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A judge has struck down a referendum petition filed by the group ‘Schools Over Stadiums’ in opposition to the public funding for the A's stadium in Las Vegas.

A Carson City judge struck down the petition on multiple different grounds telling the group that they didn't have enough signatures for it.

The petition would have needed 102,362 signatures just to get on the November 2024 ballot.

The petition is in response to the legislatures approval of $380 million in public financing for a proposed $1.5 billion ballpark on the Tropicana hotel site on the Strip.

‘Schools Over Stadiums’ accuse legislators of ignoring struggling Nevada schools and are prioritizing professional sports over education. While they didn't have enough signatures, the group remains hopeful.

In a statement to us, they said in part "educators overcome obstacles every day, especially in a state ranked 48th in the nation with the largest class sizes and highest vacancies. We're undeterred and still committed to giving Nevada voters the opportunity to decide whether their tax dollars are used to subsidize a billionaire's stadium."

They went on to say they will appeal the decision... and that they have plenty of time to get the signatures needed.

SEPTEMBER 6, 2023: 

'Schools Over Stadiums' has filed a referendum petition seeking to force a statewide vote on financing dedicated to the new Athletics ballpark in Las Vegas. 

Governor Joe Lombardo signed Senate Bill 1 into law this past June.

Nevada's Legislature approved providing $380 million in public financing for a proposed $1.5 billion, 30,000-seat ballpark with a retractable roof on the Tropicana hotel site of the Las Vegas Strip.

In their announcement, Schools Over Stadiums says, “legislators failed to hear a single bill to reduce Nevada’s overcrowded classrooms, the largest in the nation, and made no movement on generating new revenue streams for our schools.” They go on to say that even after a report was released showing Nevada leading the nation in educator vacancies, Lombardo and the Legislature instead focused on the new ballpark.

“This referendum petition will target specific parts of Senate Bill 1 to strip public funding for the proposed stadium regardless of what State and County officials agree do in any sort of development deal,” says Alexander Marks, spokesperson for Schools Over Stadiums. “We’re excited to get out there and start gathering signatures from Nevadans who want to put our schools first. We’re confident that a majority of Nevadans will join us in taking action to put Nevada’s priorities back in line so we can address an education system that ranks 48th in funding with the largest class sizes and highest vacancies in the country.”

Las Vegas would become the fourth home for a franchise that started in Philadelphia from 1901-54, moved to Kansas City for 13 seasons and arrived in Oakland for 1968.

After announcing plans to build ballparks at Fremont (2006), San Jose (2012) and the Oakland waterfront (2018), the A's said on April 19 they had agreed to buy land close to the Las Vegas Strip. That got replaced in a deal announced May 15 to build on the Tropicana hotel site on the Strip.

The team, whose lease at the Oakland Coliseum expires after the 2024 season, would move from the 10th-largest U.S. television market to the 40th, and stadium capacity would be the major leagues' smallest.

The new venue would be close to Allegiant Stadium, where the NFL’s Oakland Raiders moved to in 2020, and T-Mobile Arena, where the current Stanley Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights started play in 2017 as an expansion team.

A new stadium likely would open in 2028 at the earliest. Before then, a possible home is the 10,000-capacity Las Vegas Ballpark, home of the Triple-A Las Vegas Aviators, Oakland's top farm team.

(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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