Marijuana Dispensary Advertisement At LV Lights’ Stadium Removed To Be Updated With New Message
By ALAN SNEL
LVSportsBiz.com
The Las Vegas Lights FC scored lots of free buzz in April when the first-year professional soccer club cut a joint deal with the Las Vegas Paiute Tribe to promote the tribe’s NuWu marijuana dispensary at the team’s stadium in downtown Las Vegas not too far from the dispensary.
An advertisement sign promoting NuWu Cannabis Marketplace was installed on a Cashman Field wall during Lights games and the soccer team and Paiute tribe declared it was first marijuana sponsorship deal involving a pro sports team in the U.S. — and maybe even the world.
It made for fun headlines, the usual marijuana-themed puns, a few giggles and easy publicity for the Lights and NuWu Cannabis Marketplace.
But then the state had something to say about the advertisement sign’s message at Cashman Field.
So, the NuWu Cannabis Marketplace sign came down for the most recent game Saturday and it will be updated with a new message that will be more universal in nature focusing on the Paiute tribe and less focused on the marijuana dispensary angle, said Dave Colvin, the Paiute tribe’s lawyer.
The dispensary of nearly 16,000 square feet is located at 1235 Paiute Circle on the Paiute tribe’s 30-acre federal site off North Main Street and is technically regulated by the tribe, but the marijuana business does have a compact with the state, Colvin said.
“What we’re trying to do is maintain fairness in advertising with the other dispensaries in town,” Colvin told LVSportsBiz.com Tuesday afternoon.
Lights owner Brett Lashbrook said his first-year United Soccer League club still has a sponsorship deal with the Paiute tribe and its NuWu Cannabis Marketplace.
“We’re still supportive of partnering with NuWu,” Lashbrook told LVSportsBiz.com after Saturday’s Lights’ 2-0 loss to Real Monarchs SLC with an announced crowd of 6,810. “We embrace it 100 percent.”
Colvin said the new stadium sign that will focus more on the Las Vegas Paiute Tribe should be ready to go for a June 2 Lights game at Cashman Field.
Lights fans who attend games can get discounts at the NuWu dispensary if they show their game stubs at the business.
“We love Las Vegas. We love downtown Las Vegas. We’re not ashamed of where we’re from. We fully embrace it. Nuwu has invested all sorts of money and resources into growing downtown,” Lashbrook said. “It’s a traditional sports sponsorship. It’s in a completely regulated industry and this is part of the destigmatization of it.”
The tribe has 56 adult members and also owns the Paiute Golf Resort.
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