Public Records: LVSportsBiz.com Obtains LVCVA $100,000 ‘Rep Vegas’ Sponsorship Contracts With Aces Players Outlining Social Media, Event Obligations
ADVERTISEMENT
Shop at Jay’s Market at 190 East Flamingo Road at the Koval Lane intersection east of the Strip.
ADVERTISEMENT
By Alan Snel, LVSportsBiz.com Publisher-Writer
Contract documents of the LVCVA’s $1.2 million sponsorship deal with 12 Las Vegas Aces players in May show each player who is receiving $100,000 as an “influencer” is required to make several posts and tag “@Vegas” on her social media channels a year in a way to promote Las Vegas.
LVSportsBiz.com asked the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA), the public tourism agency charged with drawing visitors to the Las Vegas area, for the $100,000 sponsorship contract deals for each Aces player. LVCVA head Steve Hill announced the sponsorships in a video in May for the players to “rep” Las Vegas.
The contract shows the sponsorship is for two years, so the LVCVA is paying out $2.4 million to Aces players through the 2025 season.
“We want you to just play. We want you to keep repping Las Vegas,” Hill told the Aces players on the video that was taken in the Aces locker room. “If you do a three-peat, that’ll be icing on the cake.”
Actually, the Aces have to do more than “just play,” as Hill put it, to meet the sponsorship contract’s obligations.
The contract shows the player is required to participate in three events and also make at least one post with the “@Vegas” tag about that event.
Here are more requirements under the contract:
The LVCVA supplied LVSportsBiz.com with sponsorship contracts for these Aces players: Alysha Clark, Kiah Stokes, Kierstan Bell, Megan Gustafson and Tiffany Hayes and former players Dyaisha Fair and Emma Cannon.
The agreement says it “shall terminate immediately without notice” if a player is no longer on the roster. So, the LVCVA sponsorships would no longer be active for both Fair and Cannon.
Also, if an Aces player is disciplined, the agreement is off, too.
Not all the Aces players have apparently completed the sponsorship contract.
The LVCVA told LVSportsBiz.com that “Enclosed are copies of the fully executed player sponsorship agreements. For the remaining players, the LVCVA has either completed negotiations and is awaiting
signatures or is finalizing negotiations. Those player agreements will be provided to you upon their execution.”
Those remaining Aces players are A’ja Wilson, Chelsea Gray, Jackie Young, Kelsey Plum, Sydney Colson and Kate Martin.
The sponsorship documents show the deal was signed between each player and Rob Dondero of R&R Partners, the Summerlin-based ad agency that handles LVCVA advertising and sports sponsorships.
“The player’s statement should always reflect the player’s honest and truthful opinions and actual experiences. Player should only make factual statements,” the sponsorship contract said. “The player is deemed to be an independent contractor.”
Here’s another part of the contract:
The “Rep Vegas” sponsorship deal is not just for the 2024 WNBA season. There’s a second year for 2025.
The deal is between each player and R&R Partners and the Aces team is not involved in the sponsorship agreements.
The LVCVA did not have its board vote on doling out the $1.2 million in Rep Vegas sponsorships and says it routinely hands out sponsorship deals to “influencers” to promote Las Vegas.
The WNBA says it is investigating the sponsorship deals to determine whether it’s a way for the Aces to circumvent the league’s salary cap.
An interesting point in the contract is if the sponsorship “conflicts with or is inconsistent” with either the WNBA’s collective bargaining agreement or the “Player’s Standard Player Contract,” then the $100,000 agreement is off.
For rookies like Martin, the $100,000 sponsorship payment is more than her first-year salary of about $70,000.
Many observers believe WNBA players should be paid more, but there has been public debate whether a local government agency should be subsidizing players’ incomes to the tune of $100,000 a year when WNBA rookies make $65,000-$75,000 annually.
