WNBA to Interview LVCVA Leadership Regarding Aces Sponsorship

Steve Hill, chief executive officer and president of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, will interview Tuesday with the lead investigator who is examining whether WNBA rules were broken when sponsorship deals were offered last month to players of the two-time defending league champion Las Vegas Aces.

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority announced in May a $100,000 per year sponsorship to each active player on the Aces for the next two seasons, celebrating the two-time defending WNBA champions with a deal that within 24 hours was being looked into by the league as a potentially illegal extra benefit.

The deal was brokered by the LVCVA with each player’s agents. The two-time WNBA champion team was the first to bring home a championship to Las Vegas. The sponsorship does not violate the WNBA’s salary cap, ESPN reported in May, but other teams are likely to raise questions whether it violates the spirit of the cap rules.

Hill told The Associated Press the LVCVA did everything according to the WNBA’s policies and “a handful of” contract drafts sent to player agents have been signed. Hill said the LVCVA alerted the team it planned to offer sponsorships to the players.

“We made a commitment to the players and we’re going to follow through on that,” Hill said. “We have not done anything wrong. (The players) have every right to sign a sponsorship agreement. This is a legitimate sponsorship agreement. … We’ve taped all the players and broadcast their image, so we owe them for that. That’s the first deliverable in the deal, so we are moving forward.”

Hill said the Aces informed the LVCVA that it would have to sponsor the team first in order to receive the rights to use the club logo and other properties in any promotional materials. The LVCVA has similar agreements with the NFL’s Raiders and NHL’s Golden Knights, Hill said, adding he did not know where the WNBA’s investigation stood into the sponsorships matter.

“We think this is a very positive step for the team, the league,” Hill said. “We hope we’re raising the bar. We hope that we are maybe opening some minds to the value that has been kind of locked up that we’re trying to unlock with all these players.

“I get completely and understand the need for the league to ask questions. Really the only thing I think the league has said is that they are opening an investigation, which has kind of an ominous tone to the word. I don’t know that they mean it that way or not. I hope not. I think after they investigate, they’re going to say, ‘You know, completely following the rules here and wow, this could be a good thing.’ So, hopefully, they embrace it.”