Business briefs for April 26, 2001

Thursday, April 26, 2001 | 11:22 a.m.

Board approves new deal with ARAMARK

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority has approved a new contract with its food and concessions provider that will increase the agency's share of revenues generated by sales.

An LVCVA spokeswoman said it is difficult to compare how much more the LVCVA will receive because the terms of the new agreement are so different from the existing contract. The spokeswoman said the total amount of revenue received from the existing ARAMARK contract was not available.

The board on Tuesday approved a 15-year deal with Philadelphia-based ARAMARK Sports & Entertainment Services Inc. that increases the LVCVA's cut of revenues to an average 30 percent of gross receipts per year, resulting in projected revenue of $154.3 million over the life of the contract. The new contract takes effect Jan. 1.

The board agreed to a 15-year contract -- a sticking point in the negotiations between ARAMARK and the LVCVA -- but it includes clauses enabling the agency to terminate the deal after 10 years. ARAMARK wanted a 15-year term so that it could recover a return on the investment of about $13 million in new and upgraded kitchen facilities in the existing Las Vegas Convention Center and the south expansion currently under construction.

The existing contract, a 10-year deal with a series of five-year options, covers about half the convention space and concession areas as the new contract.

ARAMARK also has the concession contract for Cashman Center and the adjacent Cashman Field baseball stadium, which are unrelated to deal that was approved Tuesday.

Jobless rate edges up

CARSON CITY -- Unemployment in Nevada inched up to 4.6 percent in March, exceeding the national level of 4.3 percent, the state Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation reported Wednesday.

The agency said the March figure compared to 4 percent in the same month of a year ago and the 4.4 percent in February.

Department Director Myla Florence said she expected Nevada's economy to continue strong and to continue creating jobs, although at a slower pace than in the 1990s.

The department said unemployment in the Las Vegas metropolitan statistical area that includes Clark and Nye counties in Nevada and Mohave County in Arizona posted a 4.3 percent rate, unchanged from February and up five-tenths of a percentage point over the year.

There were an estimated 34,000 people out of work in the metropolitan area.