May 29, 2009
Santa Clara 49ers plan expected today
The city of Santa Clara is expected to issue a "term sheet" tonight for its proposed San Francisco 49ers stadium — all of four days before the city council is scheduled to vote on it — and the San Jose Mercury News notes that past deals in Cincinnati and Indianapolis have ended up with taxpayers holding the bag unexpectedly thanks to overly generous lease terms. "You can't judge a stadium deal by the upfront cost," some stadium blogger and book author told the Merc News. "There was a time when if you were a sports owner and you were going to build a stadium, the subsidy was all upfront. It would just be a check from the legislature for $300 million or something. Now it is far more likely to be buried in the details of the lease."
I'll be reporting back here with my analysis of the term sheet once it's available. If you feel like playing along at home, check the Santa Clara city website starting tonight around 7 pm Pacific time.
Chargers reject $1B stadium plan
You know you're having a bad day when you offer to build a $1 billion stadium for your local football team, and they tell you to shut up and mind your own business. That's what happened to San Diego developer Perry Dealy on Wednesday, when he told the Chargers of his plans for a mammoth development project on the site of their current home of Qualcomm Stadium, and immediately got a fax back from the team telling him thanks but no thanks, as the project doesn't have "a realistic chance of being implemented."
The plan does sound a bit dubious, relying on San Diego designating the site a "redevelopment zone" based on a plume of polluted water under the current stadium, then kicking back property taxes from the new development to pay for construction. (Yes, it's tax increment financing yet again.) But still, it's unusual for a team to turn up its nose at any stadium proposal, even if just as a stalking horse to get other localities to up their bids. Chargers spokesman Mark Fabiani explained the oddity this way to AP:
Fabiani said the announcement of Dealy's project put the Chargers in the awkward situation of explaining how they could turn it down when few other options have surfaced.
"That's part of why this effort by Mr. Dealy is so damaging to us," Fabiani said. "It causes people to ask that question."
Blue Jackets seek taxpayer lease bailout
The Columbus Blue Jackets' Nationwide Arena has gotten lots of praise as a model of a privately financed sports facility (though the city did kick in for infrastructure costs) — so naturally, nine years after it opened, the Blue Jackets are looking for those subsidies that voters made them do without back then. Team president David Peacock met with state political leaders this week to seek a tax hike on beer, wine, and cigarettes that would, in the words of the Associated Press, "raise an estimated $65 million a year, which would help offset team losses and help the county pay for a bond sale to buy the arena."
How this would work: The arena is currently owned by Nationwide Insurance and the Columbus Dispatch, which paid to build it and, naturally enough, expect the Blue Jackets to pay enough rent to pay off their arena bonds. The Blue Jackets claim they can't do this on the revenues they bring in from arena events — remember what I've said before about sports facilities seldom paying for themselves? — and are hoping the county can use the new taxes to buy the arena and give them a new lease, one that not only cuts their rent, but absolves them from paying $1 million a year to the local school district out of ticket taxes, something that was arranged to compensate for the full property tax exemption the team was given when the arena was built.
In other words, the Blue Jackets want the county to buy the arena because they want a landlord that will bail out their losses by cutting their rent. They could always just ask Nationwide for a lease break, but apparently public officials are a softer touch.
"It's bigger and more beautiful than I ever imagined!" —Arlington Mayor Robert Cluck on the new Dallas Cowboys stadium, which opened its doors to 1500 VIPs this week
"The first word that comes to mind is: impressive!" — New York Red Bulls captain Juan Pablo Angel on the team's new stadium, which players got a first sneak peek at yesterday
"The action is quite intense and the effects are completely of-the-moment and dazzling!" — Director Brad Silberling on "Land of the Lost," which opens at theaters near you next Friday
May 27, 2009
Portland study: Stadium would destroy jobs
Another day, another economic consulting report making glowing claims about the jobs created by new stadiums ... er, what's that you say, Portland Mercury?
Mayor [Sam] Adams' office asked consulting firm ECONorthwest on Monday, May 11, to figure out the number of jobs the Beavers stadium construction would create in Portland. The mayor gave ECONorthwest only one working day to turn around the study, but its results were not good news for the mayor's office or the stadium plan: While the ballpark construction would create 453 jobs during construction, the $49 million total investment would actually create a net loss of 182 jobs citywide.
"If those individuals who put their money into baseball via taxes are allowed to put that money into the private market, that same amount of money would actually yield more jobs," explains ECONorthwest number-cruncher Abe Farkas. The study also showed that 67 percent of the construction jobs would go to people who do not live in the City of Portland.
You will not be surprised to learn that this report never saw the light of day — the Mercury only finally obtained it from the city yesterday. For their part, Mayor Adams' office charged their consultants with making "seriously faulty underlying assumptions," including that residents would get to keep their urban-renewal tax dollars if they didn't go to the stadium. While this is a fair criticism, it's worth noting that urban renewal money would presumably be spent elsewhere if not on a stadium, an opportunity cost that the ECONorthwest study (downloadable here) doesn't attempt to quantify; and if other taxes ultimately have to be raised to support whatever other project doesn't get the stadium money, then the study's numbers pan out. (For his part, Farkas said he made reasonable assumptions, given the one-day turnaround required.)
While one city commissioner called for a new report, the mayor's office nixed that idea, saying it would take up to a month and cause them to miss Major League Soccer's deadline for a Timbers stadium, which is coming up in ... September. But still, it's got to be better to act first, and ask questions later, right?
