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By Alan Snel, LVSportsBiz.com Publisher-Writer
The Las Vegas public board charged with overseeing the Las Vegas Raiders and planned Athletics stadiums looks to enlist the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) to conduct its meetings, review stadium plans and perform analysis.
The Las Vegas Stadium Authority’s hiring of Las Vegas’ publicly-funded tourism agency at no more than $600,000 per year through 2026 may not seem as routine as it looks.
That’s because Steve Hill is both the CEO of the LVCVA and chairman of the stadium authority board, setting up circumstances for a potential conflict of interest. The stadium board’s previous support staff — Applied Analysis — dropped out recently for the same reason because an Applied Analysis owner, Jeremy Aguero, is also working as a consultant for the Athletics.
Both Hill and Aguero represented the Athletics in a special legislative session in June when the Major League Baseball team scored a state bill win by drawing $380 million in government assistance for a $1.5 billion roofed ballpark on the Strip at Las Vegas Boulevard and Tropicana Avenue at the Tropicana Hotel site.
After Aguero and Applied Analysis stepped down as the stadium authority’s consultant to avoid a conflict of interest, Hill and Aguero shared a hug following the stadium board meeting last month:
Here is the purpose of the LVCVA and stadium authority deal:
The stadium authority is a public entity. So, a question surfaced about whether the stadium authority could represent the public’s interests and review the A’s stadium plans impartially if the head of both the stadium board and the LVCVA, Hill, represented the Athletics in Carson City only a few months ago?
It can create some sticky situations. For example, when the Athletics submit their actual stadium plan to the stadium authority and an LVCVA staffer reviews the plan on behalf of the stadium authority, that person will be doing so knowing that Hill represented the Athletics in front of state Legislature committees and chairs the stadium board while serving as his boss at the public tourism agency, the LVCVA.
Hill has said he will not be involved in the stadium authority negotiating with the LVCVA for the tourism agency’s job with the stadium authority. The stadium board’s vice chairman, Ike Lawrence Epstein, will handle the negotiations to avoid the conflict of interest, Hill said last month.
That’s why the stadium authority believes it is not having a conflict of interest via Hill’s twin roles as stadium board chairman and LVCVA head because Hill will not be involved in enlisting the tourism agency. Epstein, the UFC executive who is also a lawyer, will sign the deal on behalf of the stadium authority.
Here are some of the LVCVA jobs that the tourism agency would do for the stadium board.
And the costs per LVCVA position for working on stadium issues.
The stadium authority board will take up this issue at a meeting set for Tuesday at 4 PM at the Las Vegas Convention Center board room at 3150 Paradise Road. The LVCVA runs the Las Vegas Convention Center.
It can create some sticky situations. For example, when the Athletics submit their actual stadium plan to the stadium authority and an LVCVA staffer reviews the plan on behalf of the stadium authority, that person will be doing so knowing that Hill represented the Athletics in front of state Legislature committees and chairs the stadium board while serving as his boss at the public tourism agency, the LVCVA.
The stadiums for the Raiders and Athletics — two teams that shared the same stadium in Oakland for years — are the creations of tourism-focused state legislation. For example, the A’s stadium state public funding bill was called the “Southern Nevada Tourism Improvements Act.” The LVCVA is charged with drawing tourists to the Las Vegas metro area.
A hotel room tax of 88 cents per $100 spent is helping Southern Nevada’s public pay off its debt on its contribution of $750 million that helped build the Raiders’ Allegiant Stadium in 2020.
Southern Nevada will rely on a public tax district at the Athletics’ nine-acre stadium footprint at the Tropicana Hotel site to raise money to pay off the public debt on the A’s stadium.
The Athletics hope to have their stadium open in Las Vegas for the 2028 MLB season, with demolition of the Tropicana Hotel buildings scheduled for 2024.