Authority OKs community access to its suite at Allegiant Stadium

Community nonprofit organizations may be able to use an Allegiant Stadium suite for fundraising under a policy adopted Thursday by the Las Vegas Stadium Authority.

A Stadium Authority suite access policy, unanimously approved with the $2 billion stadium on the verge of opening, will give organizations the ability to vie for its use during Las Vegas Raiders games and other events.

The authority board also was proactive in battling potential ethical violations by adopting the state’s ethics statutes as part of the policy. Board members gave no indication they anticipated any ethical lapses, but devoted three pages of the policy as a reminder to public figures that the suite is designed for economic development, community support and civic fundraising.

Now that the stadium is close to opening — it’ll be substantially completed by July 31 — the authority board decided it needed to nail down specific rules for the use of the suite.

The suite won’t just be for board members.

The policy for suite use is “intended to be an open and deliberative process by which individual organizations have the ability to essentially fill out an application and have an equal opportunity to access the suite,” said Jeremy Aguero of Applied Analysis, which serves as the authority’s support staff.

Groups seeking to apply for community access to the suite must be established for a “Bona Fide Community Purpose,” according to the policy, and must participate in economic development, community support or civic fundraising.

Suite access will be allowed for Raiders games and other events, although the policy specifically notes that there won’t be access to any Super Bowl games.

According to the policy, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority and the Las Vegas Global Economic Alliance will have first crack at games each season with the two organizations alternating year to year over which one gets first choice with the LVCVA going first in the inaugural season.

Tickets for any remaining organizations would be distributed through a lottery process.

The policy says, “In no event shall the authority distribute tickets to more than four regular season team games annually to individuals or organizations representing economic development purposes. In the event that there is a shortage of qualified economic development applicants, the unallocated tickets shall be utilized for community support or civic fundraising purposes.”

“Community support” is defined as “qualifying non-partisan and non-political charitable, non-profit or civic organizations for the purpose of promoting, supporting and/or showing appreciation for the community programs and services provided by such organizations in the Clark County, Nevada region.”

Tickets distributed for community support can’t be resold for fundraising purposes — but the third category for suite use does involve civic fundraising.

Fundraising tickets can be allocated to “a qualifying non-partisan and non-political charitable, non-profit or civic organization to be sold or auctioned for fundraising purposes as approved by the authority.”

While one of the attractions of suite access is the food served in those luxury boxes, the authority won’t be paying for any food or beverage. Organizations that win access would be responsible for any food and beverage service.

Suite access also includes some access to parking near the stadium and those passes will be distributed proportionally to the suite access.

The authority also is directed in the policy to keep records on what organizations are accessing the suite and when to avoid overallocating tickets to some groups.

The Stadium Authority adopted the policy without comment.

Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on Twitter.