Las Vegas stadium officials prep for agreements on Raiders, UNLV
Call it the calm before the storm.
The Las Vegas Stadium Authority breezed through a report-filled board meeting Thursday, taking no major actions, but prepping for next month when a barrage of agreements involving the Raiders, UNLV and stadium financiers begin.
High on the priority list when the board meets again July 13 will be the UNLV Joint-Use Agreement, a document that will spell out procedures and policies relating to the Rebel football team’s use of the $1.9 billion, 65,000-seat domed stadium being built by the Raiders at Interstate 15 and Russell Road west of Mandalay Bay.
Another key document the authority is expected to address next month will be a community benefits agreement that will assure subcontracts to minority and small businesses when construction, expected to begin near the end of the year, gets underway.
Detailed UNLV agreement
The board spent about a quarter of its 75-minute meeting talking about the intricacies of the UNLV agreement. In an outline developed by Jeremy Aguero of Applied Analysis, the authority’s contracted staff, 16 general topics with more than 100 items were unveiled to the authority board. Some of the topics already have been resolved, but others will take additional discussion at a yet-to-be-scheduled closed meeting.
Among the simple stuff: access to locker rooms, training rooms and UNLV’s provision of game operations staff, officials, ballboys and scoreboard operators.
Where it gets more complicated is on issues of what type of playing surface will be on the stadium floor — UNLV favors artificial turf at Sam Boyd Stadium while its co-tenant, the Raiders, will grow natural turf outside and roll it into the stadium for game days.
Specific costs for UNLV’s use of the stadium also need to be drafted into the agreement. By law, UNLV would be required to pay for the actual expenses of stadium operation and the Raiders won’t profit from UNLV’s presence.
Aguero said representatives of UNLV, the Raiders and the authority met May 30 to work on details. UNLV was represented by President Len Jessup, Athletic Director Desiree Reed-Francois, Senior Vice President of Finance and Business Gerry Bomotti and Mike Newcombe, executive director of the Thomas & Mack Center, Sam Boyd Stadium and the Cox Pavilion who also serves on the authority board, while Raiders Executive Vice President Dan Ventrelle and Aguero were present.
Homework assignment
Aguero said the meeting ended with a “homework assignment” that UNLV representatives review comparative costs for field surfaces while the Raiders would return with more stadium design details for UNLV to consider. A follow-up meeting date has yet to be set.
Another key agreement expected to be reviewed in July is the community benefits agreement that will assure that minority and small-business contractors be included as subcontractors.
At Thursday’s meeting, several speakers in public comments reminded the authority board of its required commitment to getting that deal signed.
Other agreements scheduled to be considered in July:
■ A personal seat license agreement between the Raiders and the authority spelling out that the revenue would go to the team to help pay for its share of construction costs.
■ The Raiders non-relocation agreement between the Raiders Events company, the Raiders and the authority to assure that the team will not leave Las Vegas for at least 30 years once the stadium is built.
■ A stadium development agreement between the Raiders Stadium Development company and the authority that authorizes the team to build. 
Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on Twitter.
Subcontractors meeting
The contractors for the Las Vegas Stadium project have scheduled a meeting for subcontractors and suppliers in Henderson on June 15.
Representatives of Minneapolis-based Mortenson Construction and Henderson’s McCarthy Building Cos. have scheduled the meeting a 3 p.m. in the Estancia Ballroom at Green Valley Ranch.
An invitation was posted Thursday on the Las Vegas Stadium Authority website.
The invitation calls the event a subcontractor and supplier kickoff meeting where attendees will learn about the project, the scope of work, the timeline, procurement opportunities and goals, and to meet the project team.
The invitation requests RSVPs.
