Rebuilding Place in the Urban Space

"A community’s physical form, rather than its land uses, is its most intrinsic and enduring characteristic." [Katz, EPA] This blog focuses on place and placemaking and all that makes it work--historic preservation, urban design, transportation, asset-based community development, arts & cultural development, commercial district revitalization, tourism & destination development, and quality of life advocacy--along with doses of civic engagement and good governance watchdogging.

Wednesday, March 31, 2021

Framework of characteristics that support successful community development in association with the development of professional sports facilities

Sports stadiums and arenas and public funding is a tough issue.  Generally, based on the economic research, advocates always argue against.  But the reality is that economic interests and elected officials are generally all in.  

So a campaign based on "saying no" is likely to have little impact.

Since the facility is going to get built, with public money, now I argue that we ought to focus on extracting the best possible contract providing the greatest possible community and economic return to the locality, rather than just letting the sports team reap the majority of the benefits.

-- "Baseball World Series in DC as an opportunity for urban planning reflections: #1 | revisiting blog entries from 2005/2006,"
-- "Baseball World Series in DC #2: Eleven urban planning lessons from the Washington Nationals stadium"

Over the years, I've been working on creating an item framework, since my first crack at it in 2014.  The most recent version is from 2019 ("Stadiums and arenas redux: Mayor Bowser still wants the area NFL team to relocate to DC").

But today I am revisiting it, sparked by a community planning effort in Salt Lake City.

The Salt Lake planning process is centered around the Ballpark neighborhood-where a classically designed stadium with great views is home to the Salt Lake Bees minor league baseball team.

But the neighborhood around the park hasn't improved much in the 27 years that the stadium first opened in 1994, and it has light rail transit access to boot.

I think the key problem with the dearth of revitalization benefits is the lack of an overall planning and implementation initiative when the stadium was first constructed, although there are other issues--the railroad tracks support industrial development, there aren't a lot of build out opportunities on the east side of the tracks, closer to the stadium, the area is (not far but still) distant from Downtown, where a stadium may have made more sense from a leveraging revitalization opportunities standpoint, etc.

When the Washington Nationals put a notice on the scoreboard about last trains from the nearest transit station, fans boo the transit agency, when it is the team that has refused to guarantee service for games that go beyond the normal closing time for the system.

Creating a revitalization program for a stadium, arena, or exposition facility that is outside of a downtown or major activity center is tough.  So Salt Lake has a tough row to hoe.

So I decided to take another look at the framework, and I realized that a specific section on neighborhood benefits, if relevant to particular situations, needed to be separated out as an element.  

Note that some of these items are less relevant to smaller communities, and those lacking robust transit networks, and with a sprawl development paradigm.  

There is also a difference of opportunities between "big leagues," minor league teams, and college teams ("Economic impact of college football means season cancellation will crush college town economies reliant on sports visitation," 2020, "American City Business Journals calculates the capacity of North American metropolitan areas to support new/additional professional sports teams," 2015).

And practice facilities, which despite all that is touted by teams, seem to have very little economic impact ("Sport team practice facilities and public subsidy (a practice facility for the Washington Wizards)," 2015).  Arguably, baseball training camps are problematic too, in terms of financial subsidies from local governments.

Community Development oriented planning framework for sports stadiums and arenas

in front of Fenway Park, Boston
Urban Design 

  • centrality of location: Downtown/central business district/waterfront versus outlying locations within a city or suburbs.  Negative examples include the Salt Lake Bees stadium outside of Downtown, with limited redevelopment opportunities; how the Atlanta Braves chose a suburban location for their new stadium, counter to the trend of siting in center cities; the debate in Oakland about a waterfront location versus a new stadium in their current location ("A's plan to build a new waterfront stadium at Oakland's Jack London Square takes big step forward," San Francisco Chronicle), and the location of the Real Salt Lake soccer team in the suburbs instead of the center city.  Positive examples include the waterfront stadium for the San Francisco Giants, the Downtown stadium for the Baltimore Orioles, and the relocation of the Washington Wizards basketball team and Capitals Hockey teams from the suburbs to the City of Washington;
  • size of the facility and its ability to be integrated into the urban fabric (baseball, football, basketball, hockey, soccer), bigger stadiums--football stadiums specifically--are harder to integrate in the urban fabric.
  • isolation or connection: how well is the facility integrated into the urban fabric beyond the stadium site and does it leverage, build upon, and extend the location and the community around it.  The classic example is Wrigley Field in Chicago versus White Sox Stadium ("Expert offers his dream Sox stadium," Chicago Tribune).  Wrigley Field is embedded in its neighborhood, while White Sox Stadium is disconnected from its.  But also in how Oracle Park in San Francisco leverages its waterfront location.
Oracle Park.  Photo: Ron Niebrugge.
Stadium/Arena Design
Ancillary Development
  • a publicly produced and robust master plan which isn't a "bag job" produced by sports team interests, with the aim of sparking additional development, leveraging the stadium/arena as a neighborhood and community anchor;
  • ownership split concerning ancillary development around the facility: is it all controlled by the team?  Again, the White Sox Stadium is a good example of failures in this dimension.

The Georgetown Hoyas play their games at Capital One Arena, which is also home to the Washington Wizards basketball and Washington Capitals hockey teams, maximizing facility utilization.

Programming
  • frequency of events held by the primary tenant--baseball has 82 home games/year, football about 10 including pre-season, basketball and hockey have 41, soccer about 17--so football stadiums are very rarely used (according to the Chicago Sun-Times article "Emanuel mulling 5,000-seat expansion to Soldier Field," the facility holds about 22 events including annually, 12 non-football events);
  • how many teams use the facility, maximizing use and utility of the building--for example, Capital One Arena in DC is used by professional men's basketball, hockey, and one college basketball team for more than 100 sports events each year (until recently it also hosted professional women's basketball and Arena football).  Pittsburgh's Heinz Stadium is home not only to the Pittsburgh Steelers football team, but also the University of Pittsburgh's football team, which is one of seven college football teams to share the stadium of a professional team ("Stadiums Shared by NFL and NCAA Teams").
  • are events scheduled in a manner that facilitates attendee patronage of off-site businesses--a business isn't an anchor if it aims to not share its customers; the earlier events are scheduled, the harder it is to patronize retailers and restaurants located off-site, at night during the week, there is limited post-game spending as well, on the weekends it's a different story with more opportunity to patronize off-site establishments--teams manipulate scheduling to reduce spending outside of their on-site and 100% controlled facilities;
  • use of the facility for non-game events drawing additional patrons--such as concerts and other types of programming; 
  • regular economic impact studies of spending by event patrons should be required (one example is a study that was conducted for Barclays Center in Brooklyn in 2013, as discussed in this blog entry from the Atlantic Yards Report, also see "Barclays Center and its economic impact on Brooklyn," Nathan Weiser blog, "The Barclays Effect," Politico), including more fine grained data on the effect on local business and local businesses (for example, the original study on Barclays found differences in patronage before and after events, and during the week versus weekends).
Photo by Mike Kepika of the San Francisco Chronicle. People leaving the streetcars to see a Giants game at PacBell Park (now Oracle Park).

Broader retail is tough.  Note that except for team-related merchandise, increasingly patrons are less interested in retail consumption outside of food and beverage and other entertainment.  This makes it difficult to support straight up retail as part of professional sports team venue-focused revitalization initiatives.  

In It's Hardly Sportin' the authors describe how the Wrigleyville commercial district was "reproduced" towards food and drink and entertainment in response to the Cubs shifting to night games.

Transportation
  • how people travel to events: automobiles vs. transit--if automobiles are the primary way people get to events, then large amounts of parking usually in surface lots needs to be provided, making it difficult to foster ancillary development because of lack of land and poor quality of the visual environment, whereas if transit is the primary mode, then more land around a facility can be developed in ways that leverage the proximity of the arena. 
  • locating stadiums and arenas in high-capacity transit locations: e.g., Madison Square Garden, Barclays Center, and Capital One Arena are served by multiple transit lines, whereas most stadiums and arenas are sited in locations that have single line transit service.
  • transit capacity: subway transit has much greater capacity than light rail, and depending on the schedule, railroad passenger service.  Buses have less capacity too, but depending on the nature of the event, many can be deployed.  Promising high quality service when transit modes lack the throughput and capacity (e.g., World Cup soccer in Dallas, Super Bowl at Meadowlands Stadium in New Jersey) creates serious problems.
  • transportation demand management requirements as part of the contract/certificate of occupancy/use permit: some teams have TDM plan requirements, in particular the Chicago Cubs, most don't. Some teams provide a great deal of information or support for sustainable mobility, most don't.  Some teams pay for transit services.  At least some of the time (the Washington Wizards and Washington Capitals) sports teams may pay toward service extended beyond normal hours when games go late, most don't (Washington Nationals).  More sports facilities in cities are adding bike valets and/or secure bike parking facilities.
Slide from a study on the Barclays Center arena, Brooklyn, 2013
  • Free transit with ticket:  Events at the Talking Stick Arena (Phoenix), Chase Center (San Francisco), Climate Pledge Arena (Seattle), and sports events at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City include certain types of free transit access for ticket holders. University of Utah and the Climate Pledge Arena have the most extensive agreements.  Through funding from teams and landowners, the transit station serving Pittsburgh baseball and football stadiums is included in the light rail transit system's "free fare zone," called the North Shore Connector. While it wasn't put into practice, in 2014 in negotiations for a new arena, the transit authority in Sacramento proposed providing Sacramento Kings ticket holders with "free transit" in return for certain subsidies. 
  • transportation demand management plans should set targets for each mode, with a focus on trips by sustainable mobility.  This was an element of the contract with the Barclays Center (Brooklyn Nets).
  • transportation demand management plans should require annual surveying on how people get to events to measure the success of shifting trips to sustainable modes: do fans arrive on foot; by bike; car--gas or electric; car pool; taxi/ride hailing; bus; light rail; etc. (This is an element of the contract with the Climate Pledge Arena/Seattle Kraken hockey team.)
Commuting statistics collected by a local business in Portland, Oregon
  • secure bike parking facilities should be required for in-city sports facilities.
  • special marketing initiatives. Some passenger rail lines provide special game day service for sports events and a wide range of marketing programs (Metrolink, Caltrain, New York MTA).  
  • parking taxes to support community improvements: years ago a neighborhood association in the Hill District of Pittsburgh suggested creating a parking tax that would go towards funding local community projects as a mitigation program ("A dollar a car for the Hill," Hill District Consensus Group).   A parking tax should be assessed in any case.  (Similarly, the BART system has an add on fee for airport trips.)

New York City's arenas and to some extent some baseball stadiums, the Capital One Arena in DC, Wrigley Field in Chicago, and Oracle Park in San Francisco are particularly noteworthy examples of sports facilities well connected by transit, where a majority of attendees get to and from the facility on transit.

As mentioned, some sports teams (and other groups) have paid towards transit stations serving their facilities.  Newer agreements include the New England Patriots ("Commuter rail service to Foxboro to start in October," Quincy Patriot-Ledger, and the New York Islanders ("Islanders arena project at Belmont Park now includes new LIRR station," Newsday).

City-wide Benefits 

  • community benefits agreements that provide additional benefits to the city overall
  • fair lease terms rather than agreements where the team pays little or no rent.  For example, the City of Anaheim has made little net revenue--$50,000/year!--from the Anaheim Angels baseball team ("Stadium maintenance, debt eat into Anaheim's revenue from hosting Angels baseball," Orange County Register) which is why admissions and other taxes can be especially important.
  • profit percentage paid to the local/state governments upon the sale of the team, in recognition of the importance of government funding for the facility and/or support infrastructure (like what was intended for the Miami Marlins stadium) as well as the reality that the facility is the platform for the success of the entire enterprise
  • entrepreneurship and social enterprise opportunities.  Are there programs to support small business operation of concessions and contracting?  Can workforce development and social enterprises be a part of this mix? For example, the West Nest concessions stand in Mercedes-Benz Stadium is operated as a social enterprise by the Westside Works community organization ("At Mercedes-Benz Stadium, West Nest provides a training ground for Westside Works students and grads," Atlanta Magazine).
  • public facilities access and use program, such as how the basketball arena in Bilbao includes a recreation center open to the public, including access to the main court when not in use; while not on-site, the Redskins football team did pay towards a community and recreation center in the area of the stadium
  • admissions taxes on tickets: Prince George's County would make almost zero off the Washington Redskins if it weren't for an admissions tax on each ticket; but many teams argue against imposing such taxes or that they should be the beneficiaries, e.g., the Washington Wizards used admissions tax receipts to pay for interior improvements, "Verizon Center Ticket Tax to Rise to 10%," Washington Post, 2007.
  • as discussed in the previous section, paying towards transit and transportation facilities is another city-wide benefit.
  • conditional use permits as opposed to permanent certificates of occupancy.  Providing stadium/arena use permits for a specific period of time, rather than "forever" gives the locality more leverage.  New York City's treatment of Madison Square Garden is somewhat unique in that the facility is permitted through a special use permit  that isn't granted in perpetuity but has to be regularly updated, renegotiated and approved every ten years ("Remember, City Council, Forever Is a Really Long Time," New York Times). 
  • Other tax revenues.  For example, with regard to taxes, as a proto-state, DC keeps the sales, income, and property tax revenue streams associated with real estate development and appreciation and the spending and obligations of residents.  On the other hand, unlike other "states," DC is barred from taxing "day of game" income of professional athletes, a revenue stream enjoyed everywhere else. 
West Nest concession stand at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta

Neighborhood benefits
  • development and maintenance of a community plan, focused on neighborhood revitalization in association with the creation of the sports facility.  One example is the plan created for the Aycock neighborhood of Greensboro, North Carolina.  Other examples include plans associated with the development of minor league baseball stadiums in Memphis and Louisville, Kentucky, although these were more focused on downtown revitalization.
  • neighborhood focused community benefits agreements.  The Atlanta Falcons football stadium was developed with such an agreement ("Building a Stadium, Rebuilding a Neighborhood," New York Times, Falcons community impact website) which included job training, employment targets, the creation of social enterprises, etc., although there is criticism of the program.
  • creation of an implementation organization to guide neighborhood improvements.
  • creation of "community safety partnerships" if necessary ("Creating 'community safety partnership neighborhood management programs as a management and mitigation strategy for public nuisances: Part 3 ")
  • parking taxes to support community improvements (discussed above): years ago a neighborhood association in the Hill District of Pittsburgh suggested creating a parking tax that would go towards funding local community projects as a mitigation program ("A dollar a car for the Hill," Hill District Consensus Group)
  • admissions taxes: (discussed above).  A portion of admissions taxes could be designated for neighborhood improvement programs if stadiums/arenas are located outside of Downtown.
  • public facilities access and use program (repeated from above).  One example is how the basketball arena in Bilbao includes a recreation center open to the public, including access to the main court when not in use; while not on-site, the Redskins football team did pay towards a community and recreation center in the area of the stadium.
Note that there are plenty of examples of the construction of stadiums and arenas at the loss of viable neighborhoods, such as Pittsburgh's Hill District and the creation of the arena for the Penguins hockey team in the late 1950s.  

The arena was demolished a few years ago, and a "restorative revitalization" initiative is underway ("Penguins ‘restorative development’ project aims to repair Pittsburgh’s famed Hill District," The Undefeated, "Not over in the Hill: Neighborhood leaders say the Penguins are coming up short," PublicSource).

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112 Comments:

At 9:05 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

In a predecessor piece, I mentioned how more than half the attendees at events at Madison Square Garden or Barclays Center come and go by transit.

By contrast in 2019, for the Seattle Mariners baseball team it was 11%, including ferry (at least they collect the data).

