its VIP dinner packages, for which the restaurant’s website required interested parties to call for prices (never an inexpensive sign).

If you don’t mind watching on TV, Las Vegas stations KSNV, KLAS, and KVVU will all broadcast the implosion live, and most TVs in bars along the Strip should be tuned to their coverage.

Implosions are a big deal on the Las Vegas Strip, where one hasn’t occurred since the Riviera bought it in 2016.

The Tropicana’s implosion will be preceded by a fireworks show by Grucci, which has become a traditional element of Las Vegas implosions since the Hacienda Hotel and Casino came down in 1996 to make way for Mandalay Bay.

The fireworks will follow a new addition to that tradition — a show staged by 555 synchronized drones, which begins at 8 p.m. on October 8.

Birth of a Detonation

It will take 2,200 lbs. of explosives for Controlled Demolition Inc. to bring down the Tropicana’s two 23-story towers — the only structures left standing on the property since its owner, Bally’s Corp., began demolition in August. But those explosives, a combination of dynamite and shaped charges, won’t be distributed evenly.

Bringing down the Club Tower will require three times more bang (1,700 lbs. of explosives) than the Paradise Tower (490 lbs.) because it was constructed more recently, and therefore, more sturdily.

Completed in 1986, the Club Tower is made of steel-reinforced concrete, which is 60%-70% heavier and has 50%-100% more compressive strength than the plain old steel of the Paradise Tower, which was completed seven years earlier.

Who’s Paying?

The implosion’s $1.2 million cost will be deducted from the same booty of public and private sources that will supposedly fund a $1.5 billion new baseball stadium for the Oakland A’s on nine of the site’s 35 acres.

Those sources include $350 million in public funding, $300 million from debt financing, and (here’s the part that most industry observers are skeptical about) $850 million in equity provided by A’s owner John Fisher.

Construction on the stadium is planned to start in the second quarter of 2025 so it can open in time for the 2028 MLB season. Until then, the A’s have committed to playing in Sacramento, Calif.

Bally’s claims it will also build a new casino resort around the ballpark at a future date.

What About the Ceiling?

The Tropicana casino’s ornate stained-glass ceiling — designed in the Art Nouveau style by architect Tony DeVroude and installed in 1979 for a reported cost of $1 million at the time — has been spared and is expected to be prominently incorporated into the Neon Museum’s new space in the Arts District downtown, which is expected to open in 2027.