Las Vegas bars 3 groups from sports fields for violating coronavirus rules

The city of Las Vegas said Thursday it had temporarily suspended permits for three organizations to use city-owned sports fields because they violated statewide orders on safe play related to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Las Vegas Soccer League, Las Vegas Valley Soccer League and Escuela De Futbol will be barred from using fields from Aug. 1 to Aug. 15 after the city said employees witnessed the groups playing youth games with spectators present and that rules requiring face coverings were not being followed.

Under youth sports directives from Gov. Steve Sisolak’s office, only team practices without spectators are allowed.

The city said its employees observed the violations at Mike Morgan Family Park, Ed Fountain Park and Las Vegas Wash Park over the past week. The city recently rolled out 100 workers to monitor businesses throughout the city, including sports fields, for compliance with statewide coronavirus restrictions.

If the organizations use the fields during the two-week period, their permits will be suspended for the remainder of the fall season, according to the city. If they later violate the governor’s directives, the next consequence will be decided at the discretion of the city manager.

Questions should be sent to the leagues’ offices to determine which leagues and teams will be affected by the suspensions, according to the city, which acknowledged that some will be impacted.

Contact Shea Johnson at sjohnson@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0272. Follow @Shea_LVRJ on Twitter.