City Council vote brings soccer stadium deal to a close

By Conor Shine

Published Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2015 | 3:01 p.m.

Updated Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2015 | 5:35 p.m.

Las Vegas’ soccer stadium plans are officially dead after a City Council vote today, but a potential legal challenge to a June ballot question on the issue is still in play.

The council’s decision today comes after Major League Soccer informed Mayor Carolyn Goodman last week that the city wouldn’t be getting an expansion franchise for the next several years.

The stadium deal, which included $56.5 million in public funds, was contingent on the city landing a team, and the MLS decision meant the end of a nearly yearlong planning effort.

At its meeting today, the council took the final steps to formally end the latest attempt at building a stadium downtown.

The council voted 6-0 to remove a master development agreement for the stadium from its meeting agenda this afternoon.

Doing so means the agreement won’t be considered by the council and will expire on Friday.

City Manager Betsy Fretwell has the authority to extend the expiration deadline beyond Feb. 20 but said she has no intention of keeping the deal alive.

The council also delayed a decision today on whether to continue a legal challenge to a ballot initiative that would block public funding for any future MLS stadium.

A Clark County District Court judge ruled earlier this month that the initiative has enough signatures to qualify for the ballot following a lawsuit by stadium opponents, including Las Vegas City Council members Bob Beers, Stavros Anthony and Lois Tarkanian.

The city could still try to keep the initiative off the ballot through further legal action, including a possible challenge to the wording of the initiative. The council will consider any possible legal challenge at its March 4 meeting.

The decision whether to continue the legal fight will be made by the four city council members — Goodman, Bob Coffin, Steve Ross and Ricki Barlow — who voted to approve public funding for the stadium in December. Those four also voted in January against putting the stadium issue on the ballot.

Regardless of how the court battle plays out, the stadium issue will continue to linger, with Anthony making his opposition to the deal a key part of his campaign to unseat Goodman as mayor in the June election.

Anthony requested today that staff compile a report on all of the costs incurred by the city — including consultants, reports, legal counsel and travel — in pursuit of the soccer stadium. Coffin piggybacked onto Anthony's request and asked that information on all projects in the city that used a combination of public and private funds also be included in the report.