2. Apparently the forthcoming Seattle Kraken NHL team will pay the Seattle Monorail for ticket holders using it, and will provide some level of subsidy for bus and light rail (but not ferry transit). The details on the latter haven't been disclosed, but will include both season and single ticket holders.

The team is paying for improvements to the Monorail system to increase throughput, including paying for integrating the Orca regional transit media card into the fare gates.

https://komonews.com/news/local/nhl-seattle-to-partner-with-offer-free-transit-to-home-games

According to the article, the Golden State Warriors and Phoenix Suns provide similar benefits.

3. WRT Phoenix, all events at "Talking Stick Resort Arena," basketball, concerts, etc., the ticket provides free _light rail_ access. Not bus access. And events that don't use Ticketmaster aren't eligible for free service.

It's good for 3 hours before the event and afterwards.

4. SF has two primary transit organizations, MUNI which is exclusive to the city, and BART, which is regional, with stations in SF. (Travel between BART stations in the city are included in the monthly premium MUNI pass, but not the basic pass.)

The program with the Golden State Warriors and transit is only for the MUNI.

https://www.sfmta.com/blog/city-san-francisco-and-golden-state-warriors-make-it-easier-you-get-chase-center

It covers bus, and light rail/streetcar but not cable cars. AND, it's an all day ticket.

5. In confirming something, I found out that the Pittsburgh Steelers are no longer sponsors of the free fare zone extension to the North Side, but the Stadium Authority and Casino still participate, along with a parking lot company.

https://www.post-gazette.com/news/transportation/2015/02/25/Free-North-Shore-T-service-expected-to-survive-without-Steelers-as-sponsor/stories/201502250086

That changed in 2015.

 
At 10:05 AM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

Madison Square Garden doesn't pay any rent!!

https://www.nydailynews.com/sports/basketball/knicks/ny-sports-knicks-james-dolan-20190311-story.html

 
At 12:30 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

Haven't read this, just came across it.

"SPORT VENUES AND THE SPECTACULARIZATION OF URBAN SPACES IN NORTH AMERICA: The Case of the Molson Centre in Montreal"

International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 35:3 (2008)


https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Anouk-Belanger/publication/249733893_Sport_venues_and_the_spectacularization_of_urban_spaces_in_North_America_The_case_of_the_Molson_Centre_in_Montreal/links/5964f612a6fdcc41b1d3c586/Sport-venues-and-the-spectacularization-of-urban-spaces-in-North-America-The-case-of-the-Molson-Centre-in-Montreal.pdf

 
At 7:05 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

Metro will stay open for late sports games
By Justin George

https://www.washingtonpost.com/transportation/2021/04/26/metro-open-late-sports-games/

 
At 10:29 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

The proposed European Super League for soccer led to fan revolts and government complaints, and it broke apart.

Last weekend, fans protested at the Manchester United stadium, leading to the game being postponed.

Commentators argue that the reason this happened is fans have been fed up for years with the ownership of the team, the Glazer family of the US, who own the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and how their financial management of the team, leveraged buyout and weighing down the organization with debt has made the team uncompetitive.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2021/may/03/manchester-united-fans-glazer-family-club-debt-premier-league

In Anti-Ownership Protests, United Fans Rediscover Their Own Power
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/02/sports/manchester-united-fans-protest-postponement.html

Interestingly, like the point about "loser's consent" made wrt Wales government devolution and the need to build consensus for big changes with the people who disagree, the bond between fans and teams can fray when the teams are run poorly. In the US, fans have zero leverage. But in some countries (Spain, Germany, South America), soccer teams are controlled by fan groups.

https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk/2019/01/comparing-brexit-welsh-devolution-theresa-may-was-wrong-two-counts

The Guardian article contrasts the ownership of Manchester City vs. the Glasers and Manchester United. MC is owned by Abu Dhabi, and they've invested in the team and community. So even though they were part of the ESL effort, their fans complained but not super vociferously, because the owners are seen in much different terms compared to the Glasers.

https://www.thenationalnews.com/business/manchester-city-show-how-football-clubs-investment-can-boost-local-economies-1.717814

https://www.cnn.com/2016/09/08/football/manchester-transforming-city-and-the-city-sheikh-mansour-abu-dhabi-gundogan-iheanacho/index.html

Abu Dhabi money transforms east end of Manchester
https://www.ft.com/content/8fbc1916-7ef2-11e4-b83e-00144feabdc0

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/manchester-the-city-that-sold-out-to-abu-dhabi-9mwx7nfck

 
At 11:06 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/may/03/manchester-united-to-review-security-and-could-ban-fans-glazers

In an open letter to Joel Glazer, Manchester United Supporters Trust said on Monday: “What happened [on Sunday] was the culmination of 16 years in which your family’s ownership of the club has driven us into debt and decline, and we have felt ever more sidelined and ignored. After 16 years not one member of the Glazer family has ever had so much as a conversation with us, the club’s Supporters Trust.

“After the events of yesterday we trust your attention is now fully focused on the question of what happens next at Manchester United.”

The trust presented a four-point plan including the appointment of independent directors and a fan share scheme that could lead to the Glazers being bought out.

MUST's four-point plan sent to Glazer family
1. Willingly and openly engage and promote the government initiated fan-led review of football and use this as an opportunity to rebalance the current ownership structure in the favour of supporters
2. Immediately appoint independent directors to the board whose sole purpose is to protect the interest of the club as a football club, not its shareholders
3. Work with the Manchester United Supporters Trust and supporters more broadly to put in place a share scheme that is accessible to all and that has shares with the same voting rights as those held by the Glazer family. Should the appetite be there amongst fans then you should welcome, and offer no opposition to, the Glazer Family shareholding being reduced to a minority or indeed being bought out altogether.
4. Commit to full consultation with season ticket holders on any significant changes to the future of our club, including the competitions we play in

 
At 11:42 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

Entertainment center to be built in parking lots of Honda Center (Anaheim Ducks hockey), and adjacent to Angels Stadium

https://www.ocregister.com/2020/06/24/honda-center-development-plans-to-add-6000-seat-concert-venue-food-hall-homes-and-parks/

 
At 11:50 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

Revenue sharing agreement between the Honda Center (Anaheim Ducks) and the City of Anaheim.

Plus the Honda Center is taking over management of the train station (ARTIC), releasing the city from the financial responsibility ($2.5MM) of operating it.

https://www.anaheimcalling.com/2018/11/20/18106050/city-anaheim-california-vote-new-management-agreement-for-honda-center-ducks

 
At 11:55 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

agreement with the Angels

https://www.ocregister.com/2020/09/28/on-eve-of-vote-current-and-former-anaheim-mayors-debate-angel-stadium-sale/

 
At 9:40 AM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

Manchester United loses a big sponsorship deal because of fan unrest

The Guardian: Manchester United lose £200m training kit deal over fans’ anti-Glazers campaign.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/may/08/manchester-united-lose-200m-training-kit-deal-over-fans-anti-glazers-campaign

 
At 8:44 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

WTOP: Metro wants to temporarily drop fees for special events.
https://wtop.com/tracking-metro-24-7/2021/05/metro-wants-to-temporarily-drop-fees-for-special-events/

 
At 6:13 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

Impact of new minor league baseball stadiums on game attendance
January 2008Sport Marketing Quarterly 17(3):146-153

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/283363436_Impact_of_new_minor_league_baseball_stadiums_on_game_attendance

 
At 11:08 AM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

Economic impact study of two Manchester City "City in the Community" programs

https://mediacdn.mancity.com/-/media/files/community/citc-30-years-impact-report.ashx?la=en

https://web.archive.org/web/20170706135507/http://neweconomymanchester.com/

 
At 8:56 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

Capital One Arena -- Washington Wizards basketball, Washington Capitals hockey -- adds sports betting parlor inside the building.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2021/05/26/capital-one-arena-sportsbook-william-hill/

Leonsis talked many years ago about the team as a platform. My response is that the building is the stage, and therefore public financing of these facilities deserves a greater financial return.

http://urbanplacesandspaces.blogspot.com/2014/01/stadiums-and-arenas-as-enabling.html

 
At 9:14 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

USA Today had an article about the difficulty smaller market teams have competing in the NBA. (This is an issue with baseball too.) Although the article is sort of behind a paywall, you can access it through printfriendly.com.

"NBA's small-market franchises finding road to success can be an obstacle course"

http://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/sports/nba/2021/05/25/nba-small-market-teams-plight-largely-unsuccessful/7421933002/

Here is a similar piece from a few years ago.

https://okcthunderwire.usatoday.com/2019/07/26/examining-small-market-teams-throughout-nba-history-following-okcs-announcement-of-new-approach/

https://www.lineups.com/articles/is-there-hope-for-small-market-teams-in-the-modern-nba/

I wrote about this awhile back in the context of Oklahoma City. The former mayor, Mick Cornett, made the point that having a NBA team made the city known worldwide, because people into basketball knew all the US teams, regardless of the size of the market.

(I have a similar story. I don't follow year by year sports that much, more the business and politics of sports in general. But I was in Liverpool, asking for directions, near Everton's stadium, and somehow it came up I was from DC, and a person commented on how DC United recently added Wayne Rooney, who had been a star with the Everton team. I knew about it because of reading the Washington Post...)
===========

One "solution" for small market teams would be to give them more salary cap room, rather than them getting financially penalized for paying over the cap. Great players prefer to be in the big cities. That could help level things a little.

 
At 11:44 AM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

https://www.ocregister.com/2021/06/11/comfort-food-rules-at-angel-stadium-and-here-are-some-recommended-tasty-bites/

High quality food at Angels Stadium

 
At 2:17 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

Systematic community involvement activities particularly with youth needs to be another element in the city-wide benefits section.

Above in the comments, Manchester City soccer's initiatives are mentioned. Major League Baseball has an initiative. This article about Salt Lake City and the Jazz mentions the Junior Jazz program.

You really should be in Salt Lake City. It’s cool. Really.
By Chuck Culpepper

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2021/06/12/utah-jazz-nba-playoffs-clippers/

 
At 9:10 AM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

100% minority (90% Black) baseball team at Bishop McNamara High School in Forestville, Prince George's County, Maryland

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/highschool/2021/05/30/bishop-mcnamara-shows-baseball-can-beat-its-diversity-problem/7475949002/

 
At 11:30 AM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

AP story on the impact of the loss of minor league baseball teams in Port Charlotte, Florida, Lancaster, California, and Jackson, Tennessee, as part of the takeover of minor league baseball by the Major Leagues, and the elimination of some leagues and teams.

https://www.texarkanagazette.com/news/national/story/2021/jun/26/cities-stripped-minor-league-squads-finding-ways-forward/876647/

The Lancaster quotes the city manager saying the cost of maintaining the stadium wasn't really covered by increased economic activity from the team, that they have greater impact from youth league tournament baseball, at the adjacent 17 field youth baseball complex.

 
At 11:31 AM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

Gaps in TDM planning in Chicago?

http://urbanplacesandspaces.blogspot.com/2021/06/special-event-bicycle-parking-and.html

 
At 8:40 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

Because the Milwaukee Bucks, a small market team, are in the NBA Finals, there are articles on the team and its situation.

Like this one in the Post.

Schlitz over glitz: Giannis Antetokounmpo’s loyalty to Milwaukee lands Bucks in NBA Finals

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2021/07/05/giannis-antetokounmpo-loyalty-milwaukee-nba-finals/

I found this paragraph very interesting:

"The surest paths to salvation from such depths: a large financial infusion or a superstar talent, and the Bucks enjoyed both. Lasry and Edens, two New York hedge fund managers, purchased the Bucks for $550 million in 2014 and set about polishing up their distressed asset. With help from a $250 million public financing package, the new regime built a glittering downtown practice facility in 2017, opened the 17,000-seat Fiserv Forum in 2018 and, perhaps most ambitiously, began work on Deer District, a 30-acre downtown redevelopment project that includes restaurants, an apartment building and a forthcoming hotel."

Practice facility
I don't think their practice facility is any different than anyone else's in that it is pretty much just for the team, with few if any spillover benefits.

Ancillary development
That's the big thing these days. Ideally, to me, giving sports teams these kinds of development rights and deals ought to be a way to reduce the public outlay.

The Golden State Warriors argue that because the cost of competing in the NBA is so high, they need the revenue from ancillary development independent of other inducements.

http://urbanplacesandspaces.blogspot.com/2018/06/more-sports-sports-anchored.html

I don't know anything about the Deer District at this point.

facility design
Looking this up, I came across a couple good articles from the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel about the opening of the arena.

"Fiserv Forum's architecture wonderful inside, flawed outside"

https://www.jsonline.com/story/entertainment/arts/2018/09/11/fiserv-forums-architecture-great-ticket-holders/1214877002/

It says it's a very intimate design (the same is said for the new NY Islanders hockey arena).

From the article:

Much was invested in the interior materials, finishes and lighting, too, one of the areas where local firm Eppstein Uhen Architects was most involved. All of the mechanicals and light fixtures visually sink into the charcoal gray ceilings, which, again, give the spaces a clean and intimate feel. The curving interior walls create a what’s-around-that-edge sense of anticipation inside the arena, though I never once felt lost.

It is also commendable that the most plush spaces are generally accessible to anyone with a ticket, including the Panorama Club at the arena’s top with its high-altitude balcony. It’s a bit “Less Than Zero” up there. There’s an `80s party vibe, with circles of neon light and curving, white pleather sofas. It mostly works, though, thanks to the views over the arena and out to the cityscape.

"There is nothing like this in the NBA,” says Greg Uhen, managing partner at Eppstein Uhen. “The cheapest tickets here have access to the premium spaces like no one else in the NBA. I would argue that the entire upper concourse is the best upper concourse in the NBA. No one even comes close.”

- continued -

 
At 8:50 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

The article goes on:

Quality of the interior design for other events

"It warrants noting here that a massive, multi-use arena that may host basketball one night, a concert the next and an ice skating show after that is one of the most complex building types. Balancing great design with Swiss Army Knife-like needs is remarkably challenging. Just look at any aging arena to see how terrible the results have been until fairly recently."
This is an important point. I guess the framework takes this on more indirectly. It needs to be a separate point. It's not just the programming of other events, but the quality of those experiences too.

Similarly

exterior design
From the article:

When it comes to the exterior, reasonable people will disagree about the arena’s architectural style. The design generated a wave of commentary when renderings were unveiled in 2015. Back then, critics variously likened the would-be arena to a giant taco, a beer barrel and the sweeping hairstyle of a presidential candidate.

I have as one of the elements, the way the building fits into the area around it. But the quality of the exterior design should be a separate element too. One is about the architectural design. The other is about the urban design.

urban design
Just to reiterate, she writes:

There are also questions to come. How will the entertainment block, public spaces and pedestrian experiences function – especially when there aren’t events and in winter? Will the arena bring the hoped-for revitalization in a part of downtown that, because of its outsize blocks and big buildings, resists revitalization?

roof design

The article specifically criticizes the roof design.

"The signature flaw in the arena is a dramatic, sweeping roofline that appears unfinished, particularly near its rounded edge where it looks like the builders ran out of the auburn-colored zinc cladding."

Photo of the Fiserv Forum
https://www.flickr.com/photos/rllayman/51293802810

Photo of Uline Arena
https://www.flickr.com/photos/rllayman/32760798

Interestingly, it kind of looks like DC's old Uline Arena/Washington Coliseum, which opened in 1941.

DK if this needs to be another element. The way she writes about it, it's another element of urban design, not so much of the ground level scale, but the skyline.

From the article:

You won’t notice the roofline issue while visiting the arena on foot but rather from a distance, which is how big buildings of this sort are meant to be read and how they have impact.

The problem is especially pronounced from points north, if you’re biking down North King Drive, driving down Water Street or coming into downtown from I-43.

