I promised you some weird post times this week, so here’s one! Also it’s about an article from Saturday, so just pretend you’re unstuck in time and go with it.
Anyway, “Las Vegas Stadium Authority Looks To Hire LVCVA Tourism Agency For Staff Work, But Is There Conflict Of Interest When Same Person Runs Both Public Entities And Represented A’s Before State Legislature?” is a very long headline, even for 2023, but Alan Snel is right: WTF is the deal with Steve Hill? He’s the chair of the (public) Las Vegas Stadium Authority, CEO of the (also public) Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, and was one of the main advocates for (very not public, like “not public” should be his middle name, for so many reasons) Oakland A’s owner John Fisher during state legislative debates on Las Vegas stadium funding. And now he’s hiring himself at $600,000 per year to oversee stadium construction plans, which is, uh. So very uh.
Continues Snel:
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.
That that sentence exists is bad enough. Hill, however, explains that none of it is a problem because he as the LVCVA will be negotiating with his vice-chair at the stadium authority, which uh.
Not that massively inbred government and corporate structures are anything new for Vegas, or for the A’s: The LVCVA will be stepping in as stadium authority staff in place of Jeremy Aguero, who previously worked for both the A’s and the stadium authority at the same time, and testified literally alongside Hill. (He also apparently ducked lobbyist registration laws by lobbying entirely by Zoom.) Still, this whole mess keeps getting more chicken coops under the watchful eye of one fox, so if it doesn’t go well, don’t say you weren’t warned.
Drop the A’s name. It should have been required by approving the new stadium. LV needs their own identity!
You’re right, change the name to the Single A’s.
What’s the famous quote?
“I won’t let it be a conflict!”
St. Louis lost TWO football teams. They don’t deserve another one unless it’s through relocation.