Welcome to Nevada week.

I'm amber Renée Dixon.

Look at the Las Vegas skyline.

And you will no longer see the iconic Tropicana Hotel and Casino.

Nevada Week was there early Wednesday morning when demolition crews imploded the Rat Pack era property to make way for a major League Baseball stadium.

Just call me the implosion guy.

I was on the air for so many years in Las Vegas as a local reporter, covering the implosions during the 90s, the 2000 people would see me around town.

They wouldn't necessarily point at me and say that Steve Pruett be the reporter.

They go.

Aren't you the implosion guy?

And so it kind of stuck.

Steve Krupke has high standards for implosions, but the Tropicana met them This was definitely in the top ten.

The fireworks.

The drone show was pretty cool.

And then out here in person, you could really feel those charges go off.

I mean, right in the center of your body.

It was.

It was pretty good.

when it opened in 1957.

The Tropicana opulence earned it the nickname the Tiffany of the strip, with 223 storey towers.

Demolition crews reported using more than 2,000 pounds of explosives to bring them down around 2 a.m. Wednesday.

Late Tuesday night is when the media and VIP guests began to arrive and speculate about the likelihood of this location becoming The Athletic's future home.

I've seen properties imploded, such as the New Frontier Hotel, where the big plans that were announced never happened.

And if you go to the site of the New Frontier Hotel today, what is there a dirt lot of fireworks.

And so there's no guarantee here.

And that same skepticism surrounds this site where the athletics plan to use public funding in order to build a major League Baseball stadium, scheduled to open in time for the 2028 season.

The A's estimate the 33,000 seat stadium will cost $1.5 billion.

There is just so much skepticism.

And I think it focuses on the public divulging of financing by the owner.

And I put this into context of the Rangers stadium process, where the Rangers had a pie chart, and that pie chart showed the funding sources of how you're going to build the stadium.

And we just haven't had that pie chart yet.

I think people are very interested about the breakdown of the owner.

How much equity's John Fisher pouring into it?

A's owner John Fisher did speak at a ceremony ahead of the implosion, thanking the Nevada Legislature for approving up to $380 million in public funding for the venue.

And that starts with, Governor Joe Lombardo, who, whose vision from the beginning, that bringing baseball, to the strip would be an incredible thing.

In the city that is constantly reinventing itself.

But Fisher did not make himself available to the media for interviews.

Like other project leaders did.

Sue Kim is chairman of Bally's Corporation, which will construct a resort next to the stadium.

And Steve Hill is the CEO and president of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

and I skepticism in particular about whether the A's can fund this state.

Oh, how would you respond to that?

Yeah, I don't see any I don't see any doubt on that actually.

So I mean, obviously before, we went about, the process, we thought, you know, like we, we want to get to know, John Fisher, the owner and, and, and we have no doubt, Forget about the resources.

And what matters is the will.

And he absolutely is committed to bringing the A's here.

What insight do you have into the A's ability to fund this?

Well, I said earlier today at our board meeting, we've had the opportunity to review the balance sheet and the back up to that balance sheet because your family clearly having multiple of what it takes in order to make the stadium happen.

They're committing to do it.

It's going to happen.

But expecting Fisher to change you know, you have an owner who just, you know, does not talk publicly much.

may be like asking Las Vegas to stay the same.

you know, the city is about reinvention.

And so why it's sad to see it go.

It's, it's exciting to talk about the next steps, The A's anticipate breaking ground on their new stadium in April of 2025.