January 24, 2012
Florida bill would enforce law to use public stadiums as shelters
A pair of Florida state legislators have unearthed an old law requiring that state-funded sports facilities be used as homeless shelters on days when there's no event on, and is out to enforce it. "These organizations have failed to follow the law for over 20 years," declared state rep Frank Artiles, co-sponsor of legislation that would require teams that have received public cash to return it if they don't obey the law. "This is the simply the State of Florida holding them accountable."
While it's hard to picture the Miami Marlins, say, setting up cots around the Red Grooms home run sculpture, the bill is certainly getting media attention, and now has attracted an amendment to require publicly funded stadiums to ban TV blackouts of games. Which sounds like it has even less chance of being enforceable, but it's certainly interesting, to say the least, to see what options people come up with for demanding conditions in exchange for public funding. Of course, it would be easier if somebody had thought to demand them before actually opening the public's checkbook...
November 30, 2011
Miami-Dade paying $1m to Heat for not playing during lockout
In today's Adventures in Bad Lease-Writing, we bring you Miami-Dade County, which the Huffington Post reports has been paying the Miami Heat to run the AmericanAirlines Arena even though the team hasn't played there yet this season thanks to the lockout. The county pays the Heat $6.4 million a year in operating subsidies, meaning the Heat will have received about $1 million in public funds for not playing for two months — while the county, at least according to the county, will lose "as much as" $2.4 million in hotel and ticket taxes, though we've discussed before how those numbers are likely overblown.
Quote of the day:
Some sort of escape clause for lockouts or other season disruptions "would have been a good thing to have," said Katy Sorenson, a former county commissioner who has long been critical of the arena deal. Sorenson added, "This county's not famous for great deals on sports arenas."
No kidding: Not only did the county agree to build a new arena just ten years after the Heat got their old new arena, and agree to pay the operating costs, but the only rent the Heat agreed to pay is part of a profit-sharing deal that has generated no actual rent because the Heat have managed to avoid reporting much in the way of profits.
I'd make the obvious point that local governments need to hire smarter people to negotiate their stadium and arena leases, but given the way they approach paying to build the buildings in the first place, they'd probably object that smart leases would only get in the way of "getting things done."