UNLV stadium board quietly closes up shop

Unlike in the city, where stadium subsidy drama unfolds nightly at meetings, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas 11-member stadium board crafted a stadium report that caused few ripples.

That’s because the stadium panel last month decided to mothball the proposed venue for two years with hopes of lobbying the Legislature in the 2017 session.

The UNLV stadium board will stick around until 2017, but it will rarely meet in the next year or two.

UNLV acting President Don Snyder delayed the stadium project two years because he argued that UNLV has to focus on building a medical school and the political and economic climate is not ripe to seek public funding of a campus stadium.

The stadium board suggested building a $523 million, 45,000-seat open-air stadium with a shading system, similar to the new football stadium at Baylor University. Snyder sees a new campus stadium as a component of the university’s quest for Tier One status.

The open-air stadium is a toned-down proposal compared to the $950 million domed “Mega-Events Center” plan that the university once considered with former private partner Majestic Realty.

With consultant CSL of Plano, Texas, creating the 228-page report for the stadium board, the panel held its final meeting before the report deadline with little fanfare.

Board member James Dean Leavitt, a Las Vegas lawyer who is also a Board of Regents member, thanked his fellow stadium panel members by giving them do-rags to cover their heads. Leavitt, who had wanted a covered stadium, settled for handing out stylish cloths that covered their heads.

“Take it with a little bit of fun,” Leavitt told his stadium mates. “It makes you feel 10 years younger when you wear it.”

Contact reporter Alan Snel at 702-387-5273 or asnel@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BicycleManSnel on Twitter.