Back in October, we took the opportunity to go to Las Vegas for some research: we took in a hockey game, but we also stayed at the Tropicana … which was a specific choice, in order to experience it before it closed for good to make way for the construction of the new ballpark for MLB’s Athletics franchise—which will move from Oakland to Sin City sometime in the next few seasons. Well, the Trop is closing on April 2, 2024.

From a Las Vegas news article, some history: “The Tropicana Las Vegas opened on April 3, 1957. With a construction cost of $15 million, it was the most expensive casino on the Las Vegas Strip when it opened.” The site is still prime real estate on the Strip, across the street from the MGM Grand and opposite the intersection from the New York, New York resort. The Excalibur is also across the Strip from the site, too.

While the A’s do not have a firm design yet for the new ballpark, it will take anywhere from 9-12 months to safely demolish the Trop’s existing building and framework from the site, giving the Athletics franchise time to solidify the design features. There seem to be a lot of people against this move, of course, and they have been spreading a lot of information about what a mess the whole situation is. Well, MLB doesn’t care.

The easy approval of the owners for the relocation says it all, and in a worst-case scenario, the league itself would buy the A’s from the current ownership group, much like MLB did with the Montréal Expos two decades ago before that organization relocated to become the Washington Nationals. MLB as an entity would never have let this process get so far if it wasn’t prepared to do anything to make the move work.

People seem to forget that little fact: this comes down to money. Nothing else matters; the A’s will be profitable in Vegas due to out-of-town ticket sales for the visiting team, and while the team itself won’t be playing in a big TV market (thereby almost ensuring it won’t compete for a World Series, based on recent history), the value of the franchise will sky rocket with the stadium ownership and the revenue generation.

Oakland remains bitter; the fans remain frustrated. But the A’s will be moving, eventually. Bet on it; follow the money.