May 25, 2009
Bid to save Yankee Stadium's Gate 2
Steve Politi of the Newark Star-Ledger reports on Yankees fan John Trush's campaign to save Gate 2 of old Yankee Stadium, even as demolition of the ballpark continues. Gate 2, says Trush, is the most intact surviving piece of the original 1923 structure, and is proposing to preserve it as an entryway to the new public ballfields that will eventually replace the stadium.
Aside from a couple of minor factual errors in the Star-Ledger piece — the plan to completely demolish the stadium has been in place since 2005, not "this spring," and Trush wasn't the founder of yankeesstayhome.com — the bigger question is: Who would pay for this, given that the city's price tag for the parks is already jillions of dollars over budget?
Coyotes enter mediation, final ruling due by June 22
My apologies for not reporting this at the time: Last Tuesday, bankruptcy court judge Redfield Baum ordered Phoenix Coyotes owner Jerry Moyes and also-Phoenix Coyotes owner the National Hockey League to enter mediation to determine who is the real Rosa Parks. If they can't settle matters by this Wednesday, Judge Baum will make a ruling by June 22.
The Canwest News Service, meanwhile, is speculating that a verdict ruling that the Coyotes can be sold and moved without league approval would wreak havoc on team stability, with teams moving left and right. Among the learned folk chiming in as part of the article:
"You could, maybe, see two baseball teams in Boston, for instance, and that could be destructive,'' says Michael McCann, an associate law professor at the University of Vermont. "It would also allow owners to hold teams up for ransom in their local markets. Teams would ask for concessions and if they don't get them, say 'We could be out of here.' Particularly given all the economic troubles in North America right now, that's a major issue."
Two thoughts on this: One, it would be really hard to fit two baseball teams in Boston given that the city has only one stadium, and the Red Sox own it. (Likewise eight hockey teams in New York, another suggestion in the article.) And two: "Teams would ask for concessions and if they don't get them, say 'We could be out of here.'" How is this any different from today?
May 22, 2009
Super Bowl heads back to Superdome
NFL owners voted earlier this week to play the 2013 Super Bowl in New Orleans. Stephen Perry, president of the New Orleans Metropolitan Convention and Visitor's Bureau, was enthusiastic, saying, "It's been a long road back, and we feel like this is sort of a final validation that the capacity of the New Orleans' tourism industry is 100 percent back, because we just landed the biggest event there is."
Clearly, the 34-year-old venue has come a long way since the dark days of 2005.
Of course, the cynical might argue that it's not such a feel-good story as you might think.
A fabulous new park was opened, at River Avenue in the Bronx.
While I'm on the subject, don't you think this uniform logo would be much more apropos for all the teams in the New York Yankees organization, from Staten Island upwards?
Or in non-assonant prose: Tampa Bay Rays stadium czar Michael Kalt declared today that the team was abandoning plans for a waterfront stadium in downtown St. Petersburg, effective immediately. While that was mostly a matter of closing the barn door after the horse — the city council is expected to soon approve a rezoning of the waterfront site that would preclude a Rays stadium — Kalt added that there are "big issues with downtown St. Petersburg as a site" in general, and indicated that the team would prefer to locate farther north in Pinellas County — presumably at one of these sites.
There's been much speculation over the years that the Rays would rather be closer to the wealthier Tampa side of the bay, which a move to central Pinellas would accomplish. The big question now is what's always the big question: Where would a stadium go, and who would pay for it? Presumably the old land swap deal for the site of their current home, Tropicana Field, could still be on the table, though given the reaction it got last time, not to mention what's happened to the Florida real estate market since then, I wouldn't be holding my breath.
May 21, 2009
Sports bubble watch: Mets ticket discounts
The New York Mets, who've so far managed to duck the criticism the Yankees have got despite their own sky-high ticket prices and empty seats behind home plate, sent out an email yesterday offering field-level tickets to their upcoming homestand for as much as 33% off. (Which still isn't as good as StubHub, especially given all the Ticketmaster fees the team tacks on, but it's closer.) Meal deals, here we come.
May 20, 2009
Santa Clara 49ers deal: Wait for it...
The city of Santa Clara announced as promised yesterday that it agreed to a financing plan for a San Francisco 49ers stadium, and the long-awaited details are ... not going to be released until May 29, in advance of a June 2 city council meeting on the plan. Unnamed sources tell the San Jose Mercury News that the total public subsidy will be "well under $90 million," but the San Francisco Chronicle reports that Santa Clara Mayor Patricia Mahan says it will also include $62 million to move an electrical substation and build a parking garage — given how little agreement there's traditionally been among elected officials as to what constitutes a "subsidy," it's probably best to wait and see the fine print.
Yanks exec: We're "trying to fix" stadium
Criticism of, or at least acknowledgment of flaws with, the new Yankee Stadium from an unexpected source yesterday: Yankees senior VP Felix Lopez told WCBS radio yesterday, according to a listener transcription: "There are a lot of things wrong with this building we're trying to fix. With the help of the fans and the media, we're looking into everything." That'd be the first time any Yankee official has admitted there are problems with their new $2 billion building — and also a rare media appearance for Lopez, who is George Steinbrenner's son-in-law. (No, not that son-in-law. Married to the same Steinbrenner daughter, though.) This has River Avenue Blues wondering if Randy Levine and Lonn Trost's power is on the wane. Ah, Kremlinology, how we've missed you.
Bloomberg News, meanwhile, is already looking past this stadium to the next one:
The next Yankee Stadium probably will be smaller, domed and have holograms of such players as Babe Ruth walking around the concourse pitching hot dogs and T- shirts.
Added Ripken Management projects director Jim Arnold: "This experience is going to be about over-stimulating the senses. Bigger and brighter video boards, flashy signage, luxury seating with televisions offering multiple camera angles and in-seat ordering." "Going to be"?
