The Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority will consider spending $80M "over 20 years on the naming rights for the 'Las Vegas Ballpark,'" the venue where the Triple-A PCL Las Vegas 51s would play beginning in '19, according to Richard Velotta of the LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL. The LVCVA BOD is "scheduled to vote" tomorrow on the proposal and a 36-page contract. Summerlin Las Vegas Baseball Club "owns the 51s and is affiliated with the Howard Hughes Corp." The contract between the LVCVA and Hughes officials has "been in the works since June." Among the conditions of the agreement are that the Las Vegas brand, which the LVCVA "manages as a destination marketing organization, be the dominant sponsor and appear in all signage -- exterior, concourse, suites, scoreboard and outfield walls as well as advertising on video walls." The team name also is "required to include 'Las Vegas.'" The proposed agreement "represents a shift in the authority's business model regarding sports marketing." The LVCVA will be given "broad rights at what is projected to be 100 annual events" at the ballpark, plus up to four MLB exhibitions. Under the terms, there would be "two preseason exhibition games -- the authority's annual Big League Weekend -- plus two additional games." If the two additional games "can't be scheduled, the authority has the right to replace them with five comparable events that drive visitation and provide equivalent marketing and media value" (LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL, 10/8).
