May 30, 2003
Jets sue for rent reduction
The New York Jets are suing the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, saying the agency is overcharging them for rent at Giants Stadium by about $2 million a year. At issue is a lease extension the authority gave to the New York Giants in 1999, lowering their rent from 15% of ticket revenues to 10%. The Jets say a clause in their lease bars the authority from charging them more rent than the Giants; NJSEA executive George Zoffinger says that the minute the Jets agree to a lease extension of their own (the Jets lease expires in 2008), they can have a rent cut, adding: "This suit is an attempt to squeeze more taxpayers' money out of us at the same time they're trying to convince New York to build them a new $3 billion stadium."
May 22, 2003
Cubs pay selves to scalp tickets
As if such shenanigans as underpaying yourself for TV rights (as many teams do) and paying yourself consulting fees to negotiate cable contracts (as George Steinbrenner has done) aren't enough, the Chicago Cubs owners have happened upon a new trick for hiding money from revenue-sharing: Sell tickets at face value to a ticket broker that they themselves own, then keep the proceeds from jacked-up sale prices without reporting it to MLB. An audacious plan, with one small drawback: It's probably against Illinois law, and a class-action suit has been filed to stop the practice. (If you're a Baseball Prospectus Premium subscriber, Derek Zumsteg has a great articletoday about the whole mess.)
Red Sox hedge on ballpark plans
Despite having made substantial renovations to Fenway Park over the offseason, Boston Red Sox execs are still not saying what their long-term plans are for the 91-year-old ballpark. One increasingly likely scenario is that they'll do nothing, at least for the time being: "You know the state of the economy . . . I don't even think a public/private [stadium] partnership should even be on the radar screen," Sox CEO Larry Lucchino told the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce yesterday. Given that the last time the Sox tried to raise private funds for even a share of new stadium construction costs they were smacked down hard, the team may content itself with nightly sellouts at Fenway for now.
May 21, 2003
New seats draw few fannies
The Milwaukee Brewers, Detroit Tigers, and Pittsburgh Pirates are all drawing worse in their new stadiums than they did in their old "obsolete" ones - and it's their own damn fault, writes ESPN's Jim Caple.
May 19, 2003
How super is your bowl?
An NFL-funded study claims that Super Bowl XXXVII generated $367 million worth of economic activity in San Diego County. Non-NFL-funded studies, examining actual sales tax receipts, say that the economic impact is a tiny fraction of that, as Super Bowl tourists merely displace those who would otherwise be filling your city's hotel rooms. Is it too late to call the whole thing off?
May 09, 2003
NYC stadium financing delayed again
NYC deputy mayor Dan Doctoroff, having been a no-show at the latest city council hearing on his West Side stadium plan, now says a detailed financial plan won't be released until mid-June at the earliest. The total bond package for the project, which would include a stadium for the Jets and the 2012 Summer Olympics, now stands at $3.7 million, up from $3 billion when first proposed last fall.
May 08, 2003
D.C. stadium bid hits $338m
The monopoly-money bids keep going up: Now D.C. mayor Anthony Williams is asking for $338 million from the city council, in his bid to lure the Expos from Montreal. While it's unclear whether the cash-strapped district will cough up the dough, it's certainly a sign that Bud Selig's bidding war is proceeding as planned. Can you really say you're surprised?
May 07, 2003
Portland financing deal update
We're not the only ones skeptical about the plan to bring the Montreal Expos to Portland by diverting income taxes paid by players. Oregon State Legislative Revenue Office analyst Dick Yates projects that the tax revenues from the bill would be only $5 million a year, not nearly enough to pay off the state's $150 million in stadium bonds, while Oregon economist Joe Cortright points out that player income taxes are hardly "new" revenue, since they'd likely come at the expense of reduced consumer spending in other areas. Meanwhile, Florida movie mogul Craig Marquardo, who claimed he'd build a Portland stadium with his own money, turns out to have claimed a bunch of other things of dubious veracity: like that he played minor-league baseball, was wounded in the Gulf War, and sang backup for Sting.
May 02, 2003
Virginians voice vituperance vs. stadium
Stadium opposition is heating up in Northern Virginia, one of the bidders to become the new home of the Montreal Expos. The No Arlington Stadium Coalition turned out 200 people for a rally Wednesday against putting public money into a baseball park; the same night, a pro-stadium group drew only a couple dozen people for its event. Virginia is considering a plan to finance about two-thirds of a $400 million stadium with government dollars.
Portland still after Expos
The Oregon state legislature continues to kick around ideas for funding a $300 million stadium to lure the Montreal Expos to town. Last Wednesday, the state House Rules and Public Affairs Committee narrowly approved a plan to sell $150 million in bonds, to be repaid out of state income taxes paid by players and team officials. Let's do the math: at even a generous interest rate, that's $10 million a year for a 30-year bond. Oregon's top tax rate is 9%. So the Portland Expos would need a payroll of at least $111 million a year to pay off the bonds - and that's if the entire team lives in-state and forgets to deduct the income taxes they pay for road games from their state tax bill.
Portland baseball booster Maury Brown insists that the team's payroll would grow to that level and beyond over the years - but then, we've heard that before. (Brown's case isn't helped by the fact that he's publicly confused debt service with principal.)
Meanwhile, Florida movie mogul Craig Marquardo says he wants to buy the Expos and move them to a new stadium in Portland that he'd build entirely with private money. We've heard that before, too.