What you’ll see is a massive sweep of richly colored zinc interrupted by soft white material that really shouldn’t be visible. Also showing are mechanicals related to safety, exhaust and keeping ice from accumulating during the Wisconsin winters, according to the architects.

You can button up every detail inside, but a larger share of Milwaukeeans will live with that unkempt exterior for a generation.

The long arcing line of the roof reads like a missed jumper at the buzzer. In major league architecture, as in major league sports, coming close does not secure the win.

 
At 9:04 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

This article has a link to a drone footage video of the exterior, although it doesn't look at the site from a distance, as referenced in the architecture review article of the arena.

Fiserv Forum and concerts

The article links to a piece by the music critic of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, reviewing the first concert held there. He found the sound to be quite good.

That's another element that should be in the list.

"The Killers, Violent Femmes rock first Fiserv Forum show, cover 'Laverne & Shirley' song"

https://www.jsonline.com/story/entertainment/music/2018/09/05/killers-violent-femmes-rock-fiserv-forum-cover-laverne-shirley/1199392002/

Intimate spaces

From the article:

The arena concourses were just as inviting. Aside from a somewhat claustrophobic hallway on the first floor where traffic has to funnel around tables and food and seating lines, the concourses offered plenty of breathing room and ideal gathering places, be it the jumbo video screen in the lobby that quickly became a go-to selfie spot, or the Panorama Club at the top of the arena — a section given so little care at many large sporting facilities — that offered handsome views down into the seating bowl and of the Milwaukee skyline on an outdoor deck.

Appealing social spots like these, all over Fiserv Forum, felt just as important to the spirit of the building and the experience Tuesday, but a seemingly simple yet effective curtaining system ensured the light and chatter from the halls didn't spoil the show.

Concert experience
View, sight lines, sound

From the article:

As for the concert experience itself, I saw the Killers' two-hour set from eight different vantage points, and was impressed by the clear sight lines and sharp acoustics each step of the way.

Intimacy is one of the first things that come to mind with Fiserv Forum, and the last thing you would expect from an arena.

About 65 percent of the seats are in the lower bowl, and Fiserv Forum isn't as tall as the Bucks' previous home, the soon-to-be-demolished BMO Harris Bradley Center. Standing in the lower bowl beside the stage, it really felt like the crowd was hovering right on top of the band.

And while the sound was certainly duller in the upper bowl, the distance to the stage felt remarkably closer than the Bradley Center's nosebleed seats, aided in part by a sharp slope — and the seats were distinctly more spacious and comfortable even up top.

Internet connections/Wifi
I guess I wouldn't have thought about this except when it doesn't work. But having 15,000+ people at once, and more in a baseball, football, or soccer stadium, means you really need robust service to support your patrons.

From the article:

There is one thing Fiserv Forum will really need to fix for future events: the spotty WiFi and cell connection. Posting to Instagram and Twitter was pretty easy out in the concourse, but practically impossible inside the seating bowl itself, and I talked to colleagues who experienced similar troubles.

 
At 10:19 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

Forgot to mention that like Georgetown at Capital One Arena, Marquette basketball plays its games at Fiserv Forum.

 
At 7:17 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

https://www.propublica.org/article/the-billionaire-playbook-how-sports-owners-use-their-teams-to-avoid-millions-in-taxes

 
At 11:11 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

Washington Redskins fans stranded after game ends after subway service ended. Team did not pay for late service. As part of contracts with teams for stadiums and arenas, localities should require teams to participate in such TDM programs wrt late service.

The Washington Post: Metro cites policy change, apologizes to fans stranded after Washington Football Team game.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/transportation/2021/09/17/metro-apology-stranded-football-fans/

 
At 8:35 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

By Ben Golliver

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2021/09/20/steve-ballmer-clippers-intuit-arena/

 
At 12:37 AM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

LA Clippers building a cathedral of basketball. Won't have to satisfice the facility to accommodate hockey.

"LA Clippers owner Steve Ballmer 'building our own presence, identity' with new arena"

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/32223760/la-clippers-owner-steve-ballmer-building-our-own-presence-identity-new-arena

"The NBA’s richest owner enters the arena arms race"

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2021/09/20/steve-ballmer-clippers-intuit-arena/

 
At 4:59 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

It turns out that the lawsuit by Miami-Dade County against former owner of the Miami Marlins baseball team didn't amount to much.

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article249308485.html

 
At 5:09 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

I didn't realize that St. Louis is suing the NFL over the exit of the St. Louis Rams to Los Angeles. They argue they were screwed, left having to pay off the stadium. Apparently, because the NFL doesn't want this to go to trial, there are rumors of the offer of a huge settlement.

"Business of Football: The NFL Is Losing Its Lawsuit Against St. Louis, But Has Been in Situations Like This Before"

https://www.si.com/nfl/2021/10/13/business-of-football-understanding-st-lous-rams-lawsuit

This column by a St. Louis Post Dispatch columnist makes a point similar to mine, that you should choose your partners carefully in such deals, and that the NFL isn't a very honorable counterparty.

"In latest Rams relocation hearing, a reminder why NFL expansion speculation doesn't have to be real to be a really bad idea"

https://www.stltoday.com/sports/columns/ben-frederickson/benfred-in-latest-rams-relocation-hearing-a-reminder-why-nfl-expansion-speculation-doesnt-have-to/article_1d6b2dbb-ddaf-5231-9b64-56a7778dbd63.html

"St. Louis Batters the Rams: What the lawsuit means for the city"

https://unewsonline.com/2021/10/st-louis-batters-the-rams-what-the-lawsuit-means-for-the-city/

 
At 9:46 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

This article is on a study by AECOM of a new stadium for the Buffalo Bill's, at either their current suburban location or Downtown. The city site would take longer and cost significantly more. More than $2 billion total. Neither site has great potential for ancillary development although they suggest increased property values around a downtown site of $2 million per year. A return of 1/1000.

"Study recommends new Bills stadium, silent on Orchard Park vs. Buffalo location | Local News | buffalonews.com" https://buffalonews.com/news/local/study-recommends-new-bills-stadium-silent-on-orchard-park-vs-buffalo-location/article_2b9da7a0-3c1a-11ec-86e4-075c1fcaafbf.html

 
At 10:58 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

New York Times article on the new Climate Pledge Arena for the Seattle Kraken hockey team, focusing on the sustainability goals and objectives of the project.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/29/sports/climate-pledge-arena-seattle.html

 
At 2:40 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

The Pittsburgh Pirates and Steelers, with oversight from the Stadium Authority, contracted with a real estate firm to develop undeveloped parcels.

One of the projects is a parking garage.

https://www.post-gazette.com/business/development/2021/09/02/North-Shore-Champions-parking-garage-West-General-Robinson-Street-Mazeroski-Way-Continental-Heinz-Field-PNC-Park/stories/202109020166

The main project is an apartment and retail complex, with a public plaza focused on the Pirates baseball team, across the street from the stadium.

https://www.post-gazette.com/business/development/2021/11/04/North-Shore-Pittsburgh-Pirates-Continental-Real-Estate-Companies-PNC-Park-Heinz-Field-NS-Drive-Mazeroski-Way/stories/202111030168

 
At 8:43 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

Fenway Sports Group, which owns the Boston Red Sox, is going to buy the Pittsburgh Penguins hockey team.

This article opines about FSG's property development around Fenway Park, and whether or not it could happen in association with the Penguins, although with the Hill District site where the arena previously was located.

https://www.post-gazette.com/business/development/2021/11/21/Pittsburgh-Penguins-Fenway-Sports-Group-John-Henry-former-Civic-Arena-site-lower-Hill-District-Pittsburgh-Jake-Wheatley-R-Daniel-Lavelle/stories/202111210210

"...it currently is in the midst of building MGM Music Hall at Fenway, a 91,500-square-foot performing arts venue, adjacent to the baseball park, which is owned by FSG."

The current owners just broke ground on a 26 story office building on the Hill District site.

https://www.post-gazette.com/business/development/2021/09/01/Pittsburgh-Penguins-Civic-Arena-lower-Hill-District-First-National-Bank/stories/202109010144

 
At 3:09 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

NYT article on the new UBS Arena for the NY Islanders hockey team.

1. Oak View Group, developer of the arena for the Seattle Kraken team, also owns this arena.

2. They mentioned the UBS Arena has more bathroom space/attendee than any other arena.

 
At 4:44 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

Businessweek article about FanDuel fantasy football app, and its success in converting players to gamblers, by adding sports betting to its platform.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-09-21/how-fanduel-gained-more-fantasy-sports-gamblers-than-draftkings-dkng

 
At 3:00 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

St. Louis settles with the NFL for $790 million.

Rams owner Stan Kroenke and the NFL will pay St. Louis $790 million as part of a settlement for moving the team to Los Angeles

https://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/breaking/ct-st-louis-rams-nfl-settlement-stan-kroenke-20211124-k4gaxcng7baphijfjztf64otru-story.html

 
At 3:00 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

The Los Angeles Lakers and the New York Knicks basketball teams are valued at more than $5 billion ("Are the Knicks and Lakers Really Worth $5 Billion?," New York Times, "FROM KNICKS TO PELICANS: 2021 NBA FRANCHISE VALUATIONS RANKING LIST," Sportico).

The Sportico website has a dedicated tab for articles on team valuations.

 
At 1:36 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

Just as other business sectors are becoming "chained up" the same is true of sports.

For some time, it wasn't uncommon for basketball and hockey teams to share ownership.

At one time, the major leagues banned owners from owning teams across sports leagues, but this has changed.

For example, the owners of the Red Sox are buying the Pittsburgh Penguins hockey team.

Some time ago, American team owners like the Glazers of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers or John Henry of the Boston Red Sox have been buying European soccer teams.

And now major soccer teams are acquiring ownership of other soccer teams in other leagues, and delivering expertise across "the portfolio."

The owner of the Utah Jazz bought the Real Salt Lake soccer team, but brought in as partner David Blitzer, someone who is part of a cross-national soccer conglomerate, as well as part owner of Philadelphia's basketball team and the New Jersey Devils hockey team..

https://www.sltrib.com/sports/rsl/2022/01/06/what-david-blitzer-ryan/

 
At 1:42 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

The Tampa Bay Rays baseball team is successful playing wise but has one of the worst attendee rates, less than 10,000 per game, only teams worse are Miami and Oakland.

The team petitioned to be able to play half its games in Montreal, once home to the Expos (which moved to DC). But MLB said no.

https://mlb.nbcsports.com/2022/01/20/rays-say-split-season-plan-with-montreal-rejected-by-mlb/

Rays say split-season plan with Montreal rejected by MLB

According to the article, St. Petersburg Florida is working on a stadium improvement proposal.

Why?

If your community is barely supporting your professional baseball team, isn't that a sign that "investing" hundreds of millions of dollars in a new stadium is wasting money?


Despite reaching the World Series in 2008 and 2020, the Rays have annually ranked near the bottom in attendance. The Rays averaged about 9,500 for home games last season, 28th in the majors and ahead of only Miami and Oakland.

St. Petersburg mayor Ken Welch feels a new stadium in his city remains a possibility. Governmental officials have been working on a redevelopment plan for the Tropicana Field site.

“We are working with our county partners and city council to put together the best plan possible, which will work in conjunction with my planned evolution of the Tropicana Field master development proposals,” Welch said in a statement. “With this collaborative approach, I am confident we can partner with the Tampa Bay Rays to create a new and iconic full-time home for Major League Baseball in St. Petersburg while also achieving historic equitable economic growth.”

Sternberg said the team will definitely explore options in the Tampa Bay area.

 
At 2:29 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

I realize that women's sports are a different issue, and should be treated differently from this general entry.

The WNBA isn't particularly successful financially and is supported by the NBA.

Although they've just landed a new investment.

The Washington Post: WNBA gets $75 million from high-profile investors.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/02/03/wnba-75-million-investment/

NWSL isn't particularly successful and there are definitely development pains, given the ownership and management problems with the Washington team, the shifting back to KC of the Utah Royals team in the fallout of ownership problems there, etc.

The returned KC women's soccer team is attempting to create the first woman league soccer stadium.

https://www.npr.org/2021/10/27/1049820541/kansas-city-team-plans-to-build-the-first-stadium-created-for-nwsl-womens-soccer

Kansas City team plans to build the first stadium created for women's league soccer

The stadium will cost $70MM and seat about 11,000.

Attempts at women's hockey leagues have been problematic too.

https://www.wbfo.org/sports/2022-01-24/big-changes-coming-to-professional-womens-hockey

 
At 2:30 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

The two decades of financial failure of the Phoenix Coyotes hockey team has led the City of Glendale to terminate the team's lease effective 6/30/2022.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/17/sports/hockey/arizona-coyotes-glendale-nhl.html

The Arizona Coyotes and Their Long Journey to Nowhere

 
At 2:40 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

Interestingly, spring football, like what the US Football League tried to do from 1983-85, is back. Same name, US Football League, but otherwise no connection.

(Famously, the USFL decided to shift to the fall, maybe in part to force a merger with the NFL. It was pushed, unsuccessfully, by the team owner of the New Jersey Generals--DONALD TRUMP.)

But the league will be owned in part by Fox Sports.

https://variety.com/2021/tv/news/fox-sports-usfl-football-relaunch-1234987489/

(Fox's buying of NFL television rights in the 1980s cemented the creation of its over the air broadcast network as a major player, repositioning what had been a polyglot collection of stations anchored by the old Metromedia station group.)

So it's a "control of content" play, an extension of some of the ideas put forward by Washington Wizards/Washington Capitals team owner Ted Leonsis back in 2014.

https://urbanplacesandspaces.blogspot.com/2014/01/stadiums-and-arenas-as-enabling.html

 
At 2:03 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

About the Bengals:

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2022/feb/07/cincinnati-bengals-owner-mike-brown-nfl-super-bowl

https://www.wcpo.com/sports/sports-from-the-vault/sports-vault-in-the-early-90s-bengals-owner-mike-brown-won-a-game-of-chicken-and-got-his-stadium

7/11/2017

"Hamilton County's lease deal with the Cincinnati Bengals is bad. Real bad," deMause writes. "There's the requirement that the county pay to add such items as 'holographic replay systems' in the event they're ever invented, for starters -- but also plenty of items costing taxpayers plenty of money here in the actual present."

How much money? WCPO ran the numbers:

"Hamilton County taxpayers have spent more than $920 million since 2000 as part of a deal to build and operate Paul Brown Stadium," Amanda Seitz reported in January 2016. "By the time 2026 rolls around and the 26-year lease between the team and the county expires, the county will have spent more than $1.1 billion on the deal for the Bengals to play in Cincinnati."

That's $1.1 billion by the year 2026.

“Is it worth it? I don’t know,” Hamilton County Commissioner Chris Monzel told WCPO last year. “My gut says it probably hasn’t generated the rate of return on investment that other projects do. From a civic pride standpoint, people are excited about (the Bengals). You’ve got some intangibles that you can’t really put a price tag on.”


https://www.wcpo.com/news/insider/county-has-spent-920m-in-deal-to-build-stadium-keep-nfl-team-in-town-since-2000

1/18/16

It's not unlike the Angels stadium lease. All told, the net "profit" to the city was about $50,000/year over 20 years.

 
At 6:05 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

College game day alcohol sales. Which used to be forbidden.

https://www.tennessean.com/story/sports/college/university-of-tennessee/2022/02/06/tennessee-football-alcohol-beer-sales-lane-kiffin-ole-miss/6532635001/

 
At 6:54 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

Article suggests that the Chargers blew it leaving San Diego. That unless they are winners, LA won't pay much attention. But if they had stayed in SD, they could have repositioned in part as "Mexico's team."