May 19, 2009
Santa Clara 49ers stadium plan expected today
The San Francisco Chronicle reports this morning that the San Francisco 49ers and city of Santa Clara are expected to announce today plans for a $916 million stadium deal to be presented to voters next March. The deal is said to involve $70 million less in public subsidies than the last plan, and the team has agreed to pay rent to the city, though how much they wouldn't say. The owners of the Great America amusement park who had threatened to block the Niners settling next door, meanwhile, are now said to be more willing to sell their park to the team — though again, for what price is unknown.
More on this after the official announcement today.
May 18, 2009
Sports bubble watch, mid-May edition
Pete Toms at Biz of Baseball alerts us to a Sports Business Journal article examining the sports ticket glut on the resale market:
"There is so much inventory out on the markets right now, particularly for baseball," said Mike Janes, co-founder and chief executive of FanSnap, a Bay Area-based startup that acts as a metasearch engine for secondary tickets. More than 15 million tickets are accessible through the site, and the majority of those tickets are for sporting events. "I joke now that you're going to pay more for your beer or your parking to go to a game than your actual ticket. Heck, you could pay more for your large mocha latte. But we're living in a very, very different world now."...
StubHub, perhaps the most dominant and recognizable player among all American ticket resellers, says the average sales prices for sports events on the site is $81, down 9 percent from the same time last year [see chart, page 14] and 28 percent below 2007's full-year figure of $112. Independent sellers, similarly, have seen prices fall 10 percent to 15 percent over the past 12 months, and profit margins drop from the 20-30 percent range to around 10 percent. Industry estimates point to as much as 40 percent of all ticket inventory currently available on the secondary market being listed at or below face value.
SBJ reports that much of the ticket glut is due to "individual sellers" — in other words, regular fans, not ticket brokers or professional scalpers — who have increased the number of tickets they're listing this year. This raises again the question: What happens next season, when fans realize that rather than rushing to get tickets to go on sale, they can get a better deal waiting to buy at a discount on StubHub later? The first signs should be visible this fall, when the NBA and NHL become the first major sports leagues to go through a full season and then a preseason sales cycle since the economy fell over and broke last fall.
New Yankee Stadium slam book, cont'd
It's official: Everybody and their sister has now chimed in with their thoughts on the Yankees' new stadium. The latest:
- There are still lots of empty seats, according to the New York Times, though the ultra-pricey ones in camera range appear to be filling up some.
- Bald Vinny likes it, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, though all he's actually quoted as saying is that he likes that bleacher tickets are still the same price and it's "sad to see" all the empty luxury seats.
- Alan Schecter at Bleacher Report says, "I don't think they could have put together a less fan-friendly experience if they tried." He also reports that the new let the fans down to the field during batting practice rule isn't as generous as it appears: It only applies during Yankees batting practice, and fans are ordered to skedaddle as soon as the visiting team takes the field.
- The Business Insider suggests the Yankees management could fix matters through the magic of the marketplace: "24 hours before each game starts, for example, remaining seats could be sold via an online auction in which prices drop 1% a minute until they're all gone." Though they also note that the risk that "people and corporations [would] stop buying tickets in advance so as to save money." Now there's an idea.
- The Newark Star-Ledger thinks it's time for a fan boycott. It's never worked before, but you can't blame people for trying.
- And finally, for a change of pace: Scott M.X. Turner's bad day at the Mets' new stadium, including reports that Citi Field is likewise beset by empty seats and bans on viewing batting practice from the field level.
May 17, 2009
What would Coyotes' flight really cost Glendale?
The Arizona Republic has another today in its series of articles on how the loss of the Phoenix Coyotes would screw over the city of Glendale. So far, it reports, Glendale has been able to pay off its $180 million debt for the arena it build for the team with rent payments and arena-related tax revenues: "From fiscal 2006 to 2008, ... Glendale paid $25.9 million on its arena debt in that period and collected $27 million in revenue from developments directly related to the arena." Take away the Coyotes' $2.4 million in annual rent payments, and sales taxes from fan purchases, and "the city could be forced to skim money from reserves or funds that could have gone to public services."
Of course, "arena-related tax revenues" is a notoriously fungible concept, thanks to the substitution effect (if you need a refresher on the substitution effect, here's an excellent one) — not to mention that some of the related development, like the retail/commercial/residential development that then-Coyotes owner Steve Ellman built next door, come with their own expenses for city services. But the point remains that unless Glendale can book more concerts or something to fill empty dates during the hockey season, it's going to have a tougher time paying its arena debt.
But then, that could be true if the Coyotes stay as well, since team officials were already talking about demanding lease concessions even before the team filed for bankruptcy. (There will be different team officials once the bankruptcy shake out, but three guesses as to whether they'll back off this demand now that the team has effectively broken its lease.) While losing rent payments would still leave the team-related tax revenues, those are the revenues that are most directly cannibalized from other spending in the Phoenix area, if not necessarily Glendale proper.
Maybe Glendale should be demanding that its neighboring cities pay an annual subsidy to let the Coyotes leave — and let their shoppers go...
May 16, 2009
Nets project moves ahead, but toward what?
Stop me if you've heard this before: New Jersey Nets owner Bruce Ratner has won another court ruling over his proposed Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn, as the New York state appellate court ruled it wasn't illegal to use eminent domain to seize property for the project.
Of course, this state lawsuit was only a last-ditch move by project opponents after their federal lawsuit failed. (Not to mention previous court setbacks.) Now their really final last ditch is an appeal to the state's highest court, which is expected any day now.
