MLB Benefits Oversight Committee Meeting – February 23, 2026
MLB Benefits Oversight Committee Meeting – February 23, 2026
The MLB Benefits Oversight Committee of the Las Vegas Stadium Authority met on February 23, 2026, at 9:00 AM (Pacific). The meeting was called to order with all members present. The agenda and minutes from the October 29, 2025 meeting were approved unanimously. The committee received updates on construction progress, community benefits compliance, and workforce diversity metrics.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Evelyn Pacheco, President and Owner of Nevada Women in Trades: Expressed strong support for the project and emphasized the importance of keeping the community informed about job opportunities. She noted her organization prepares women for trade careers and has graduated five out of ten women, with one now working for Bombard Mechanicals. She urged continued awareness and support for underserved women, including those reentering from incarceration.
Discussion Items
- Construction Update (Tyler Vannicott, Mortenson McCarthy): Presented a photo and video timeline showing rapid progress since July 2025. Current craft workforce averages 340 workers daily, expected to exceed 500 within months. Key milestones: main concourse pours, lower suite level work, and buttress columns (six total) that will support a 685‑foot‑span free‑standing truss. Bowl steel starts March, roof steel in June. Total committed subcontracted work is $989 million, with $159.4 million (16.11%) to SLB (small local business) firms and $62.7 million to diverse firms. Workforce diversity tracking at 80% targeted workers (exceeding the 51% requirement). Community engagement included food drives (Three Square), bicycle donation event (largest single contribution ever in Las Vegas via the project), and upcoming events (women in construction week, safety week, craft appreciation week).
- Community Benefits Compliance Report (Mark Bedain, Athletics): Highlighted the organization’s relocation of staff to Las Vegas, local hiring (most new hires from the area), and active participation in community events. Encouraged committee members to visit the construction site.
- Progress Monitoring Report (John Burnett): Verified that Mortenson McCarthy’s reported 80% targeted worker hours for the period April–October 2025 (165,000 total hours, 131,000 targeted) is accurate based on payroll data review. For the most recent month, a sample of subcontractors (40,990 total hours, 28,000 targeted) also confirmed the 80% rate. SLB participation tracking is still under development; Burnett will shift focus to building a program to monitor SLB compliance and report at the next meeting. Living wage compliance information is being gathered.
- Committee Questions and Feedback:
- Members praised the speed of construction and noted that community skepticism on social media has diminished.
- A member asked about the breakdown of the 80% targeted workforce by category (veterans, women, etc.); staff agreed to provide that breakdown at the next quarterly meeting.
- A member inquired about social programming in light of federal changes (SNAP, healthcare) and post‑secondary education funding; Tyler confirmed ongoing food drives and openness to new partnerships.
- A member (Angela Casher, via virtual attendance) thanked the team for being receptive to community ideas.
Key Outcomes
- All agenda items approved (agenda and minutes) without objection.
- No formal votes on substantive matters; presentations were informational.
- Committee members and staff encouraged to coordinate site visits to observe construction progress.
- The progress monitor (John Burnett) committed to delivering a detailed SLB participation report and a workforce category breakdown at the next meeting (presumed May 2026).
- The meeting adjourned with the next update scheduled in approximately three months.
Meeting Transcript
I love doing that. Welcome everybody. I would like to call this meeting to order. And uh if Ms. Bateman can do the roll call, that'd be great. Good afternoon, Mr. Chair, members of the uh committee. All members are present either in person or virtually for this meeting. You have a quorum and the meeting may proceed. Thank you so much. Uh first order of business, I think um approval of the agenda we all have have in front of us. Mr. Chair, if we could just go back to the public first question. Oh, I'm sorry, stay public comment. Before we go to that, um, we will do uh public comment both at the beginning and at the end. Um do we have anybody here um interested in making public comment beforehand? I see one. I don't know. I was waiting to see if they were first you're okay. Well, good afternoon, everybody. It's a pleasure to be here and keep coming to these meetings. I think it's very important that um nevada women in trades is uh aware of what's going on in in this state with being we do prepare women to get into trades. We're the only nonprofit that does that in the state. And I think it's very important for us to keep up on what's going on in the um in the city as far as jobs and awareness and um my name is Evelyn Pacheco, I'm the president and the owner of Nevada Women in Trades. I created this program in 2018, and we have been very successful. We're getting women in the unions and I also have a partnership with Department of Transportation. Um but again, we've been we just had a graduation that graduated um five out of ten ladies and already have um one of the ladies working for Bombard Mechanicals, so I'm very excited about that. Um but um this needs to keep happening in the state, so we can again bring awareness that women that are underserved and coming out of the prisons, coming out of jails, or just need a a a leg up, not a handout, um, to keep this program going. And thank you for letting me say my piece. Thank you very much, Mr. Pacheco. Thank you for being here. And uh I look forward to being with you as we roll out information that I think is going to be important to this project. So thank you. Any other folks here wishing to make public comment? Seeing none, I will now move on to seeking a motion for approval of the agenda. All those in favor, aye. Oh, I guess that's fancy technology as well. All right. Motion is proved. Next, approval of the minutes for the last meeting, the October 29th meeting. We have one a motion and a second. All those in favor approve. Motion passed. Mr. Chair, can I quick question on the um procedures? Are we required to have a second or are we using uh an abbreviated Robert's rules? Uh I I appreciate the question. I am on autopilot, but if uh Ms. Bateman wants to weigh in.
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