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2022/feb/08/los-angeles-chargers-popularity-san-diego-nfl-football

"Whoever wins the Super Bowl, the Los Angeles Chargers have lost"

Why the Chargers left SD.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2017/jan/12/san-diego-chargers-los-angeles-move-nfl-owners

"San Diego refused to be bullied by the NFL and billionaire owners"

 
At 3:11 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

This article mentions that the Rams are already worth 3.5x more in LA than they were in St. Louis.

https://www.ocregister.com/2022/02/12/rams-in-super-bowl-lvi-at-sofi-stadium-more-than-most-dreamed

 
At 3:44 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

Likely no more Super Bowls, but Coliseum chief declares there’s a bright future for iconic LA arena

https://www.ocregister.com/2022/02/11/likely-no-more-super-bowls-but-coliseum-chief-declares-theress-a-bright-future-for-iconic-la-arena/

They still have USC football, concerts, Olympics, recently a NASCAR event, and other events.

They also propose adding a history exhibit:

“We call it the visitor’s center,” he said. “If you think about the history of the Coliseum where the Pope came, John F. Kennedy came, Billy Graham came, Evil Knievel. Not to mention USC, the Dodgers, the Rams and even UCLA played their home games there.

“We’re going to create an exhibit on the perimeter of the Coliseum where people as they walk into the Coliseum, they will see a piece of history out there on the perimeter.”

These would be exhibits that, if this comes to fruition, would be erected with the help of a curator from the Smithsonian Institution, Pla said.

“We asked the Smithsonian Institution to send us one of their curators to really do something pretty forward-looking so that people really understand and appreciate the history of the Coliseum,” said Pla, who said this plan is in the “concept” stage at this time.

 
At 3:52 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

https://www.ocregister.com/2022/02/12/anaheims-worst-angel-stadium-error-came-year-before-its-murky-sale/

"Anaheim’s worst Angel Stadium error came year before its murky sale
The city's first big stumble came in 2018 when the Angels exercised their lease opt-out"

The city and team owner Arte Moreno are battling state officials and local homeless activists over who-said-what-to-whom-when-and-where before the December 2019 deal. The plan is for Moreno to buy the land, oversee development around the ballpark, and keep the Angels in town until 2050.

What’s the beef? The allegations say the deal was negotiated illegally and failed to meet state affordable-housing standards for selling government property. The activists’ lawsuit goes before a judge is in early March.

But the real cheating of Anaheim taxpayers — and/or residents seeking affordable housing — wasn’t the questionable $320 million price tag, or the $170 million credit the builder gets for doing what other developers often pay for out of their own pockets, the number of homes to be built, or how the deal was discussed and negotiated.

It’s that Anaheim leaders are too generous with a local business and its tarnished history.

Remember, these same Angels awkwardly stripped the city’s name out of its branding, using a legal loophole to become a “Los Angeles” team. On the field, the team has been a lackluster story considering it has two of baseball’s most talented players. ...

All that team drama aside, the Angels started the stadium sale process with another ugly act — choosing to use an exit clause in their lease in October 2018. The team wanted an upgrade from baseball’s fourth-oldest stadium and city help in repairing or replacing the facility. By opting out, the team was committed to Anaheim for only the 2019 season.

Yet this left the city free to do what it wanted with this 150 acres of choice real estate. Anaheim could have been bold and said “farewell” to the team. Or, at least, seriously discussed life without baseball.

Clearly, after the opt-out, the deal-making leverage was owned by the city and its very valuable asset. Instead, three months after the Angels said they were leaving, Anaheim officials gave an incredible freebie to the team: essentially reinstating the old lease and moving the opt-out deadline back a year — for no extra consideration other than paying the usual rent.

The city used that “gift” as an excuse to focus its negotiating efforts with the Angels. Officials claimed the reinstalled lease now made the Angels the only negotiation partner and that nobody would pay more because the Angels, in essence, controlled the property.

 
At 12:37 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

Cross market, multi sports chaining of sports teams.

Stan Kroenke owns LA Rams NFL football team, Denver Nuggets NBA, Colorado Avalanche NHL, Colorado Rapids MLS soccer also in Denver, Arsenal FC in London.

 
At 4:29 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

"Super Bowl’s Hollywood Moment Outshines N.F.L.’s Problems"

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/14/sports/football/nfl-super-bowl-hollywood.html

The league’s transformation into a multimedia juggernaut, one that is able to steamroll any controversy, was on full display in Super Bowl LVI, held adjacent to the nation’s entertainment capital, with nary a mention of the troubles that have roiled pro football of late. ...

the N.F.L. has grown into a $16 billion behemoth that digitally distributes its primary product, football games, so they can be viewed on phones, game consoles and TV screens at any place and any time. Those same games have also become the fuel for video games, fantasy football leagues and, most recently, approved sports gambling, which all pour money into the league through its lucrative licensing deals.

Football-related content and games are now so ubiquitous that many football fans never attend a game. The 70,048 fans at Sunday’s championship game used digital tickets that came with a commemorative non-fungible token, or N.F.T.

As Phil de Picciotto, the president of Octagon, a worldwide sports and entertainment agency, said in an interview on Friday: “The N.F.L. is essentially the marketplace that everybody comes to and everybody meets at, whether it’s physically or digitally.”

Put another way, the N.F.L.’s games are now primarily intellectual property to slice, dice and resell.

This isn’t by accident. The tremendous cultural pull of football has made games the last communal, live destination programming for broadcasters, a huge draw for media platforms looking to build their streaming audiences. The majority of TV’s top 100 most-viewed programs each year are football games. In a fractured media landscape, the N.F.L. stands alone like Goliath. ...

The media money rolling in is so vast that every N.F.L. team turns a profit even before it turns on the lights.

Those outsize profits are a big reason that in the coming months the Denver Broncos are projected to sell for around $4 billion, nearly twice as much as what David Tepper paid in 2018 for the Carolina Panthers, the last N.F.L. team to change hands.

 
At 1:14 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

The money in sports conglomerates. An equity fund bought 10% of Fenway Sports Group. The CEO had worked for Goldman Sachs, and set up the Yankee Sports Network for cable tv for the Yankees baseball team.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/03/06/sports/gerry-cardinale-brings-vision-financial-clout-fenway-sports-group-an-nba-team-is-real-top-priority/

 
At 12:47 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

A little different, but it's worth mentioning that when small or atypical colleges and universities manage to be selected and win a few games in the NCAA Mens Basketball Tournament, it has a longer term impact on admissions.

"Coach K: Saint Peter's Cinderella run will translate to 'tens of millions' of dollars for the N.J. school"

https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/news/coach-k-saint-peters-cinderella-run-will-translate-to-tens-of-millions-of-dollars-for-the-n-j-school/

This is certainly the case in the past for schools like UMBC, George Mason University, VCU, University of Richmond.

https://www.si.com/college/2018/03/17/umbc-virginia-upset-doug-flutie-jairus-lyles

"The Flutie Effect: How UMBC Can Benefit From a Historic NCAA Tournament Upset"

"In the aftermath, applications to Boston College increased by about 30% for two years. Alumni engagement and apparel sales also improved. While there are obviously many non-sports reasons for Boston College’s success over the years, the school is now ranked by U.S. News and World Report as the 32nd-best national university in the United States.

The Flutie Effect could alternatively be called The Ewing Effect (as opposed to The Ewing Theory). Between 1983 and ’86, applications to Georgetown University increased by 45%. The dominance of the men’s basketball team during this time period is regarded as a key factor. Patrick Ewing leading the Hoyas to a national title in 1984 highlighted what is known as the golden age of Hoya hoops. The institutional benefits would last for decades: Georgetown has become extremely selective in admissions and is now rankedby U.S. World and Report as the 20th-best national university in the U.S. There are, of course, many other factors for Georgetown becoming as selective as an Ivy League school. Still, the popularity of the Hoyas gave the institution new attention and a powerful recruiting tool with high school students."


I'm not so sure about American University and George Washington University in the early 2000s.

I don't think the ability to be a wild card occurs in football so much, because it's not possible for wild card teams to participate. The barriers to entry are so high.

But success in football does contribute to higher college application numbers.

maybe U Cincinnati.

https://www.uc.edu/news/articles/2021/10/wcpo--uc-footballs-success-could-increase-enrollment.html

Gonzaga basketball

"ZAGANOMICS: Gonzaga basketball becomes economic engine
Businesses, school benefit from program’s success"

https://www.spokanejournal.com/local-news/zaganomics-gonzaga-basketball-becomes-economic-engine/

"How the basketball program helped Gonzaga University flourish"

https://www.espn.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/post/_/id/119205/how-the-basketball-program-helped-gonzaga-university-flourish

 
At 10:34 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

https://buffalonews.com/news/local/who-pays-for-what-here-is-how-the-costs-break-down-for-new-buffalo-bills/article_532872e2-ae9c-11ec-bd57-5f0465cd6118.html

 
At 6:19 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

Baseball’s competitive balance problem is getting worse

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/04/01/mlb-payrolls-competitive-balance/

 
At 1:15 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

Americans may not be the stars of European soccer. But they own the show.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/05/10/chelsea-fc-todd-boehly-american-owners/

 
At 2:31 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

Special event sports

https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/2022/04/05/the-proposal-to-host-world-cup-games-in-toronto-is-a-suckers-deal-the-city-should-demand-better.html

A report going before Toronto council for debate this week lays out the estimated cost of Toronto putting in a bid to potentially host five matches at BMO Field as part of the 2026 World Cup, which is to be jointly hosted by Canada, the United States and Mexico. The total estimated cost up for approval by Mayor John Tory and councillors is an eye-popping $290 million.

On a per-match basis, that works out to about $58 million. Not counting overtime and stoppage time, each minute of play will cost approximately $644,000. That’s about 10 times the annual median household income in Toronto for each minute of World Cup soccer played here.

Under the plan laid out in the report, Toronto would be on the hook for about a third of the total bill — about $73.8 million in direct funding, plus another $20 million in “in-kind services” from things like forgone permit fees. The federal and provincial governments would also each pick up a third of the cost. Fees paid by FIFA are expected to amount to just $13 million.

Why so pricey? The hosting costs include $64 million for renovation projections to BMO Field to expand capacity to add more seating, plus $41 million to build training facilities for visiting teams. Reasonable enough — these kinds of capital investments could be used after the World Cup. But there are also budget lines that cry out for more explanation, like $32 million (more than $6 million per match) in stadium operation costs, $8 million for “executive management,” $32 million for “safety and security” and $38 million in a contingency fund.

This all comes against a backdrop where the last men’s World Cup, held in Russia in 2018, generated a reported $3.5-billion profit. ...

But as proposed, this World Cup thing is a sucker’s deal, and Toronto is the biggest sucker involved. The report going to Toronto council justifies the cost by pointing out the World Cup matches will generate an estimated $307 million in GDP impact, with 3,300 jobs created and 174,000 overnight visitors. The provincial and federal governments can at least point to those numbers as evidence they’ll see some return on their investment. Those jobs will generate income tax revenue while spending by visitors should generate some sales tax revenue.

City hall, however, collects no income tax or sales tax. Under the current plan, all the city can expect in terms of direct return on its investment is about $3.5 million in additional revenue through the municipal accommodation tax charged on hotel rooms and Airbnb stays.

If this kind of perverse funding model where public money subsidizes mega-profitable sporting events is going to continue — and it shouldn’t — Toronto should at least be looking for direct mechanisms to recoup its costs. Hefty parking surcharges during event times, for example, could capture immediate revenue. City hall also has the power to levy a local “amusement tax” that could apply to tickets to events like World Cup matches. It’s never been used. This might be a good time to try it.

 
At 1:17 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

Some people are arguing that the Oakland A's are doing a real bad job, resulting in abysmally low attendance, in order to be able to move the team to Las Vegas. No question there is a lot of opportunity for manipulation.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/15/sports/baseball/oakland-athletics-attendance.html

"The Loneliest Team in Baseball
With the Oakland Athletics having gutted their roster and flirted with Las Vegas, their once-loyal fans appear to be in revolt."

 
At 3:15 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

Baltimore Arena holds groundbreaking for $200M renovation project.

https://www.baltimoresun.com/business/bs-bz-baltimore-arena-renovation-20220609-xnovpenph5flth3gtut4f2d4y4-story.html

In the old days I would have said "what"?! But Oak View Group, the organization led by Tim Leiweke, who used to run the sports entertainment group AEG (owns the Lakers Arena in LA, etc.).

Oak View is now doing arena deals, sometimes independent of/in advance of landing teams, like in Las Vegas.

https://rebusinessonline.com/oak-view-group-unveils-plans-for-3b-arena-casino-project-south-of-the-las-vegas-strip/

They are involved in the Seattle Kraken and NY Islanders hockey arenas and projects in Austin, Texas; Coachella Valley, California.

So this sets another kind of arrangement with a city on sports facilities, with a facility operator that is not merely an operator but a player in a big way.

The other way is like a city or county owning facilities, and having them managed by national companies like SMG.

 
At 5:29 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

https://www.cleveland.com/news/2022/06/cleveland-browns-reportedly-want-new-1-billion-stadium-likely-publicly-funded.html

"Cleveland Browns reportedly want new $1 billion stadium, likely publicly funded"

6/20/22

The Browns have also been one of the main catalysts for redeveloping Cleveland’s lakefront. The Haslams proposed a plan last year to extend the downtown Mall into a sort of land bridge over the Ohio 2 Shoreway, finally linking downtown to lakefront attractions, like the city-owned football stadium, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Great Lakes Science Center. Not only is it believed the bridge would increase public access to the lakefront, but it would extend the city grid to the water’s edge and make new land available and attractive for other businesses.

The plan already has significant backing. Mayor Justin Bibb, the city of Cleveland, and the Greater Cleveland Partnership have organized a civic task force with five working groups and more than 150 participants to try to make the transformation happen.

The cost to reconfigure traffic and build the land bridge has been estimated at $229 million, the majority of which is expected to be funded by state and federal sources. But the city is likely to have to kick in at least some portion. ...

They also say a stadium with either a permanent dome or retractable roof would also be able to generate revenue year-round, providing space for concerts, shows or other major events. The current open-air stadium is used only about a dozen times a year.

It appears the Haslams have just been waiting on final waterfront redevelopment plans to pull the trigger on plans for an upgraded stadium, according to reporting on the Browns’ official website.

“The city and The (Greater) Cleveland partnership has taken over the waterfront development piece, and we have committees working on that,” Dee Haslam said in March. “Our part now is how we bring the stadium up to a better standard, so I think we’ve started interviewing and thinking about architects and consultants.”

 
At 2:13 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

With expansion coming, WNBA players want owners willing to spend

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/06/21/wnba-expansion-owners-spending/

 
At 3:41 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/editorials/article-dear-taxpayer-youre-spending-almost-600-million-to-host-10-world-cup/

 
At 9:58 AM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

https://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/news/2022/06/06/what-to-look-for-in-arena-negotiations-between-tem.html

 
At 12:16 AM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

https://www.latimes.com/sports/dodgers/story/2022-07-14/attending-game-at-marvelous-dodger-stadium-a-maddening-experience

 
At 9:47 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

State Legislature pushback wrt state universities switching football conferences.

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/husky-inc-the-uws-biggest-predicament-isnt-about-sports/

7/9/2022

Suggests the non power schools can either spin off the teams into a profit making affiliated enterprise, or go small.

Also discussed here:

https://footballscoop.com/news/notre-dame-ad-jack-swarbrick-great-split-coming-college-athletics

4/25/2022
"Jack Swarbrick sees a great split coming in college athletics"

https://www.denverpost.com/2022/07/12/here-come-the-uc-regents-governing-board-to-discuss-uclas-move-to-the-big-ten-litigation-cited/

"Here come the UC Regents: Governing board to discuss UCLA’s move to the Big Ten, “litigation” cited"

 
At 11:55 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

The Baseball Stadium That “Forever Changed” Professional Sports

Camden Yards, which opened 30 years ago this summer, is revered for its design and downtown location. But its influence—along with its lessons—extends beyond architecture.

https://www.theringer.com/mlb/2022/8/4/23288546/camden-yards-30th-anniversary-baltimore-influence


Three decades after the stadium opened, the Orioles still reference their home park in this way. Upon further investigation, however, their interpretation of exactly how Camden Yards “forever changed baseball” proves somewhat incomplete. Camden changed not only baseball but, arguably, all of professional sports. And not in ways altogether for the better.