While there's always a chance this court will be unlike all other courts, the bigger question now appears to be: If all the lawsuits are cleared away, then what will Ratner do? Or, more to the point, what can he do? We've already noted that the economic crash has essentially doomed Ratner's proposed office tower, that the apartment buildings might not happen for years, if ever, and that the original arena design has been abandoned as way too expensive; that leaves, um, an on-the-cheap arena surrounded by vacant lots?
The state senate is scheduled to hold its first-ever hearing on Atlantic Yards (only six-and-a-half years after it was first proposed) on May 29, and Norman Oder of Atlantic Yards Report has a list of proposed questions that should be asked:
- Is it guaranteed that Atlantic Yards will still include affordable housing, or can Ratner put off that portion of the project indefinitely without penalty?
- When will the state Metropolitan Transportation Authority get the $100 million Ratner promised to pay for development rights to its rail yards — money it could kind of use.
- Is Frank Gehry still working on this thing or what?
I'll add one more question: Given that the entire economic landscape has changed since this plan was first proposed back in 2003, and that the design will apparently bear little resemblance to what was originally approved by the state back then, might it make sense for the state to just go back to square one and issue a new request for proposals for the site?
May 15, 2009
Yanks to allow non-elite fans slightly closer to field
After much criticism, the New York Yankees have announced that starting with tonight's homestand, all fans will again be allowed to go into the field-level seats during batting practice, as it was at the old stadium. Though not quite as it was at the old stadium, and not just any seats: While fans will be allowed into the left- and right-field corners as well as the bleachers (which are actually now separated from the field by several rows of box seats), the "Legends" seats surrounded by the infamous moat are still off-limits. Apparently the inalienable right to repel intruders from your home only applies if you paid $500 a pop for your seats, not if you're one of those losers who shelled out only $90.
Still, so far this seems to be getting a better reception than the team's earlier half-measure to counter complaints of high ticket prices by discounting a few dozen seats that weren't selling. But then, we haven't heard Keith Olbermann's reaction yet.
May 14, 2009
Balsillie gets Hamilton lease, NHL calls him "illusory" and "duplicitous"
The charges and countercharges have been flying fast and furious in the Phoenix Coyotes bankruptcy case, with the following transpiring just in the last 24 hours:
- Elected officials in Ontario turned out to be just fine with Coyotes suitor Jim Balsillie's demand for $120 million in public money to renovate Hamilton's hockey arena if he moves the team there. Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty, a Liberal, asked if he would rule out the use of public funds, replied, "I'm very much in favour of a new hockey team in Ontario"; his deputy premier, George Smitherman, went further, saying, "If we see success in terms of a franchise coming this way, if there are capital needs there, I think the premier's said we'll be open to the conversation." MPP Andrea Horwath, a New Democrat whose riding (that's "district" in Canadian) includes the arena, chimed in that while, "I don't think a blank cheque to a multimillion-dollar corporation is the best way to go, ... I think government should be looking to partner in whatever way we can." Then she talked about the battered steel industry and added, "So anything that can bring some excitement, some hope and some economic stimulation are all positive things -- particularly in an economic downturn." And her fellow New Democrat Paul Miller got special dispensation to wear a "Hockey Night in Hamilton" T-shirt in the Ontario legislature this morning.
- The Hamilton city council unanimously approved giving Balsillie an option on a 20-year (or maybe 32-year — reports differ) lease on Copps Coliseum, provided he gets the Coyotes. No details on how much rent Balsillie would be paying on the place (if that's even been negotiated yet), but the city council did commit to lobby the province and federal government for renovation funds.
- Balsillie, awed by the love of his fellow Ontarians, promptly released a statement saying he'd never asked for any public money, notwithstanding yesterday when his spokesman said he did.
- The NHL, not awed by anyone, issued bankruptcy court papers calling Balsillie's offer to buy the team "illusory, at best, and a sham, at worst" and "a last-ditch effort" to get around league rules, and said that it had taken control of the team from principal owner Jerry Moyes and so Moyes' bankruptcy filing was illegal. And if it wasn't, it was just plain wrong: "Even assuming that Mr. Moyes' conduct was technically permissible, it smacks of bad faith and duplicitous dealing," wrote the league. "The court should not condone such inequitable conduct."
- Balsillie fired back with a statement of his own asserting: "Who owns or controls the team is a distinction without a difference. The team itself is still bankrupt, voluntarily or not. The owner of the team has a fiduciary obligation towards the creditors."
At this rate, maybe they should forget about playing hockey and just sell tickets to watch the lawyers fight.
May 13, 2009
Balsillie to Hamilton: Want a team? Cough up $120m
So much for the hometown discount: Would-be Phoenix Coyotes owner Jim Balsillie announced that he'd seek $120 million in public funding for renovations to Copps Coliseum as part of any deal to move the Coyotes to Hamilton, Ontario. Hamilton mayor Fred Eisenberger said he doesn't consider the demand "out of line" and that he's "cautiously" optimistic about cutting a deal with Balsillie — but then, since Balsillie would apparently be asking the province of Ontario and the Canadian federal government for the funds, it's no skin off his nose. Prime Minister Stephen Harper may want to take back his endorsement of relocating the Coyotes, though.
Meanwhile, Coyotes head coach and hockey legend Wayne Gretzky threw his backing behind Jerry Reinsdorf's $130 million bid to buy the team and keep it in Arizona — which is far less than Balsillie's $212 million offer. Unless the bankruptcy court judge overseeing the Coyotes' Chapter 11 filing is a big Gretzky fan, it looks like we're headed for a major international antitrust case here.
San Jose: A's stadium must "make money"
The San Jose city council held its baseball stadium meeting yesterday, agreeing on a set of principles for any deal to lure the Oakland A's. First and foremost: The city won't pay to build or operate a stadium, and it must generate money for the city's general fund.
