ent000854-109

SPECIAL MEETING CLARK COUNTY FAIR & RECREATION BOARD ROOM #2 - CONVENTION CENTER SEPTEMBER 2, 1959 A Special Meeting of the Clark County Fair & Recreation Board was called at the request of the Stardust Invitation Basket- ball Tournament Board to attempt to establish a policy for the use of the Convention Hall for sporting events and similar usage. This meeting was presided over by Judge David Zenoff of the Stardust Invitation Basketball Tournament Board, Present were Chairman Clesse Turner, Clark County Fair and Recreation Board Members Reed Whipple, Ed Fountain, Arthur Olsen, and Earl Hartke; Executive Director George H, Albright; Advisory Board Members Leigh Ellsworth and Henry Bridgman; Members of the Stardust Invitation Basketball Board; and representatives from the Desert Inn, Stardust, Sands, Sahara, Dunes, and Sal Sagev Hotels, Notices of this meeting had been sent to every hotel on the "Strip" and a I I downtown clubs and hotels. Judge Zenoff described the background and the aims of the basketball board who are requesting the use of the Convention Hall in February. He stressed the absolute necessity of having a firm decision immediately as invitations must be issued within the next ten days. Upon a query by Mr, Lee Fisher, Mr, Albright told the group that insofar as he was aware, the Fair Board had never agreed to exclude local usage of the hall* The only agreement he recalled was the agreement between the Board and the hotels not to bring in something that would be directly competitive to their shows, such as an ice show that might run for two or three weeks. There was a general discussion regarding the use of the name "Stardust" for an activity ihi thq Convention Hall, Mr, McDonald pointed out that the hotels had agreed that they would not use the Convention Hall for their individual activities, Mr, Cahlan pointed out that other hotels had been asked in the past to participate and had shown little or no interest, so when the tournament outgrew its present quarters and budget and the Stardust Hotel offered to under- write it, the Board thought their name should be used on the tournament itself. Representatives of the Stardust Hotel told the group they would be very happy to drop the name if the tournament could be sponsored by all the hotels as a joint community effort. They did not feel that this was a hotel function but rather a community effort for the benefit of the entire community and they were willing to underwrite it as such only if the other hotels did not want to participate. It was recommended that the Clark County Fair & Recreation Board buy the basketball floor, baskets, and scoreboard, and then if the other hotels want to participate in the annual budget that would be fine. This would relieve the Fair Board of any tie-in with any particular hotel, AI I the Fair Board Members agreed to this recommendation and indicated they would finance the necessary equipment, After much discussion, it was the concensus of the group as a whole that the Stardust Invitation Basketball Tournament Board should contact each of the major hotels on the strip and in the downtown area and also the major clubs, and if sufficient funds were not received and pledged annually by them, within two days from the time contacted, to underwrite their yearly budget, then the tournament will be sponsored by the Stardust Hotel and the Stardust name will be used as part of the tournament name. Also that this may be used as a precedent for the Board - if any hotel or any group comes to the Convention Hall with something that will be of benefit to the community as a whole, whether it be hockey, ice skating,