TheThe tale that both Major League Baseball and the Baltimore Orioles tell about Camden Yards goes something like this. Many years ago, in the first decades of the 20th century, baseball stadiums were not just useful poetic devices or pilgrimage sites for fans but crucial components of American civic life. This was particularly true of what Goldberger refers to as the “Golden Age” of American ballparks, which begins roughly with the opening, in 1912, of Redland Field in Cincinnati—and, several days later, of Navin Field (now Tiger Stadium) in Detroit and Fenway Park in Boston—and ends somewhere around World War II. The stadiums built during this period were nestled snugly into the urban neighborhoods they embellished, typically within walking distance of train stations and streetcar lines, and often set shoulder-to-brick-laden-shoulder with bars, businesses, and homes. They tended to be privately owned, but they nevertheless offered a relatively accessible public benefit. Imperfect but inimitable, self-contained yet communally useful, they constituted “a defining element,” as Goldberger writes, “of the civic realm.”

As metaphors, every baseball stadium ever built reflects certain elemental truths about our notions of the purpose and potential of public space. The ballparks of this golden period reflected, among other things, what was then our genuine commitment to life in the American city; they burnished the city, as did city parks and good bars. The stadiums that cities and states began building after World War II, however, symbolized the opposite. These were not inimitable urban gardens nestled in their neighborhoods’ bustling hearts but spiritless downed spaceships carpeted with AstroTurf, designed to host two sports, and plunked unceremoniously beside highways and parking lots far out in the suburbs. What these stadiums represented was an American ideal that despised cities, and a generation of Americans who wanted to escape them.

But then came Camden, which spearheaded an effort to, as Goldberger writes, “get our cities back.” This is where Major League Baseball resumes the tale—and proceeds to take some liberties with it. Whereas historians like Goldberger make no attempt to evaluate the efficacy of the urban renewal efforts that both Camden Yards and the stadiums it inspired contributed to—in part because economic analyses of those efforts has shown that in many cases they were not all that successful—in baseball’s interpretation, Camden is the poster child of an effort that has proved irrefutably effective. As Major League Baseball suggested in a press release commemorating the 30th anniversary of the opening of Camden Yards this spring, the park reoriented not only America’s relationship with baseball, but the cities that last century were abandoned. “No longer,” the authors write, “would communities across America build stadiums devoid of character.” Instead, they “would build them to flow seamlessly in existing and historic neighborhoods, playing key roles in the revitalization of urban America.”

---- continued ----

 
At 11:57 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...


=====
Makes the point that Camden Yards also ushered in a new era and scale of public subsidy.
=====

In the 30 years since Camden opened, more than a hundred new stadiums have been built, and most have followed this “standard business practice”—having been set in city centers and funded, in most cases substantially, by taxpayers. According to J.C. Bradbury, an economist who teaches in Kennesaw State University’s sport management program, the cost of the normalization of this practice has been great, with local governments having spent around $19 billion to fund sports stadium construction nationwide. As deMause told me in an email, however, the true figure is likely much higher, because subsidies for new stadium construction are not the only mechanism for transforming public money into private profit, and it’s impossible to tally “the true value of the tax breaks, discounted land sales, [and] forgone shares of things like naming rights” that cities and states so often grant team owners in lease agreements such as the one Maryland signed with Williams, the owner of the Orioles.

....

Of course, “economically” is not the only way politicians or the public justify subsidizing pro sports. They also hold that subsidizing sports teams is warranted for incalculable social, psychological, and cultural reasons. Which: valid. Many people love their teams the way they love members of their own family and they don’t believe investments in them need to return a profit. And even for people who don’t closely follow their local teams, the presence of those teams can still provide valuable, intangible benefits. Like investments in parks or libraries, investments in something like a stadium can contribute to the general public good by, say, cultivating community, inspiring pride, alchemizing a newly tangible civic identity, or by simply giving strangers something to talk about at bars or in line at the grocery store. “If the real reason for extensive subsidization of major league team sports is public consumption,” Roger Noll, a Stanford economist and the editor of Sports, Jobs, and Taxes, has written, “the validity of economic impact studies is not very important.” As Schmoke, the former mayor of Baltimore told me, “We didn’t go into it thinking that this was going to be a major moneymaker for the city. We thought that it was an important amenity, like museums, things that bring people together. And our sports team had always brought people together.”


=======

There's discussion about how stadiums built up to around WW2 were "more meaningful" and played a bigger role in civic life.

I think then that stadiums changed as the city was outspanned by the metropolitan area, and as sports became less central "to entertainment" with the rise of television and other opportunities for entertainment.

Sure television transformed "watching" a game and so many people preferred to watch on television, but a baseball stadium was no longer a "civic cathedral" in the same way that it was one of the only options for entertainment along with movies.

 
At 3:27 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

"What would a potential new Chicago Bears stadium in Arlington Heights be like? Here’s a look at the 7 newest NFL stadiums, from capacity to best amenities"

https://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/bears/ct-cb-chicago-bears-soldier-field-new-stadiums-20211111-d6r7rwv3tjep5csyobvnclqjge-list.html

But how much would the McCaskey family be willing to spend? A Tribune analysis in July found that the average cost of the seven most recent NFL stadiums was $2.2 billion in today’s dollars. The breakdown:

SoFi Stadium — Inglewood, Calif.: $5.5 billion, opened in 2020
Allegiant Stadium — Paradise, Nev.: $1.9 billion, opened in 2020
Mercedes-Benz Stadium — Atlanta: $1.5 billion, opened in 2017 ($1.64 billion today)
U.S. Bank Stadium — Minneapolis: $1.1 billion, opened in 2016 ($1.23 billion today)
Levi’s Stadium — Santa Clara, Calif.: $1.3 billion, opened in 2014 ($1.47 billion today)
MetLife Stadium — East Rutherford, N.J.: $1.7 billion, opened in 2010 ($2.1 billion today)
AT&T Stadium — Arlington, Texas: $1.4 billion, opened in 2009 ($1.85 billion today)

 
At 10:33 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

Utah Jazz sign exclusive relationship with American Express, provides special access to Amex card holders.

https://kslnewsradio.com/1977218/utah-jazz-and-vivint-arena-announces-new-partnership/

"Utah Jazz and Vivint Arena announces new partnership"

10/17/2022

the release says American Express Card Members get exclusive perks with the new partnership. For instance, card members can access tickets and merchandise before the general public. Also, Vivint has two dedicated entrances for card members, located at doors two and eight. Specially designed private experiences are another perk for card members.

In 2023, the arena will debut a contactless American Express Shop. The shop will sell food, beverages and merchandise, some from Utah’s small businesses.

The store will function by allowing card members to tap their card upon entering the shop. Then, sensors inside the store identify the weight of each item selected from the shelves and automatically charges customers for items when they exit the store.

Card members can also upgrade their seats to a close-up NBA experience at every regular season home game.

 
At 10:56 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

MTA Completes Elmont-UBS Arena LIRR Station in Nassau County, Long Island.

https://newyorkyimby.com/2022/10/mta-completes-elmont-ubs-arena-lirr-station-in-nassau-county-long-island.html

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has completed the Elmont-UBS Arena train station, the first new station to debut in almost 50 years. Located on the border of Elmont and Bellrose Terrace in Nassau County, Long Island, riders can expect full service by the end of 2022.

The Elmont Station originally opened in November 2021, but was served only on event days and only on the eastbound platform. Completion of the station is part of the $1.26 billion Belmont Park Redevelopment Project, which also included the 19,000-seat UBS Arena in nearby Belmont Park.

Today, the arena serves as a home for the New York Islanders. When first announced, the project was expected to generate nearly $50 million in new public revenue each year and produce $725 million in annual economic output.

Neither the MTA nor the LIRR had to foot the project’s $105 million construction cost. Developers of the UBS Arena contributed around $97 million and New York State covered the remainder, previously estimated at $8 million.

“Infrastructure is what makes it possible for the state and Long Island to flourish both socially and economically,” said lieutenant governor Antonio Delgado. “With projects like the Main Line Third Track, Grand Central Madison, and this new Elmont-UBS Arena station, New York is providing Long Islanders and visitors to the island with a modern, world class, resilient railroad system that will also help reduce traffic congestion.”

The main goal of the project was to facilitate an easier commute for visitors interested in attending a game or event at the arena. Those traveling from New York City can now directly return after events without the need to board a shuttle bus to the Queens Village Long Island Railroad Station that had been offered last year.

Travelers who live east of Belmont on the Hempstead, Oyster Bay, Port Jefferson, and Ronkonkoma branches will have a one-seat public transit ride straight to Belmont Park. The station also offers USB charging stations, free Wi-Fi, and canopies to duck under when the weather requires.

 
At 7:49 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

Crime reduction during professional football games, when team wins.

"Do Philly sports wins lead to lower crime? Maybe"

https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/commentary/phillies-world-series-2022-eagles-winning-halo-gun-violence-20221030.html

According to criminologist Hannah Sybil Laqueur, there is a connection between sports and public safety.

Laqueur, along with co-researcher Ryan W. Copus, studied crime rates in Chicago when football games were on. The results? Crime reports decreased 15% when the Bears were on Monday Night Football and 25% during the Super Bowl.

Coincidence? In their 2018 study, Laqueur and Copus said that because “crime is significantly affected only during game hours provides assurance that it is indeed the game driving the results and not some unobserved feature of game days such as a blizzard or heat wave.”

https://irlaw.umkc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1218&context=faculty_works

"Entertainment As Crime Prevention: Evidence from Chicago Sports Games"

They also noted that crime of all types — violent, property, and drug — fell across the board, which “suggests fewer potential criminals on the streets, diverted from crime and towards television.”

Laqueur told me that sports can affect crime in the opposite direction, as well. “There has been some research that’s found domestic violence is more common when the NFL is playing, and in particular, when the home team loses,” she said. “This suggests that the outcome of the game may have an effect, and you could imagine that it would have an opposite ‘halo’ effect when the outcome was positive. That is, that winning would boost spirits and that might have a behavioral effect.”

 
At 8:53 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

Interesting piece about how the new Los Angeles Clippers basketball arena has a section designed as if it were a college arena, focused on maximizing engagement and loudness.

Other design elements, more restrooms to give people uptime to watch the game, walk down to seats (arena partially underground), countdown clocks everywhere so people know when to get back to the game.

https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sports/sports-columnists/story/2023-01-14/clippers-owner-steve-ballmer-intuit-dome-arena-aztecs-viejas-kawhi-leonard

"Viejas Arena visit inspires Clippers owner Steve Ballmer to build ‘The Wall’"

As Clippers owner Steve Ballmer toured the concrete-and-steel bones of the Intuit Dome, the future home of his NBA franchise, he pointed to the section of 4,700 seats that rise like no other place in the $2 billion arena.

The jarring break in the suites that form a ring around three-quarters of the interior gives way to an area Ballmer visualizes as the larynx-straining voice of the building when it opens in 2024. ...

The Wall, though, will be delightfully old school in a cap tip to the court-hugging, earsplitting, rowdy venues of college basketball’s glory days. And it would not exist if Ballmer had not made his one and only visit to San Diego State’s Viejas Arena on Feb. 1, 2020.

... “There were a lot of things we couldn’t do and still have a chance of generating decent revenue,” Ballmer said of trying to incorporate the elements he loved at Viejas. “But I knew it was worth grinding harder.”

The mind’s-eye sense of the Aztecs-inspired area, 51 rows climbing at a sharper rate than elsewhere in the arena, would offer both decibels and personality. Ballmer compares it to “The 3252,” the relentless noise-making heartbeat for MLS team LAFC at Banc of California Stadium. ...

Almost every key decision about the Intuit Dome, including the nod to Viejas, has been made with basketball in mind.

The building will have at least twice as many restrooms as any other NBA building to expedite a return to seats. There will be 199 countdown clocks to let fans know when the game and second half start, no matter where they are in the arena. Lights will flicker, like a Broadway show, to indicate play is about to resume.

Ballmer dreams of that enormous video board to immediately show video replays from four angles to enrich the game experience.

The Wall, though, will alter and reshape the in-game environment because of its prominence and singular feel. The symmetry of three-quarters of the arena seating crashing into that section so surprisingly seems as if two architects got into a fight and both refused to budge. ...

When fans enter the Clippers’ new building, the majority will walk down to seats to make arriving more dramatic … just like Viejas.

 
At 8:57 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

The Denver Broncos, newly purchased, are talking about a new stadium too. And are starting a public engagement process.

https://www.9news.com/article/sports/nfl/denver-broncos/mike-klis/denver-broncos-empower-field-mile-high-stadium-future/73-52083368-7501-4a74-8229-fea945a676c6

"Broncos to begin stadium research project with fans"

1/17/23



Invitations will go out to fans, suite holders and sponsors this week so that Legends and the Broncos can put together about a dozen focus groups. Each focus group will consist of 12 to 15 fans who will be brought in for interviews approximately 2 hours in length starting in February at the team’s facilities.

Topics presented to the focus groups will include parking, seating, concessions, game-day entertainment, the stadium’s location – basically a fan’s journey from driveway to driveway on Broncos’ game day. Surveys dealing with similar game-day topics will go out to thousands of fans in late February/early March.

The modern sports term for “reconstruction” or “remodeled” is ‘’reimagined.” Could the Broncos reimagine their current stadium with a covering or roof attached to the top? And regarding the possibility of a new stadium, perhaps the biggest issue or concern frequently stated among the fan base is its location. Will it be in the same area of the current stadium? If not, will it stay downtown or move to a site near the airport or a suburb location? ...



It has been suggested that in the 25 years since the voters agreed to replace the old Mile High Stadium with the team’s current venue that the game-day crowd has shifted from a beer-and-a hot dog fan base to more of a wine-and-cheese gathering.

In other words, Broncos fans preferred to watch their team play in the outdoor elements when they approved the new stadium, but today's fans increasingly seek modern comforts with their in-stadium viewing.

“I don’t know that to be the case, but that is primarily why we’re doing this research effort,’’ Leech said. “We’re going to ask fans what they like, what they prefer and let that inform us.”

 
At 9:01 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

Money versus fan experience at college football playoff games. No tailgating.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/09/sports/ncaafootball/college-football-playoff-tailgating.html

"No Tailgating at College Football Championship Is Just One Difference From Bowls"

Their absence Monday underscores how heavily the College Football Playoff is focused on serving another audience: the millions of television viewers. The television rights for the playoff are expected to swell to about $695 million for the last two seasons of its existing television contract with ESPN. Then they are expected to fetch much more after the 2025 season, when the deal expires. The increases are tied to increasing the playoff field to 12 teams from four, which creates more TV friendly matchups that lead to a national title.

Yet the needs of television viewers have dampened moves by organizers to surround the games with hoopla for people experiencing the events in person, including fans and the teams themselves. ...

Tailgating is regularly allowed at SoFi Stadium, with rules and regulations that are similar to those at other stadiums. Still, the decision to not allow tailgating for fans this year came because “we have limited on-site parking at SoFi Stadium and want to ensure everyone has a safe and timely arrival for the game,” Bill Hancock, the executive director of the College Football Playoff, said in a statement.

Organizers also had a Playoff Fan Central open over the weekend at the Los Angeles Convention Center, with interactive games, a live sports talk show, and merchandise. But some fans said that area was much more of a challenge to find than it has been in past years.