This is an excellent start in theory, but as always, its value will depend on how the city chooses to interpret its pledge. Mayor Chuck Reed, after all, has already indicated that land subsidies don't count as "paying for" a stadium, leaving open the possibility of the city taking on hidden costs. And as for generating money for the general fund, there are plenty of ways to fudge that as well.
That said, it still looks like A's owner Lew Wolff's preferred relocation site will be an uphill battle: Barring hidden subsidies, he'd have to find a way to raise $400 million or so to build a stadium, plus lord knows how much to pay off the San Francisco Giants for the territorial rights they were granted 20 years ago when they were trying to move to San Jose. (No, it doesn't make sense. It's baseball management — even Google thinks it must be fiction.) And first he'll have to get through umpteen public hearings, plus whatever demands the proposed "Diridon Station Area Good Neighbor Committee" comes up with. And that's assuming MLB's A's stadium commission okays a move in the first place ... we could be here awhile.
1976 Yankee Stadium seats priced higher than 1923 Yankee Stadium seats
New Stadium Insider, reporting on the Yankee Stadium salvage sale, notes that one memorabilia dealer spotted some odd pricing of seats:
It is funny that they are charging $1500 for seats that are from 'Yankee Stadium 2'... The original (and my opinion better ones) are still available for $1000-$1200 ...Wouldnt it make sense to sell the 'Yankee Stadium 2' seats for cheaper than the harder to find originals?
Remarks NSI: "At this point, we should all expect that anything licensed by the New York Yankees will be completely overpriced." Guess somebody won't be bidding on that $250 Stella Artois ad.
May 12, 2009
Yanks start carving up, selling old Yankee Stadium
As promised, Steiner Sports went live today with its web sale of items from the old Yankee Stadium, after teaming up with the Yankees to buy the lot from the city for $11.5 million. Among the bits of the historic ballpark being chopped up and offered as collectibles, in addition to stadium seats for $750 a pop, are a "Caution: Slippery When Wet" sign for $350 and a "Piece of Facade from the Original Yankee Stadium" (caution: not actual original facade; also, it's a frieze, not a facade) for a mere $50,000. Though that still seems like a bargain compared to $59.99 for a "Brett Gardner 2009 Yankees Mini Dirt Collage."
In other Yankees news, team president Randy Levine may be "done talking about seats," but COO Lonn Trost took some questions at today's stadium auction press conference, telling reporters who asked about the team's unpopular move to ban fans from going down to the field level during batting practice: "Right now, that's the policy. Well, if you purchase a suite, do you want somebody in your suite? You purchase a home, do you want somebody in your home?" This should go over about as well as Mayor Bloomberg's "We love the rich people!" remark.
New Yankee Stadium: HOW... EXPENSIVE... IS IT?
Via New York Post columnist Phil Mushnick:
Reader Gary Cicio, NYC podiatrist, did the research, and asks us to choose one of the two options to see a Mariners-Yankees game this season, and from the very best seats:
Option 1: Two tickets to Tuesday night, June 30, Mariners at Yanks, cost for just the tickets, $5,000.
Option 2: Two round-trip airline tickets to Seattle, Friday, Aug. 14, return Sunday the 16th, rental car for three days, two-night double occupancy stay in four-star hotel, two top tickets to both the Saturday and Sunday Yanks-Mariners games, two best-restaurant-in-town dinners for two. Total cost, $2,800. Plus-frequent flyer miles.
Hamilton officials: If we spend it, Coyotes will come
Apparently even having an owner who's publicly announced he wants to move to your city doesn't absolve you of spending public money to lure him: The CEO of Copps Coliseum in Hamilton, Ontario, says it would take $85 million in renovations to make the 24-year-old arena "NHL-ready" if the Phoenix Coyotes were to move there. Included would be an upgraded dehumidification system to keep the ice from melting, which makes sense, plus removing the roof and adding 50 to 60 extra luxury suites, which would better be described as "profit-ready."
Of course, it is possible that Hamilton could negotiate for Coyotes owner Jim Balsillie to pay more in rent — out of those added suite sales, perhaps? — to cover the renovation costs, which would be only fair. Not saying it's likely, but this is Canada, after all.
In other Coyotes news, the court overseeing the team's bankruptcy has given the NHL a deadline of today to turn over documents related to a possible sale of the team to a new owner who would keep it in Arizona. One possible buyer: none other than Chicago White Sox and Bulls owner Jerry "Leverage Man" Reinsdorf, who not only got a new baseball stadium out of Chicago by threatening to move to Tampa Bay, but oversaw the Montreal Expos relocation process, and so would be the oddest white knight ever.
May 11, 2009
UCLA announces $185m Pauley facelift
This afternoon, UCLA officials unveiled plans for the first overhaul of the 44-year-old Pauley Pavilion in Westwood, where a record 11 men's NCAA championship banners hang from the rafters.
The school says the $185 million plan, which it expects would take two and a half years, would increase capacity (currently at 12,829) to nearly 14,000, bring fans closer to the court by adding seating behind the baskets, and modernize the scoreboard, restrooms, locker rooms, concession stands, and entrance ways, along with a number of other improvements. Judging by the rendering of the renovated arena, the plan would maintain much of the venue's original character and feeling. Perhaps one motivation for the Bruins was its bitter crosstown rival, USC, which opened the Galen Center in 2006.
The Los Angeles Times reports that funding would come from a variety of sources:
The university hopes to raise $100 million of the construction costs through "The Campaign of Champions." Annual fees that students already pay would provide $25 million and the remaining $60 million would come from external financing. At this point, the document said, UCLA has received $3 million in gifts, $14 million in pledges and $33 million in unconfirmed pledges. That leaves $50 million still to be raised.
