By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
The builder of the Raiders stadium says the two-company construction team will fight a $13,494 federal fine imposed by OSHA Nevada for worker social distancing problems at the 62.5-acre stadium construction site in Las Vegas.
Here are three pictures from the agency’s 33-photo file against Mortenson-McCarthy joint venture for the violations.
But the stadium builders are disputing the violations.
“As you would expect, the safety and well-being of our team members, those of our business partners and the community are our highest priority. Mortenson-McCarthy is committed to complying with all health and safety regulations, and we stand by our strong safety record on Allegiant Stadium. We disagree with Nevada OSHA’s findings and we have formally contested their decision,” Mortenson/McCarthy Joint Venture Vice President Eric Grenz wrote to LVSportsBiz.com Monday.
“Our team has actively communicated and diligently enforced the evolving Nevada OSHA and CDC requirements with our project partners and up to 2000 workers on-site each day. Our team has continued to make changes and adjustments as needed or identified in an effort to protect everyone on the project,” Grenz said.
The OSHA violations at the stadium site were not discussed at Thursday’s stadium authority board meeting.
In case you missed that meeting, you can watch it here:
The Raiders are coming down the stretch to completing the $1.976 billion stadium project, which includes $1.4 billion for construction of the 65,000-seat domed stadium itself. The public is giving $750 million toward stadium construction.
But will fans be able to attend games at the Raiders’ Allegiant Stadium, which is on the west side of Interstate 15 across from Mandalay Bay hotel-casino?
Raiders owner Mark Davis apparently doesn’t think so, according to ESPN.
It looks like the New York Giants will also not play in front of home game fans.
LVSportsBiz.com contacted the Raiders PR office in an effort to talk with Davis about having no fans at the stadium this upcoming season but never heard back Monday.
The NFL and the players association agreed on a deal for novel coronavirus testing. More from the Sports Business Journal on that: “The NFL and NFLPA struck a deal on COVID-19 testing procedures today, a necessary step toward maintaining progress toward an on-time season, reports SBJ’s Ben Fischer. Players won an agreement to undergo tests every day for the first 14 days of camp, at which point testing will decrease to every other day if the team shows less than 5% positivity rates. The deal also covers employees with direct access to players.”
In other Las Vegas sports business news, WNBA Las Vegas Aces player A’ja Wilson penned a story for the The Players’ Tribune website entitled, “Dear Black Girls.” You can read it here.
Here’s a powerful excerpt from the story:
Wilson, in Florida with her Aces teammates to play the WNBA season in a pandemic bubble at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, was pleased with the story’s response.
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