 
At 1:33 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

"Records show the Pirates’ payroll is often covered by ticket and food sales. Whether they should spend more has tormented fans

https://www.post-gazette.com/sports/pirates/2022/04/10/pirates-ticket-sales-revenue-player-investment-mlb-payroll-special-report/stories/202204100006

In fact, the lion’s share of the Pirates players’ payroll in many years since 2007 has been covered by ticket and concession revenues — even before accounting for the millions that Pittsburgh’s team collects from TV and Major League Baseball.

Those years when the Pirates finally went to the playoffs after a two-decade drought?

In 2013, 2014 and 2015, fans’ spending on tickets and peanuts, popcorn, and other concessions covered the payroll, based on an analysis by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette of never-before-released documents created to fulfill the team’s rental agreement for its use of the baseball showpiece PNC Park. ...

What does it all mean? Is it evidence, as endlessly debated on call-in sports shows, in bars, and on social media every time the Pirates trade or haggle salary with a star player, that owner Bob Nutting is trying to do baseball on the cheap?

Or is it, as the Pirates organization argues, an unfair analysis — a facile assessment that doesn’t take into account the costs of running extensive minor league operations, scouting and player development staffs and paying for facility overhead?

The perception that Mr. Nutting is pocketing profits is “blatantly untrue,” the Pirates stated in response to questions about the financial results. ...

He went on to detail the reach of the organization, noting the team runs four separate facilities across Pittsburgh, Bradenton, Fla., and in the Dominican Republic.

Mr. Williams said the Pirates lead many rival teams in some areas, saying the team is in the top five in MLB in terms of spending on scouting, developing and overall operations.

“We have, are and will continue to invest in the critical areas to build a championship caliber team and a premier sports and entertainment destination,” he continued. ...

The Post-Gazette obtained the ticket and concession information as part of a right-to-know request with the SEA, the ballpark owner, dating back to 2019.

In it, the newspaper requested all financial statements related to the operations of PNC Park that the Pirates are required to submit under their lease.

It finally obtained the documents last fall after the team fought the request for two years before the state open records office and in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court, both of which ruled in the PG’s favor. ...

Baseball Prospectus has estimated that every major league team, starting this year, will receive a guaranteed $60.1 million annually via national TV deals.

That’s in addition to local TV agreements which average more than $40 million a year, according to Baseball Prospectus. FanGraphs estimated the Pirates in 2020 earned $44 million in their local TV deal.

Other sources include revenue sharing and the luxury tax, under which the highest spending teams whose payrolls exceed a set threshold, contribute to a pot of money distributed to those teams under the threshold.

 
At 1:40 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

"The Pirates’ PNC Park lease was set up to benefit the public, too. It has rarely paid" off."

Part 2: https://www.post-gazette.com/business/development/2022/04/15/pirates-pnc-park-lease-concessions-revenue-kevin-mcclatchy-mlb-taxes-sports-exhibition-authority/stories/202204100018

Tucked inside the Pirates’ lease for PNC Park is something akin to a share-the-wealth clause: When the team does well at the gate and at the concession stands, the public wins through extra rent payments.

Only it hasn’t worked out that way for the most part.

There has been only one year since the North Shore ballpark opened in 2001 in which the Pirates have paid extra rent based on revenue generated from selling tickets and hot dogs, nachos, soda, beer, ice cream and other food and beverages.

That year was 2015, when 2.49 million fans — the most since PNC Park opened — attended games. The Pirates generated an extra $30,647 in rent that season based on $128.5 million in gross ticket and concession revenue.

In all other years, the team never paid an extra dime, even in the best seasons, when attendance topped 2 million and gross gate and concession revenues surpassed $100 million, according to a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette analysis.

That doesn’t mean the Pirates are being miserly. The situation is largely a product of the ballpark lease signed in 2000 with the intent of keeping Pittsburgh’s baseball team in town. Two decades later, some of those involved in crafting the lease say it was written to give the then-financially unstable club the maximum benefit. ....

Here’s how part of the Pirates’ lease works:

continued

 
At 3:27 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

The team pays a base rent of $100,000 a year to play at 38,362-seat PNC Park, a ballpark built at a cost of about $270 million specifically to keep the team in Pittsburgh and funded largely by taxpayers.

Beyond the base rent is a surcharge on each ticket sold, with the first $1.5 million generated earmarked for the Pirates; the next $625,000 funneled to the Sports & Exhibition Authority, the ballpark owner; and anything above that level going to the team.

Of the SEA’s share, $375,000 is deposited into an account to pay for capital improvements at the ballpark and $250,000 is considered additional rent paid by the team.

The lease also addresses what are described as excess gate and concession revenues. The Pirates may be required to pay extra rent, but that is based on ticket and concession sales under a set of complicated formulas that would test the abilities of the most seasoned of CPAs. ...

The primary reason is the lease itself, which includes thresholds and credits that appear to be favorable to the team.

For example, baselines that the team must exceed to pay extra rent are based on the 2001 opening season at PNC Park. That was a special year when the Pirates drew 2.46 million fans interested in checking out the new ballpark that was getting rave reviews and offered a different experience from the 1970s-era Three Rivers Stadium. Crowd numbers that year still rank as the second highest in the ballpark’s history. ...

Under the formula in the lease, the team is required to pay 5% on ticket revenues that exceed $44.5 million up to $52.5 million. It pays 10% on those above $52.5 million. 

Even that has some flexibility. The thresholds are adjusted annually based on a percentage increase in the average ticket price.

And the Pirates can exclude from the calculation any premium charged on tickets for premium seating and the value of complimentary tickets.

The net effect is that the team rarely comes close to the ticket-related thresholds needed to pay extra rent.

For instance, in 2017, the Pirates generated $64.5 million in net ticket revenue excluding the amusement tax and surcharge. But by then, the threshold the team needed to exceed to pay extra rent had grown to $80.8 million (up from the $44.5 million base). ...

 
At 3:27 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

The formula for calculating excess concession revenue is even more complicated, taking into account the team’s arrangement with its concessionaires, the government-calculated Consumer Price Index and attendance.

The formula counts only revenues from nachos, hot dogs, cotton candy, ice cream, beer, soda and other food and beverages sold. Sales of jerseys, souvenirs and other merchandise are excluded.

Again, the net result is that the team rarely hit the threshold needed to pay extra rent based on concession sales.

And sometimes even when the Pirates did, they still didn’t have to pay anything extra. That’s because the lease allows the Pirates to take as a deduction the $250,000 they pay to the SEA in the form of rent through the ticket surcharge. ...

Mr. McClatchy’s promise to keep the Pirates in Pittsburgh came with a key condition — the construction of a new ballpark.

The PNC Park lease has to be viewed through that prism, Mr. Newlin said.

It must be analyzed keeping in mind the greater goals of retaining the team in Pittsburgh, building a new ballpark — and providing enough revenue to operate the team on an ongoing basis, he stressed.

“It was an attempt to create an atmosphere that would enable the team to be competitive because that would very much be in the interest of the city and the community for obvious reasons,” he said.

Beyond keeping the team, the crafters of the lease wanted to ensure that the Pirates would generate enough income from the ballpark to be “financially viable,” Mr. Newlin noted.

“It was in the interest of the city and the community to create an overall structure that should have enabled the team to not only just survive but to be competitive,” he said. ...

At the time, the Pirates’ lease at Three Rivers Stadium was viewed as onerous to the team, prompting the city and the stadium authority, which owned that venue, to make concessions as part of the sale of the team to Mr. McClatchy.

Previously, the authority was keeping 30% of all net revenue from food and beverage sales, the majority of the revenue from concourse and scoreboard advertising, all lounge box fees, and all fees charged for the connection of remote television broadcast facilities.

These days, the pendulum has swung in the other direction.

The Pirates, the Steelers and the Penguins get to keep nearly all of the concession, ticket, advertising and naming rights revenues generated by their respective facilities.

 
At 3:50 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

https://www.post-gazette.com/business/development/2021/08/08/Pittsburgh-Pirates-PNC-Park-amusement-tax-parking-tax-ticket-surcharge-North-Shore-SpringHill-Suites-Mike-s-Beer-Bar-Rally/stories/202108080050

"Moneyball: A losing Pirates season can impact city revenues, vendors and even PNC Park itself"

When the Pirates lose, attendance plummets, and city amusement and parking tax revenues tumble, according to a review of a decade of data by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

And it can even affect the amount of money available for capital improvements at the North Shore ballpark, the analysis found.

Likewise, vendors typically don’t sell as many jerseys, caps and other souvenirs when the team is losing. Restaurants and bars around PNC Park don’t serve as many guests.

The Pirates have heard it before. They counter that even in the bad years they pack an economic punch for the city and the region.

In a statement, the team said the fact that “more fans equal more economic impact is, quite frankly, old news. There is nothing magic to that theory.

“The newsworthy item here really is that, even in our lowest overall attended season in 2019 (1.5 M fans), we saw more fans attend Pirates games than Steelers and Penguins games combined in that same year (1.26 M fans),” it said.

... One caveat: The Pirates play 81 regular-season games at 38,362-seat PNC Park, compared to 41 by the Penguins at 18,387-seat PPG Paints Arena and eight by the Steelers at 68,400-seat Heinz Field.

The Pirates’ statement might be of little solace to vendors such as Jim Coen, owner of Yinzers in the Burgh souvenir stores in the Strip District. He estimates his Pirates’ sales are off 20% to 30% since the team’s big years of 2013 to 2015.

With no quick turnaround in sight for a team that might lose 100 games this season, he plans to pre-order 20% to 40% less Pirates’ merchandise for next year than he did this year.

- continued -

 
At 3:50 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

continued

“There’s no excitement,” he lamented. “The problem is, the fans aren’t loyal to the team now because the team hasn’t been loyal to them.”

Perhaps there’s no better bellwether for how the Pirates’ performance affects the economics off the field than the city’s amusement tax. The 5% tax is levied on every ticket sold for a game at PNC Park.

In 2015, when the Pirates enjoyed their best regular season record (98-64) since 1991, they generated $3.94 million in amusement tax revenue.

By the time they staggered to a 69-93 record in 2019 — the year before the pandemic — tax revenue had plunged to $2.2 million. That’s nearly $900,000 less than it was in 2018 when the Pirates finished with an 82-79 record.

The same pattern existed earlier. In 2010, when the Pirates were 57-105, they paid $1.4 million in amusement tax revenue. A year later, when the team posted a 72-90 record, it was even lower at $1.3 million.

But as the Pirates improved, so did the tax revenue — to $2.1 million in 2012 when they were 79-83; to $2.7 million in 2013, when they finished with a winning record (94-68) for the first time in two decades; to $3.3 million in 2014, when they ended 88-74.

It’s the same with parking tax revenue collected by Alco Parking at lots and garages on the North Shore.

Tax revenue reached a high of nearly $1.3 million in 2015 before plummeting to $926,661 in 2018 and $899,827 in 2019.

Revenue also can take a hit in other ways.

State Sen. Wayne Fontana, board chairman of the Sports & Exhibition Authority, which owns PNC Park, said the team’s play can affect the amount it pays into a capital reserve fund for ballpark improvements.

The fund is financed through a 5% surcharge on each ticket sold for a Pirates game. The team gets to keep the first $1.5 million generated by the surcharge. The SEA receives the next $625,000, with at least $375,000 of that required to go into the capital fund.

If fans stay away, it can matter. The SEA must deposit $650,000 into the fund each year regardless of the amount of surcharge revenue the Pirates produce.

Mr. Fontana, a Democrat from Brookline, said he hears from people who want to know whether he can force Pirates owner Bob Nutting to sell or require him to spend more money to field a competitive team.

The short answer is no. But given the public investment in PNC Park, Mr. Fontana feels the Pirates have a civic obligation to field a competitive team.

The Bucs’ struggles over much of the past two decades not only are frustrating, they’re not “good for the economy,” he maintained. ...

Winning drives attendance, rule No. 1,” he said. “Part of it is that people want to see a winner, particularly if they are in a pennant race because they want to root their home team on.”

But winning isn’t the only factor, he said.

When the Pirates trade some of their best players — as they did with Adam Frazier recently and Andrew McCutchen in 2018 — it can impact the local economy.

“It’s the end of July and, OK, it’s the trading deadline. All of the sudden, your favorite players are starting to leave town. That, in turn, gets the fans discouraged,” he said.

These days, Mr. Sukitch is building his business model and profit structure for both restaurants “around the Pirates having a bad year.”

That’s not a dig at the team. The idea is to not be dependent on the baseball season to turn a profit. That, he said, has been the downfall of a slew of bars and restaurants on Federal Street that have gone out of business since the Pirates moved to PNC Park in 2001.

To that end, he has added a kitchen, beefed up the menus at both places, started a loyalty program, and brought in entertainment on weekends.

“The number of businesses that have come and gone down here is the cycle I’m trying to break. That comes back to if the Pirates are having an extraordinary year, I should have an extraordinary year. If they have a bad year, my objective is to have a good year,” he said.

 
At 3:54 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

In 2018, the Pirates, Penguins, and Steelers commissioned a study on their value to the region. It estimated the franchises generated $6 billion in direct and indirect spending between 2012 and 2016. The teams calculated they paid more than $50 million a year in city, county, and state taxes and that another $25 million was generated as result of activities surrounding sporting events and concerts.

The actual report has never been released. Only a summary of the findings, to the PPG.

https://www.post-gazette.com/business/development/2018/10/29/sports-teams-economic-value-pittsburgh-steelers-penguins-pirates-allegheny-county-stadium-costs/stories/201810280027

"
Heinz Field and Downtown can be seen on Thursday, Oct. 25, 2018, on the North Shore.
16
MORE
Just how much do sports teams contribute to Pittsburgh's economy?
After commissioning a study, the answer is billions of dollars and 'the heart and soul of this city,' owners say"

Counter report by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy (which is opposed to sports teams subsidies)

https://www.alleghenyinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Vol18No42.pdf

The full report with statements defining methodology and data sources has not been made public—no doubt because team information would be revealed. Thus, the principal finding of direct and indirect employment of 10,100 annually and a five-year employee wage total of $3.2 billion must be taken with a hefty degree of skepticism. And the implied claim that the teams are major economic generators with $6 billion in direct and indirect spending over five years is unsubstantiated.

 
At 7:15 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

"Watching Football Can Cost $550—in a Las Vegas Casino"

https://www.wsj.com/articles/football-betting-las-vegas-casino-sportsbook-11665512643

10/12/2022

Watching football in a high-end sportsbook here is no penny-ante game. 

Seats at the massive areas called sportsbooks, where guests can watch and bet on major sporting events, can now cost as much as—and sometimes more than—seeing one in person. 

Football, a big draw for Las Vegas visitors from fantasy draft parties through the Super Bowl, has fast become a luxury proposition in the gambling and entertainment mecca. Casinos are banking on a souped-up experience to pull in fans who can bet on sports in many parts of the U.S. now.

When I entered the Caesars Palace sportsbook early this past Sunday morning, the host put a bright yellow bracelet on my wrist and ushered me to my reserved seat on a temporary riser more than 30 yards from the early Packers-Giants game airing from London. 

I was in the cheap seats, relatively speaking. My spot in the cordoned-off “bleacher” section, nine rows of movie-theater style seats with cupholders, cost $92, with two tickets for less-than-top-shelf beer, wine or well drinks included. For a lounge chair in the heart of the sportsbook, Caesars was asking $280 for a seat that also came with a few free drinks. For $550, fans got unlimited drinks in a VIP section.

Plenty of Las Vegas destinations are asking similar prices, and filling those seats. The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas required a $400 minimum spend on food and drinks to reserve a tiny high-top table for four in its sportsbook on college football Saturday and $600 on NFL Sunday. The spots sold out both days. Mirage was selling VIP seats for $258 on Saturday and $323 on Sunday, open bar included.