The school did not specify what those "external sources" are.
As for the student fees, those were just raised last week, to help the University of California's regents alleviate a recent $115 million cut to the system's fund by the state, which is facing a $42 billion budget deficit.
San Jose mayor: No subsidies for A's, except...
With the San Jose city council set to take its first steps toward luring the Oakland A's, tomorrow, city mayor Chuck Reed has declared that A's owner Lew Wolff "needs to pay for his own stadium" — though according to the San Jose Mercury News, that wouldn't preclude giving the team free or discounted land, something that would require a voter referendum.
Reed, meanwhile, seemed to draw an even tougher line in the sand about what would be needed for an A's deal, though his choice of examples could raise some eyebrows:
In fact, at the top of the city's list is a requirement that any ballpark actually make the city money — "millions of dollars," Reed said — instead of merely not costing it any.
"We've seen it with" HP Pavilion, Reed said, "so we know it can be done." The San Jose Redevelopment Agency spent $135 million in the early 1990s to help build the arena, which brings the city's general fund an estimated $5.8 million a year.
Er... what? Even at a dirt-cheap 5% interest rate, $135 million in debt would mean the SJRA has to make $8.8 million in bond payments a year, which would mean the arena is running at least a $3 million annual loss. With cash cows like that, who needs money pits? [UPDATE: After further investigation, the arena's finances actually look to be better than that, with the public at least breaking even, if not necessarily earning "millions" &mdash see comments below.]
May 10, 2009
Line forms here to hate on New Yankee Stadium
This weekend in new Yankee Stadium coverage:
- Add the New York Times' Tyler Kepner to the list of people who think the Yankees destroyed what was special about the old stadium, in part thanks to that moat separating the front-row seats from the hoi polloi.
- If you want to buy pieces of the dearly departed, you can do so starting on Tuesday, when Steiner Sports will announce prices for seats, foul poles, and signage from the old stadium. Steiner and the Yankees, reports CNBC's Darren Rovell, bought these items from New York City for $11.5 million, which is slightly more than the $10 million take the city originally projected. Whether that ends up a good deal for the city depends on whether the sale really rakes in $30 million as was previously projected — though you already have to wonder if that extra $1.5 million was really worth the delay in getting started on those replacement parks.
- The new umpteen-million-dollar video screen is busted already. Hey, I hear there's a used one going on sale from Steiner Sports on Tuesday!
May 09, 2009
AZ Republic: If Coyotes move, people will shop at different stores!!!
The ink is still wet on the Phoenix Coyotes bankruptcy filing, and already we have the first newspaper article (in the Arizona Republic) warning that the loss of the team would cost the local economy:
The loss of the Phoenix Coyotes would hit hardest in the city the team has called home since 2003, but the loss would ripple to shops and restaurants along the Loop 101 corridor in Peoria and Phoenix...
Those with the biggest stake are Glendale taxpayers and the shop and restaurant owners at Westgate and elsewhere that benefit from fans trekking to west Glendale.
And what do those shop and restaurant owners have to say about this dire situation? Here's a sampling of those quoted by the Republic:
- "We're going to continue to follow it like the rest of the Valley," said Nicole Traynor, a spokeswoman at Westgate City Center, the commercial development just outside the arena's door.
- "It would affect our business so it's definitely not a good sign for us," said Kevin Lee, general manager at Kabuki Japanese restaurant.
- Amanda Martin, general manager at Coffee Plantation, said that burly hockey fans still come in to get their "non-fat, sugar-free vanilla latte or a cappuccino." But Martin said the coffee shop's biggest crowd comes from the nearby movie theater.
- "We've got a lot of the players' wives and families that shop in our store . . . a lot of them are Canadian and have family and friends that come down to visit and come into our store. A lot of them are very large spenders. (That loss) will definitely be felt around town," owner Steven Koeppel said.
Okay, so not exactly panic in the streets, but still concern — which makes sense, as there can be a bit of spillover from sporting events to local stores. Of course, there's another unstated factor here as well: If Phoenix-area residents are no longer spending their money in and around hockey games, they'll be spending it somewhere else. But "Loss of Coyotes Would Be Boon To Scottsdale" doesn't quite trip off the printing presses the same way.
May 08, 2009
The official announcement isn't until this afternoon, but the Miami Dolphins provided a sneak peek at their new stadium name yesterday. You may all now commence snickering.
May 07, 2009
Wolff: A's are headed ... somewhere
Athletics Nation has a long interview with Oakland A's owner Lew Wolff in which he answers questions about his stadium plans, though as we've seen, "answers questions" has a somewhat different meaning when it comes to Wolff. In a nutshell:
- About a possible return to Oakland: "We spent a great deal of time and energy, more than anybody on any other side, investigating every site that we thought was available in Oakland. It takes me almost an hour and 45 minutes to go through what we did. We haven't had that opportunity with certain officials so they can understand what we think we've done to stay in Oakland. And the door is open there for them to tell me about something that I missed which is not impossible. ... Oakland is a built-up area. There aren't a lot of pieces of land that don't have a big expensive component to them to make them work."
- About a possible move to San Jose: "The answer is that we want to stay in Northern California. When we went to Fremont, there was hardly a word said. The Oakland people realized we were trying to stay. The territorial issues are really determined by Major League Baseball, not by me."
- About where else in Northern California the A's might move: "That's the problem. In the district we're assigned, it's either Oakland or Fremont."
- About whether Sacramento is an option: "I heard they have a pretty nice new ballpark in Omaha but I don't want to have to fly to Omaha to see our games. The one thing we haven't done no matter what anyone will tell you is that I have never threatened to go to another city outside the state."
