The Nevada Supreme Court has rejected a ballot referendum that would have allowed voters to overturn a $380 million public financing deal that would fund a portion of a proposed $1.5 billion stadium to help move the Oakland Athletics to Las Vegas.

The Monday decision, issued 44 days before the petition signature deadline, upheld a lower court order that rejected the language of the proposed referendum from the Schools Over Stadiums political action committee for being “legally deficient” and, at points, “confusing.”

Though the order was not immediately available, the docket entry for the filing indicated that the decision was a split vote, with five justices affirming the lower court’s order, Justice Kristina Pickering in dissent and Justice Patricia Lee agreeing and disagreeing with parts of the decision.

A representative for Schools over Stadiums told The Nevada Independent last week that no matter the Supreme Court’s ruling, the group will likely try to place a referendum on the 2026 ballot because of the fast-approaching deadline to gather the more than 100,000 valid signatures needed to qualify for this year’s ballot.

The decision comes more than six weeks after the Supreme Court heard nearly an hour of arguments from attorneys representing the PAC, which was organized by the Nevada State Education Association (NSEA) teachers union and proposed the referendum, and attorneys representing leaders from other unions that oppose it.

The main issue the court grappled with was the question of whether the PAC needed to provide the entirety of SB1, the 66-page bill authorizing the public financing, or just the sections the teachers union wants removed in the language of the petition that voters sign. Several justices raised the point that including selected portions of the bill in the petition could confuse voters.

This is a developing story and will be updated.