Vegas Arena Setback

The Las Vegas Arena Foundation’s plan to raise funds to build a 20,000-capacity arena on the Strip was dealt a setback by the Nevada Supreme Court Aug. 1.

Justices ruled the 200-word summary of an initiative for the November ballot asking to create a special taxing district is misleading and deceptive – and the more than 200,000 signatures gathered based on that summary are invalid.

“Statewide voters would assume that the other proposed arenas would qualify under this initiative,” the ruling said.

Because it fails to reveal the ramifications to the competing arena proposals and fails to inform voters of the precise location of the proposed arena, we conclude that the initiative’s description of effect is deceptive and materially misleading.”

The initiative would have raised the sales tax by 0.9 percent within a three-mile radius of the facility to be built on land donated by Caesars Entertainment.

Taxpayers for the Protection of Nevada Jobs, which includes reps for MGM Resorts International and Boyd Gaming Corp., opposed the arena petition.

The organization previously sued to stop the initiative, saying the summary doesn’t inform voters that passing it would eliminate any competing southern Nevada arena proposals.

Those proposals include a 50,000-capacity, domed stadium at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and a multi-stadium sports complex in Henderson.