Add that up and it's clear as mud, but one possible interpretation would be: "I'm trying to convince Bud Selig that San Jose is the only viable option in Northern California, but I can't say that out loud yet, because he has to believe that it's his idea." It's somewhat of a longshot — the San Francisco Giants could put up a fight over territorial rights, San Jose could decide it doesn't have the money or the land, or Selig could just decide it's not worth the hassle — but given the size of the payoff if he wins, you can't blame Wolff for trying. And besides, in the meantime it doesn't stop people from throwing out other stadium ideas.
May 06, 2009
Phoenix Coyotes file Chapter 11; Ontario move next?
The simmering Phoenix Coyotes situation blew up completely yesterday, with the team filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, and BlackBerry billionaire Jim Balsillie launching a wildcat bid to buy the team and move it to Hamilton, Ontario.
The rough timeline:
- NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and deputy commissioner Bill Daly arrived in Phoenix yesterday to negotiate the sale of the Coyotes, who've been making payroll only thanks to heavy subsidies from the league, to local interests.
- Less than an hour before a scheduled meeting with Bettman, team owner Jerry Moyes filed for bankruptcy, reportedly without bothering to notify the NHL.
- Balsillie, who'd previously been rebuffed by the NHL in attempts to buy the Pittsburgh Penguins and Nashville Predators with the intent of moving them to his native southern Ontario, jumped in with a $212 million offer to buy the team.
- The NHL announced it had removed Moyes as owner of the Coyotes and placed the team under league control
So, now what happens? The Coyotes had agreed to stay in Phoenix (really Glendale, Arizona) for 30 years (with a $700 million early termination penalty) as part of the deal to get a new $220 million arena in 2003, but a bankruptcy court can wave off that provision if it so chooses. Likewise, while the NHL insists that its approval is required to buy a team or move a franchise, a judge may disagree. ("We are investigating the circumstances surrounding the [bankruptcy] petition, including the propriety of its filing," Daly said in an emailed statement last night, but it doesn't seem there's much the league can do to undo it now, "propriety" or no.) The Globe and Mail even reports that Balsillie has managed to get himself ahead of the NHL in line when it comes to secured creditors, though other sources disagree.
If Balsillie succeeds in winning the franchise, he'd almost certainly move it to the Copps Coliseum in Hamilton, though he's reportedly said he'd working building a new arena and naming it after Wayne Gretzky's dad. The players union, interestingly, is apparently in favor of such a move, believing it would boost league revenues, and so also salaries under the revenue-sharing agreement agreed to after the 2004-05 lockout. Bettman, who as NHL commissioner has pushed for more franchises in the U.S., especially the Sunbelt, reiterated this morning that he doesn't feel likewise, saying, "We fix the problems. We don't run out on cities." (Threatening to run out on cities, that's a different story.)
Regardless of how things work out, Glendale looks to be screwed: Either it loses its team and is stuck with an empty arena and 25 years of construction debt payments, or it is forced to offer major lease concessions to get the team to stick around &mdash Moyes even noted in his bankruptcy filing "the city's willingness to offer incentives to keep the team as a tenant." This could get ugly like the Saints deal before it's all over.
An initial bankruptcy court hearing is set for 1:30 pm on Thursday in Phoenix. But given all the legal tangles involved — this could be the biggest challenge to leagues' monopoly right to control franchises since the Oakland Raiders case in the 1980s — it's not likely to be concluded for a long, long time.
May 05, 2009
Latest Yankee Stadium feature: Riots!
As if the New York Yankees' new stadium weren't taking enough lumps, team employees yesterday managed to tell hundreds of fans that last night's Yanks-Red Sox game was rained out — then refused to let them back in once they learned otherwise. One fan was arrested and charged with assaulting an officer (a traditional New York charge that usually means "being assaulted by an officer"), while Yankees officials threatened to revoke the press credentials of a Daily News photographer who was taking pictures of the melee.
New Stadium Insider, meanwhile, suggests this trick: "The Yankees don't officially allow re-entry, but if you go to Gate 6 via the Great Hall, you can wait in line to enter the Hard Rock Cafe, which is open to the public. Since it is open to the public, the Yankees have to stamp your ticket on the way in, allowing you re-entry to the stadium once you are done with your meal." If this really works, it would be the first known actual use for the Hard Rock Cafe.
With Boston in town, it was also the Boston media's turn to take a crack at reviewing Yankee Stadium 2.0, and Boston Herald sportswriter Steve Buckley responded with a long column revealing that:
- Bill Madden hates the new place, but Keith Olbermann loves it.
- Buckley thinks the renovated Fenway Park is "a perfumed-up dump."
- "It really is amazing how much it looks like the old Yankee Stadium, only bigger. The field dimensions and outfield fences are similar, and the seats are Yankee blue. The upper deck is adorned with the same style of frieze that was a signature feature in the pre-renovated original Yankee Stadium, and the Jumbotron in center field shows strikingly clear pictures." (This last is presumably an upgrade to the original 1923 Jumbotron.)
- Continues Buckley: "While the place has been ridiculed as an ill-timed, out-of-place monument to American excess, let’s not forget that the Yankees are the greatest franchise in American sports history. This new stadium is a monument to that success." So that would make it an ill-timed, appropriate monument to American excess?
May 04, 2009
Heated toilet seats and phantom stadiums
Weekends are traditionally times for newspapers to catch up on long-running stories and, frankly, pad the paper with non-news items. And there was plenty of that this past weekend:
- The San Jose Mercury News looked at whether a new baseball stadium for the Oakland A's could fit next to San Jose's planned high-speed rail station, and concluded: The state's high-speed rail chief says he sure hopes so. "By all means," Mehdi Morshed told the paper, "we're going to be working with the city and others to make the high-speed train station complimentary to everything else around it."