Top sportsbooks use sophisticated reservation systems to maximize revenue, much as they do with nightclubs and pools. Prices change based on demand and, in some cases, time of purchase. 

... One new downtown Las Vegas hotel, Circa, was designed around the idea that people like watching live sporting events together and will pay a premium to do it in the right setting.

Circa has a glittering three-story sportsbook, a sports bar it calls the world’s longest and Stadium Swim, a sprawling outdoor pool complex with a giant video screen aimed at sports fans. Chairs with five free drinks started at $275 last Sunday. Reserved couches required guests to spend a minimum of $1,000 on food and drink. 

“They’re not really paying to watch football,” CEO and owner Derek Stevens says. “They’re paying for the experience.” ...

The 30-year-old operations manager from Atlanta and his friends were stunned to find prices significantly higher than the $25 they paid in food and drinks to watch Thursday Night Football at the sportsbook at Resorts World just a couple of days before.

He ended up standing for free at the back of the Caesars sportsbook, but only lasted one game. 

A spokeswoman for MGM Resorts, parent of Bellagio, Cosmopolitan and several other properties on the Las Vegas Strip, said free seating is available at all its properties in Las Vegas on a first-come-first-served basis. Reservations are optional for those who want to snag a seat in advance, she said.

Most casinos offer some free seats, but you may have to turn up early. Mr. Stevens says lines start forming at Circa as early as 4 a.m. on weekends. I found plenty of free seats at the sprawling SuperBook at Westgate Las Vegas just off the Strip on Saturday afternoon, and of course big gamblers get free access to the premium seats at most places.

 
At 3:47 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

NFL teams now cost so much, that NFL requirements for how much capital the primary investor has to put in increasingly limit how many people can buy a team.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/11/business/dealbook/nfl-teams-owners.html

 
At 10:08 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

https://www.sltrib.com/sports/rsl/2023/02/01/rsl-games-have-new-tv/

RSL games have a new TV broadcaster this season — and it might be significant for other sports, too

n 2019, MLS told its clubs not to sign local TV deals past the 2022 season, so that they could bundle all of their local and national, broadcast and streaming rights into one big package. That meant that RSL’s local TV broadcast deal with KMYU (the sister station of KUTV) and streaming deal with KSL had to be wrapped up by then, too.

Those deals were pretty good for RSL fans. KMYU was broadcast on most cable and satellite packages, as well as over the air for free. On the streaming side, RSL fans could watch their games for free on KSL.com. But it did have some limitations, too. When games were broadcast on national TV, they couldn’t be aired locally. The production values also sometimes left something to be desired. For example, while most MLS local broadcasts used seven to eight cameras per game, Apple plans to use 12 for every game, according to The Athletic.

And, of course, this is the critical part: for RSL and the league, the money made fell somewhere between slim to none.

In signing a 10-year, $2.5 billion deal with Apple, America’s fifth-biggest professional sports league became the first to push all of their local and national content on a streaming platform. Now, all MLS games are in one place, completely blackout-free. Apple also has rights to the Leagues Cup, MLS Next, MLS Next Pro games, as well as the league’s All-Star Game.

In addition, 34 selected MLS games will air on Fox or Fox Sports 1.

In particular, one strength is that the clubs will make more money. In all, one estimate said that each club should make around $7.5 million per year from the TV deal. Add that to the $6 million per year that the team is getting from the America First Field sponsorship, and it’s enough to cover the entirety of RSL’s 2022 player payroll just between those revenue sources alone. Those player salaries stood at $10.5 million, according to MLS player association data.

If you add in all of the other revenue sources for RSL — ticket sales, concessions, merchandise, and so on — it’s clear that the club should be making a significant amount of money. And fans should therefore expect the front office to act on its new budget, including more expenditures like the team-record $3.1 million spent on winger Carlos Andrés Gómez this offseason.

All of this comes at a cost for fans, though. In order to watch all MLS games this season, including RSL, fans will have to pay $99 per year to Apple for the MLS Season Pass, or $14.99 per month. Signups open Wednesday.

There are some discounts and ways for fans to mitigate the full cost, though. Those who already have an Apple TV+ package will get a discount: $79 for the season, or $12.99/mo. Through Apple’s Family Sharing system, six different people can share the burden of one MLS Season Pass account.

Furthermore, six MLS games per week will be shown for free on Apple TV’s app outside of the MLS Season Pass paywall, about 40% of the league’s schedule.

RSL season ticket holders who have linked their account with new ticket servicer SeatGeek and paid at least $100 towards their season tickets will get also get free access to MLS Season Pass. Emails will be sent out to those people on Wednesday, according to the club.

 
At 10:13 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2023/03/15/diamond-sports-bankruptcy/

Diamond Sports, owner of TV rights for 41 teams, files for bankruptcy

 
At 6:19 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

Kalamazoo Arena project. To be used by minor league basketball and hockey teams, as well as the teams from Western Michigan University.

Community benefits agreement, employment, BIPOC conractors, 20% of concession space for minority firms, $6 million grant to create an endowment fund for donations to nonprofits.

Interesting inclusion is a listing of the number of patrons for various events (ECHL, WMU, concerts, etc.), based on existing numbers.

https://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/2023/03/10-things-to-know-about-the-new-300m-arena-planned-for-downtown-kalamazoo.html

https://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/2023/03/see-renderings-of-what-downtown-kalamazoos-new-300m-arena-might-look-like.html

 
At 10:12 AM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

https://www.startribune.com/report-us-bank-stadium-will-need-280-million-in-maintenance-and-upgrades-in-coming-decade/600263543/?refresh=true

Report: U.S. Bank Stadium will need $280 million in maintenance and upgrades in coming decade

U.S. Bank Stadium, the home of the Minnesota Vikings, will require some $280 million in maintenance to remain in top condition over the next decade, including nearly $48 million next year, according to an architectural assessment released Friday.

"Is there sufficient money to cover these? The answer to that is no," said Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority (MSFA) Chair Michael Vekich. "That is the work that we have to do collectively with [stadium operator] ASM, the Minnesota Vikings and ... the governor and the Legislature."

The Vikings and the public make annual contributions to the stadium capital improvement fund, which sits at just over $16 million. The audio-visual room — one of the areas that will need work soon — is alone expected to cost $14 million, the report said.

Kansas City-based Populous, an architectural firm specializing in stadiums and arenas, conducted the facility assessment on behalf of the MSFA, which oversees the seven-year-old building on behalf of Minnesota taxpayers. The MSFA paid $527,500 for the assessment.

Beginning in late December, Populous surveyed the building and found it to be in "very good shape" overall, according to senior principal architect Brady Spencer, who specializes in football stadiums and made the presentation to the MSFA meeting.

The assessment included estimates for maintenance, including an anticipated 4% annual escalation.

"Really the important thing about this is protecting your investment in the stadium," Spencer said.

The $1.1 billion stadium opened in 2016 and was at the time the largest public-private project in Minnesota history. State taxpayers put in $348 million, the city of Minneapolis covered $150 million and the Wilf family, which owns the Vikings, paid the rest.

The public contribution to the building remains controversial largely because of opposition to the use of tax subsidies for billionaire owners and millionaire athletes. The need for additional public money will likely be a tough sell at the Legislature in coming years.

 
At 10:46 AM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

How cable changed sports and what happens when fans cut the cord

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2023/04/19/rsn-bankruptcy-sports-tv/

 
At 12:59 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

https://firstsportz.com/nba-what-is-jock-tax-know-about-the-rule-forcing-steph-curry-to-pay-1-million-extra-in-taxes/

 
At 8:54 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

In testimony at a bankruptcy hearing for Diamond Sports Networks, where they want to discharge paying for broadcasting rights for four teams, including Cleveland, the MLB president said that baseball teams make about 30% of their revenues from local broadcasting rights.

As MLB takes over Padres broadcasts, Rob Manfred lashes out at Sinclair

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2023/05/31/rob-manfred-mlb-diamond-sports-group/

 
At 9:17 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

Sportswriter suggests Philadelphia 76ers owner open a WNBA team to build community, even though it will lose money for at least 10 years. Suggests that it could help with the team's bid to create a new Downtown arena, which has been controversial because it abuts Chinatown, and stakeholders there argue it will reproduce the space.

https://www.inquirer.com/sports/wnba-expansion-cities-philadelphia-owners-20230601.html

"Philadelphia deserves a WNBA team. And the Sixers’ Josh Harris should help make that happen"

Interesting comments that the team isn't particularly community spirited, and that Harris is more interested in owning teams, than supporting Philadelphia. He owns the NJ Devils hockey team in Newark, and is in the process of buying the Washington NFL team.

The comments about "community spiritedness" are foreboding wrt the NFL team.

 
At 2:21 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

Umm, why didn't they do this as the stadium was being built to begin with?

"How to get fans to MetLife for World Cup? NJ Transit will spend $35M to design bus lane"

https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/transportation/2023/07/20/cost-estimates-unknown-as-njtransit-board-oks-35-million-metlife-transit-design-world-cup/70433573007/


NJ Transit officials are racing to get a new transit route up and running from Secaucus to MetLife Stadium ahead of the fast-approaching 2026 FIFA World Cup, and the board unanimously voted at Wednesday’s board meeting to approve $35 million for HNTB Corp. to fully design this new corridor.

However, no actual estimate of the construction and procurement costs to build the dedicated roadway, to construct a new terminal and to stock it with vehicles has been publicly provided, which is unusual for a project of this size, especially after completion of the conceptual design and preliminary engineering phases.

"At this time, it is too early in the process for those estimates," said Jim Smith, an NJ Transit spokesman.

... NJ Transit, led by its board chair and state Transportation Commissioner Diane Gutierrez-Scaccetti, held an Innovation Challenge that asked engineers to devise a project to help the agency augment its current service to the Meadowlands complex, which includes MetLife Stadium.

Currently, a stub-end train line shuttles the masses by the tens of thousands to the Meadowlands complex for horse races, sports events and concerts. The American Dream mall also opened there in 2019.

Most recently, the agency touted the success of ferrying nearly 80,000 people over three days for the Taylor Swift concerts in May, a huge success compared with past events, including the 2014 Super Bowl, a Wrestlemania event in 2019 and a Romeo Santos concert months after that, events that unexpectedly ran late.

The current Meadowlands train line can carry about 10,000 people an hour, but NJ Transit needs the ability to move more than double that in an hour. The tricky part is that the agency needed a project that would be cost-effective, able to traverse through wetlands, and operational before the World Cup.

 
At 1:38 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

https://www.si.com/mlb/athletics/news/if-the-as-want-to-extend-their-lease-at-the-coliseum-oaklands-mayor-has-some-demands

If the A's Want to Extend Their Lease at the Coliseum, Oakland's Mayor Has Some Demands
Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao just made the right move

8/25/2023

 
At 4:45 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

White Sox attendance too low for over a decade for team to owe state fees

https://archive.ph/4KD01#selection-1901.1-1901.74

Crain's Chicago Business, 9/13/2023

As the White Sox evaluate their future at Guaranteed Rate Field, recent data from the state agency that owns and operates the South Side ballpark show how taxpayers have shared the pain of the team’s struggle to draw fans.
Low attendance at White Sox games has resulted in the team paying no ticket fees for over a decade to the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority, the state agency that owns taxpayer-funded Guaranteed Rate Field.
The management agreement between ISFA and the White Sox requires the team to pay a base rent per season, plus net ticket fees if paid attendance exceeds 1.93 million tickets (excluding "comp" tickets, which are given away to sponsors).

The team hasn’t paid ticket fees since 2010, when it drew nearly 2.2 million fans. Last year, the Sox brought in their highest attendance since then, 1.92 million fans — just missing the threshold needed to pay ISFA.
While ISFA does not heavily rely on revenue from ticket fees to meet its bond obligations, the glaring issue is the White Sox’s ability to bring in fans. Most of the state agency’s funding comes from the city’s hotel tax, which is allocated to pay ISFA’s debt of $639.5 million. When tourism plummeted during COVID-19, ISFA used about $28 million in reserves and refinanced debt to cover costs, including debt service.
“The lease agreement between the White Sox and ISFA has always been designed so that both parties benefit and share the goal of increasing attendance,” said Scott Reifert, senior vice president of communications for the White Sox.

====
when the team sucks, the state government agency that built the stadium is left holding the bag.

 
At 9:40 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

Ken Griffin is in talks to buy Miami Dolphins and F1 stakes
The Citadel founder is positioning himself to join the growing number of finance titans that count themselves as team owners in the National Football League.

Crain's Chicago Business
11/21/2023
https://archive.ph/R0It3

 
At 12:35 AM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

Story about how Las Vegas is leveraging sports as another way to activate the city, keep adding attractions.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2023/11/17/f1-las-vegas-pro-sports/

From Sin City to America’s sports capital
Las Vegas is transforming itself again. What do the glitz of Formula One and the Super Bowl mean for the city’s future – and for the workers building it?

This comment makes an interesting point about the owner of the hockey team doing things to further embed the team within the community.

From WP in Vegas:

Vegas is a hockey town! The Stanley Cup Champion Golden Knights have built or are planning to build numerous indoor ice rinks all over the Las Vegas Valley. Thousands of young people are now participating in fast-growing youth hockey leagues. The Knights' players are visible and active throughout the community. The Knights' owner, Bill Foley, is all about winning and spares no expense. He predicted a Cup in six and they won it in six. When he regional sports network folded, he made the games available on TV in Vegas for free. Wherever you go in Vegas, you will see people adorned predominately in Golden Knights gear, The same goes for the Golden Knights specialty license plates.
When the A's come here, they better not be cheap, like they were in Oakland. Bill Foley and the Knights, along with Mark Davis and the WNBA Aces, have set the standard!

 
At 2:57 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

There is a difference in the impact of big league and minor league sports.

With the Oakland As MLB team leaving the city, a group is creating a minor league team to replace them. Minor league teams, when properly programmed are more about community building than the big league teams, which are more about presentation and consumption.

https://abcnews.go.com/Sports/oakland-area-fans-start-ballers-independent-baseball-team/story?id=105206559

Oakland-area fans start Ballers, an independent baseball team

 
At 2:02 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2023/dec/06/mixed-use-development-sports-teams-owners-stadiums

‘The stadium is secondary’: how US sports teams became real-estate speculators

More than ever, sports franchises are a real-estate play as owners seek to stimulate revenues amid escalating costs in a period of high inflation.

Mixed-use developments where people can live, work, shop, dine, drink and play have become ubiquitous as teams seek to squeeze as much profit as possible from their land. The old paradigm was to build a new stadium with high-end facilities inside to cater to the corporate set, boosting matchday income and attracting showpiece events such as Super Bowls, World Cup games and blockbuster concerts by stars like Swift.

Now teams also want to dictate how dollars are spent each day in the streets around their venues, a trend turning billionaire sports owners into influential city planners.

A pioneer is based in the city that Kroenke was desperate to escape: the St Louis Cardinals opened Ballpark Village, a dining and entertainment district around Busch Stadium, about a decade ago. The Atlanta Braves and Texas Rangers followed suit with their new ballparks; the Houston Astros, Tampa Bay Rays, Arizona Diamondbacks, Kansas City Royals and New York Mets are among other MLB teams with similar ideas.

... Kroenke financed his plans privately, but pledging to revitalize a neighborhood with projects that typically include public green spaces makes giving financial incentives such as tax breaks or covering infrastructure improvements more palatable to municipal leaders and voters who might be wary of handing subsidies worth potentially hundreds of millions of dollars to billionaires.

