Getty Image / Denise Truscello
Las Vegas bid farewell to the Tropicana Casino in the early hours of Wednesday morning after a spectacular fireworks show on the strip that culminated with pyrodrones dropping sparks onto the once great casino, igniting the 2,190 pounds of explosives used across the Tropicana’s Club and Paradise towers.
As is the case every time one of the strip’s former crowned jewels gets torn down, the demolition of the Tropicana was turned into a major event. Bally’s live streamed it on their app. Some people had prime seats for the demolition. Fireworks by Grucci was contracted for a mesmerizing fireworks display. And there was also a drone show before the pyrodrones rained sparks down from above.
The footage from Las Vegas is incredible. Here is a full video from the demolition ceremony including the large Oakland A’s logo inside of a baseball around the 4-minute mark before everything goes, in the words of Leeloo Dallas, ‘Big Badda Boom.’
I absolutely love that the Sphere is in the background as a big smiley face just taking in the action with everyone else. The full implosion of the Tropicana’s two towers happens around the 5 minute mark in the video and you can see the Sphere in the background just gawking.
Some locals got up close for the show as well. Here is the Tropicana Las Vegas demolition from a few different angles:
Farewell Tropicana, what a send-off! @LasVegasLocally pic.twitter.com/z9FF0GtEsm
— E (@SinCitySuites) October 9, 2024
And with the press of a button the Tropicana Las Vegas is no more. The site will be cleared in the coming months to have the site ready for the A’s to begin construction on their $1.5 billion ballpark during the 2nd quarter of 2025. #vegas #athletics #mlb #dropthetrop pic.twitter.com/022Ztc9bI5
— Mick Akers (@mickakers) October 9, 2024
Here’s the demolition by the numbers:
— 917,400 Total square feet across the two Tropicana towers (Paradise and Club Towers)
— 1,130 boreholes in the Club tower were filled with explosives
— 2,190 pounds of explosives were used across the Paradise and Club Towers
— 22,000 feet of detonating cord to connect and ignite all of the explosives
— 23 stories were be imploded
The demolition of the Tropicana Las Vegas was primarily to make room for the new stadium which will be built to accommodate the Oakland A’s who will move to Sacramento for the next few years.
Do the people of Las Vegas want the A’s? That remains to be seen. Did they want the Tropicana Las Vegas to stick around longer? Probably not. Everyone had a soft spot in their heart for the aging casino but the modern era had left the Tropicana in the dust.