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The Houston Dynamo are "pushing ahead" with their new soccer stadium, reports the Houston Chronicle, the team having filled an office with renderings and started an archeological dig. Now all the Dynamo ownership needs is to "complete its financing package agreement with the city and have the county, by way of Commissioners Court, vote in favor of contributing $10 million to the project." Details, details.
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The New York Times marked, um, the one-month anniversary of the Japanese baseball season opener by reporting on the privately funded renovations carried out by the Seibu Lions: "With the $51,111,111.11 posting fee the Lions earned from the [Boston] Red Sox in the deal [for pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka], they renovated the drab, outdated Seibu Dome, constructing concession stands and seating, resurfacing the playing field, installing an enormous video scoreboard and, most notably, building magnificent bathrooms with electronically warmed toilet seats." No word on whether they're now charging $3.50 for Pocky.
May 03, 2009
As 50-1 longshot Mine That Bird ran away with a shocking Kentucky Derby victory, there was more Pimlico-related news out of Baltimore yesterday, as Magna Entertainment, the track's bankrupt owner, withdrew its proposal to auction off the historic track and a smaller Maryland track, Laurel Park.
The announcement at least temporarily stalls the brewing battle between state lawmakers and private bidders over control of the track. In April, an emergency measure passed by the General Assembly authorized Governor Martin O'Malley to use eminent domain to seize the tracks after one local bidder threatened to raze Pimlico. A lawyer representing Maryland told the Baltimore Sun that Magna's next move is unclear.
Meanwhile, after a crowd of nearly 8,700 attended Pimlico's opening day on April 18, ticket sales for the Preakness, the track's only money making event, have lagged for two main reasons: The sour economic climate has eliminated sponsors and decreased the number of high priced "Corporate Village" tents, and advance Infield ticket sales are down 17 percent following a new policy banning outside alcoholic beverages from the Infield. With the future of Pimlico already in doubt, track managers from the Maryland Jockey Club might have exacerbated their losses by instituting the new policy.
Can't tell the new Saints lease without a scorecard
It's been three days now since the New Orleans Saints agreed to a new 17-year lease extension on the Superdome, but I've been holding off on posting until I could actually understand the deal. Sadly, it seems too complicated for anyone to really wrap their brains around yet, with a crazy number of moving parts, including:
- The state of Louisiana would pay for $85 million in upgrades to the Superdome — which just got $210 million in renovations two years ago — with the Saints getting the revenues from the new luxury suites and such.
- In place of the $23 million a year that the state was paying the Saints under the old lease — that's right, the Saints have actually been paying negative rent — the team will now be paid on a sliding scale based on its revenues, with a cap of $6 million a year.
- The state will lease 320,000 square feet of office space from the Saints owners, the Benson family, paying $24 a square foot, about 33% over the going rate for downtown New Orleans. The total increase over the agencies' current rent is expected to be about $2.5 million a year.
- The Bensons will also buy the New Orleans Centre mall and an adjacent parking garage from the state, lease them back to the Superdome Commission, and share revenues from the facilities.
The upshot, then, is that this seems to be a better lease than the last, awful one that the state negotiated, but still potentially costly to taxpayers. In particular, that $85 million capital outlay could make the deal a "
Cowboys practice facility collapses
In what was either "thunderstorm-spawned winds" or a near-tornado, depending on which description you prefer (AccuWeather calls it a "microburst"), the Dallas Cowboys' six-year-old practice facility was flattened yesterday, its aluminum-frame roof collapsing on dozens of team employees and reporters there to cover practice. Latest word is that there were no life-threatening injuries, though one Cowboys coach did suffer broken vertebrae (he's not paralyzed, and is expected to make a full recovery). [UPDATE: Another Cowboys staffer wasn't as lucky.]
Dramatic video here and here. (Obligatory stadium controversy comment: The practice dome angered local residents when it opened in 2003, as it towered 80 feet over the surrounding neighborhood.)
May 02, 2009
Dolphins to play in "Land Shark Stadium"?
In what's already being called the worst corporate stadium name in history, the Miami Dolphins are expected to announce next Friday that Dolphin Stadium — formerly Joe Robbie Stadium, later Pro Player Stadium — will be renamed Land Shark Stadium, after a beer brand co-owned by Jimmy Buffett.
While the new name will no doubt provide lots of fodder for jokes — don't sharks and dolphins attack each other? shouldn't this stadium really be in Chevy Chase, Maryland? — the interesting bit here will be how far it means the market for used stadium names has fallen when a niche beer brand can afford to buy the name of an NFL stadium. Nobody's saying just yet how much Land Shark would be paying for the naming rights, which could be only a one-year deal; Buffett could end up setting up a Margaritaville theme park at the stadium or buying part of the Dolphins as well, which would further complicate the financing.
Indianapolis cuts arts funds to subsidize stadiums
The Indianapolis Capital Improvement Board voted yesterday to start plugging its $47 million a year operating deficit by suspending all grants to arts and tourism groups. The CIB also voted to look at renegotiating its union contracts and selling some of its assets.
The budget gap, you'll recall, was created in the first place by the city's sweetheart lease deals for the Colts and Pacers, compounded when the CIB agreed to let the Pacers stop paying $15 million a year in operations costs, either out of the goodness of their hearts or a sudden fear that the team would move to Kansas City otherwise. Next time someone tries to argue that stadium costs don't cut into the money available for other public spending, remember this moment.