... Robert Kraft, the New England Patriots and New England Revolution owner, opened a shopping center in 2007 in a parking lot next to lonely Gillette Stadium, which is about 25 miles from central Boston and Providence. Patriot Place brings in more than nine million people a year, according to a report by WGRZ, while last season the Patriots drew a combined 527,024 fans to their regular-season home fixtures.

Most owners, says Victor Matheson, an economics professor at College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts, “understand that having an entertainment district that generates money 365 days a year is way better than the model of a walled fortress surrounded by a moat of parking lots” that is used a handful of times a year. “NFL parking lots are about the worst possible use of real estate you can think of,” he adds. “You’d much rather have a stadium in a dense area where you can generate money all the time.”

Urban stadiums, though, are often surrounded by private businesses that directly profit from the team’s presence, but not vice versa. “The Chicago Cubs don’t benefit when you buy a beer at Murphy’s Bleachers or the Cubby Bear,” two beloved bars next to Wrigley Field, Matheson says. That increases the incentive for teams to control the economic activity in their vicinity.

Matheson and colleagues examined stadium utilization and found that in an average year, NFL, MLB and MLS venues typically host fewer than five major events beyond the main tenant’s regular-season fixtures. At least MLB teams play a minimum of 81 home games per year and NBA and NHL franchises often share versatile indoor arenas. NFL sides host only eight or nine regular season matches, which is where Swift comes in.

... “It’s hard to imagine [SoFi] being a great investment. He’s using that stadium as opening the door,” Matheson says. “What you’re really trying to do is make money on the mixed-use development and you’re using the stadium as a way to clear all the land for you; basically the stadium is your secondary concern.” It’s what Kroenke does.

 
At 4:45 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

More regional sports teams are taking over broadcast networks. This costs them more money, with reduced payments from cord cutting, and they are looking to cut payrolls in response.

https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/mariners/mariners-to-take-full-control-of-root-sports-nw-clouding-teams-financial-outlook

Mariners to take full control of ROOT Sports NW, clouding team’s financial outlook

12/15/2023

Since 2013, the Mariners’ First Avenue Entertainment has held a majority stake — 71% — of ROOT Sports NW. FAE had been partnered with Warner Bros. Discovery, a minority stakeholder that has provided full operational support to produce Mariners games.

Warner Bros. Discovery, however, is withdrawing from all its local sports television business, and that means the Mariners’ owners will enter the new year with a 100% stake in ROOT Sports NW at a time when the regional sports network model is collapsing nationwide.

In the decade since FAE took controlling interest of ROOT Sports, Comcast subscriptions have fallen by 65% in the local market — from 3.4 million in 2013 to roughly 1.2 million now — according to one industry source with direct knowledge of the situation.

... The uncertainty surrounding ROOT Sports comes on the heels of Comcast Xfinity’s announcement Oct. 10 that it was nearly doubling the cost of a subscription to the regional sports network, or RSN. That is projected to make a sizable dent in viewership for Mariners games next season, and the team will not receive an increased cut from Comcast’s rate hike.

Since Comcast’s announcement, the Mariners have shed some $44 million in player salary commitments. Notably, they traded popular third baseman Eugenio Suarez to the Arizona Diamondbacks and then included former top prospect Jarred Kelenic in a trade to the Atlanta Braves to rid themselves of the contracts owed to Marco Gonzales and Evan White.

The Mariners’ payroll was roughly $140 million last year, which ranked 18th among 30 MLB teams according to USA Today, and had been expected to rise incrementally in 2024.

 
At 6:39 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

Minnesota's first bar dedicated to women's sports now has a home

Minneapolis Star Tribune
12/15/2023

https://archive.is/OKIOw#selection-2367.0-2367.64

Nguyen is the founder of The Sports Bra in Portland, Ore., the nation's first bar dedicated to women's sports, and Jillian Hiscock's inspiration to bring the idea to her hometown.
"It was crazy and cool — and something I didn't think I would be doing," Hiscock said. But she is: Hiscock recently announced that A Bar of Their Own will open early next year in the former Tracy's Saloon and Eatery in Minneapolis' Seward neighborhood.

The path from idea to realization wasn't a direct one for the longtime sports fan (she's a Lynx season ticket holder) and athlete (she was a gymnast and played softball). Kicking around the idea with friends in October 2022, Hiscock wasn't sure it even made sense.

 
At 1:17 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

$1 billion secured for Inglewood people mover to SoFi Stadium, Clippers arena
The roughly $1.9 billion secured so far represents about 85% of the Inglewood Transit Connector's anticipated cost, officials say.

https://www.ocregister.com/2024/01/04/feds-pledge-1-billion-to-inglewood-people-mover-to-sofi-stadium-clippers-arena

Inglewood estimates the automated people mover, slated to be completed in time for the 2028 Summer Olympics, will carry about 11,000 riders per hour to the hundreds of annual events at the sports and entertainment district surrounding SoFi Stadium. A joint powers authority, formed by the city and the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, is expected to select the team that will implement the project from three prequalified bidders later this summer.

The project is expected to reduce vehicle traffic around the city’s venues, and officials hope it will simultaneously increase foot traffic along Market Street in the heart of Inglewood’s downtown district, where the first station will be located.

 
At 6:05 AM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

https://brobible.com/sports/article/baylor-basketball-stadium-arena-television-camera-angle

Baylor Makes Major Logistical Blunder While Building Brand-New $212 Million Basketball Facility

It is a state-of-the-art fieldhouse that holds a capacity of 7,000 and it is awesome. The entire venue was built with fans in mind. Vertical, elevated seats make it feel as though you are right on top of the court. Two 2,000-square-foot video boards bookend the hardwood.

... It is a state-of-the-art fieldhouse that holds a capacity of 7,000 and it is awesome. The entire venue was built with fans in mind. Vertical, elevated seats make it feel as though you are right on top of the court. Two 2,000-square-foot video boards bookend the hardwood.

1/14/2024

 
At 4:59 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

Richard Sherman Calls Out Buffalo Bills’ Decision to Not Install the Dome Amidst Doubt Over the Game Being Postponed Again

Former player criticizes team for not having a dome. But it would add hundreds of millions of dollars in cost, and would be rarely used.

https://www.essentiallysports.com/nfl-active-news-richard-sherman-calls-out-buffalo-bills-decision-to-not-install-the-dome-amidst-doubt-over-the-game-being-postponed-again/

1/14/2024

they reported that the cost overran to $1.7 billion, which meant a dome or retractable stadium would cost close to $2.3 – $2.4 billion, well over their budget. Asking the state for the extra money wasn’t an option either, as it was unlikely that they would pay half a billion extra just for a roof. Handling the taxpayers’ money smartly sounded more promising for the local county.

 
At 11:00 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

Mark Cuban’s Mavs sale signals big change for pro sports franchises

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/01/17/mark-cuban-dallas-mavericks-sports-gambling

And that raises the question of why a guy who so clearly loves his role as owner of a basketball team would sell out. And more to the point, why now? In December, the National Basketball Association approved Cuban’s sale of the majority stake in the Mavericks to members of the Adelson family, who control the gambling empire Las Vegas Sands Corp. The transaction, which left Cuban with 27 percent of the Mavs, valued the team at more than $3 billion, about 10 times what he paid in 2000. For now, Cuban will continue as the face of the Mavs, while no longer having final say on business decisions.

Cuban has been vocal, if not totally convincing, about why he sold. He sees real estate expansion, potentially into casino operations, as the future of NBA franchises. He told reporters in December, of the Adelsons: “They’re not basketball people. I’m not real estate people. That’s why I did it.”

... “I sold for all the reasons I’ve already publicly stated,” he responded by email. “Real estate and entertainment are going to be key for revenue development to compete.”

My bet is that the Mavs deal is a tell. Big league teams, which have thrived for decades by selling broadcast rights, are evolving into multifaceted business empires in which revenue derived from sports is just one facet of the operation.

... Cuban has said he thinks Texas should legalize gambling, which would enable the Mavericks to build a casino around a new stadium. This is what he means by “real estate and entertainment.” He’s not alone: In-stadium sportsbooks and betting lounges are already popping up around the nation at existing arenas. New York Mets owner Steve Cohen is partnering with Hard Rock International to build an $8 billion entertainment complex in the parking lots next to Citi Field in Queens, where the baseball team plays. (Cohen is also campaigning for permission to get into gambling in New York.) Elsewhere, real estate is key to juicing franchise value. The Golden State Warriors, for example, surrounded their new Chase Arena with a lucrative office complex. Blocks away, the San Francisco Giants are erecting a retail, residential and commercial real estate project in what was a parking lot across from Oracle Park.

Cuban didn’t need to hand over control of the Mavs to build a casino, one he and his new partners aren’t even currently allowed to develop. (Cuban has said he’s less interested in gambling than he is about the casino experience, musing about U2 performing in residence in Dallas.) Cuban easily could have borrowed to fund his expansion. And his partnership with the Adelsons could have been a commercial deal that didn’t involve team ownership. By omitting TV deals from his short list of “revenue development” ideas, Cuban is signaling that the NBA’s river of broadcast revenue might be ebbing.

 
At 1:23 AM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

It's Vegas, where a football stadium is likely to be a venue for more events than football. Still there haven't been that many, but I think more than a typical football stadium.

https://www.reviewjournal.com/business/stadium/allegiant-stadium-in-las-vegas-has-drawn-3-6m-people-since-opening-2983877/amp/

Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas has drawn 3.6M people since opening

1/18/2024

Events at Allegiant Stadium have drawn 3.6 million people since mid-2021 when fans were first allowed inside the $2 billion facility.

The tally includes events between 2021 and September tracked by the stadium authority.

In that time at the 62,500-seat stadium, 22 Raiders home games lead the way with 1.2 million attendees. There have been 26 concerts that drew more than 1.1 million fans, and 24 other large ticketed events such as one-off soccer matches and the NFL Pro Bowl drawing 828,159 and 15 UNLV football games bringing in 212,739 people, stadium authority data shows. Included in the total are 373 smaller private events which amassed 210,638 since the stadium has been open.

During the most recent attendance quarterly report, which covers July through September, 428,727 fans attended events at the stadium.

The most attended event over that span was the Sept. 24 Raiders versus Pittsburgh Steelers game that saw 58,964 fans. Of those, 64 percent of attendees were from out of town. Among them, 93 percent said the game was their main reason to travel. It should be no surprise that the game was the fifth best-selling event last year on StubHub.

The Aug. 13 Raiders preseason game against the San Francisco 49ers was the second-highest attended event in the third quarter at 54,369 fans. About 45 percent of attendees at that game were visitors, according to stadium authority data.

An Aug. 26 Beyonce concert was the third most-attended event and saw the highest number of out-of-state attendees during the quarter with 66 percent of the 44,702 fans not being from Las Vegas.

The stadium is outpacing the amount of incremental visitors, or those whose main reason for traveling to Las Vegas was for an event at Allegiant Stadium, during its first few years in operation, Hill said.

 
At 1:29 AM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

Chicago White Sox want a new stadium. The current one is poorly located in terms of ancillary development. . They are looking at a site on the South side.

https://chicago.suntimes.com/white-sox/2024/1/17/24042048/white-sox-new-stadium-78-site-south-loop-related-midwest-reinsdorf

White Sox in ‘serious’ talks to build new stadium in South Loop’s ‘The 78’

The White Sox are negotiating with developer Related Midwest about the possibility of building a new ballpark on the South Loop parcel known as “The 78.”

... At 62 acres stretching south to 16th Street, The 78 is one of Chicago’s largest undeveloped parcels — and the most strategically located. But it has eluded development for decades.

... Gov. J.B. Pritzker plans to use at least part of the property for a University of Illinois tech research center known as “Discovery Partners Institute.” That’s the only concrete project on the drawing board for The 78. Discovery Partners has been expected to use about 4 acres at the southern part of the site. Bill Jackson, executive director, said he has heard the White Sox could be interested and would make a great neighbor.

... Marc Ganis, a Chicago-based stadium consultant, disagrees. Roughly 12 to 14 acres would be needed for a baseball-only stadium seating 35,000 to 38,000, Ganis said. Instead of surface parking, the Sox could build a parking structure, though its exact capacity would vary depending on size, and not all parking would have to be on-site, he said.

... Sources said mass transit access — the nearby Roosevelt station serves the CTA’s Red, Green and Orange lines — could reduce the need for stadium parking. With the Chicago River just west of the site, sources also noted the possibility of water taxi service for game-day crowds.

 
At 11:51 AM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

https://www.post-gazette.com/business/development/2023/11/28/pittsburgh-pirates-planning-commission-pnc-park-279-bocce-courts-froggys/stories/202311280112

Game changer: Commission approves plans for giant video screen next to PNC Park on North Shore


The screen is an integral element of the overall project. On baseball game days, it will show Pirates-centric content like highlights. At other times, it could be used to show movies, videos, or even watch parties if the Pirates were to make the playoffs.

The Pirates are working with HiLife Hospitality, the group behind the Burgatory restaurant chain, on the plaza development. They view it as a way to further enliven the North Shore on game days and to make it a destination at other times by offering movies, entertainment, concerts, fitness classes and other activities.

The 30,000-square-foot outdoor plaza will be located at West General Robinson Street and Mazeroski Way across from the home plate entrance of PNC Park. Besides the video screen, it will feature two stages, a covered beer garden next to a food stand and other amenities.

It will be next to a 15,000-square-foot restaurant, bar and experiential entertainment venue being built in the ground level of the apartment complex. The Pirates will own that space and the plaza itself.

 
At 10:29 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

Four reasons a downtown arena district makes sense
July 31, 2023|

https://www.expressnews.com/opinion/editorial/article/downtown-arena-district-makes-sense-18269568.php

Planning: Strictly from a planning perspective, a center city arena district makes sense. At the moment, the Spurs play at the AT&T Center on the East Side. The fan experience is lacking. People drive in, pay for parking and then drive home. The Missions play at Nelson Wolff Municipal Stadium on the West Side where the fan experience is much the same. Like the AT&T Center, Wolff stadium lacks surrounding economic development. Again, fans drive to the game and then drive away.

Bringing the Spurs and Missions to the city center would make them more accessible. It potentially places the arena on VIA Metropolitan Transit’s planned rapid transit lines, allowing fans to better use Park and Ride and take shuttles to games. With the River Walk, Museum Reach, Hemisfair, Southtown and the Pearl, the city’s center already has a number of walkable areas that could serve fans before and after the game. Given the existing businesses, it’s not unreasonable to think some portion of fans would arrive early for a game or stay late after it.

A new vision for the AT&T Center: Yes, there was hope the AT&T Center would generate economic development on the East Side that has never come to fruition. That the prospect of a new stadium district has given voice to frustration about the economic failures of the past 20 years is also an opportunity. Bexar County and East Side leaders should seize this moment to create a new vision around the AT&T Center. The San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo remains committed to the AT&T Center. It’s possible the University of Texas at San Antonio’s basketball teams may have interest in playing in the arena.

A site that is future proof: There are a number of potential downtown locations for an arena district that would serve the Spurs and Missions. An ideal site would connect with rapid transit, support existing businesses, be pedestrian-friendly and have the space to expand a minor league baseball stadium to Major League standards.

Keeping the Spurs in San Antonio: There is, understandably, vocal community frustration about the prospect of using taxpayer funds to support yet another arena. As the process plays out, questions about community benefit have to be addressed.

 
At 10:29 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

As stated in the initial entry, trickle down isn't a plan. You need a plan to spur spillover development.

There was hope the AT&T Center would generate economic development on the East Side that has never come to fruition.

https://www.expressnews.com/news/article/spurs-stadium-east-side-development-betrayal-18208014.php

'Broken agreement’: Many on East Side feel betrayed by talk of moving Spurs downtown

7/22/2023

Twenty-one years ago, East Side residents, too, hoped a new NBA arena would bring a crush of businesses, homebuyers and renters to their community, which includes some of San Antonio’s poorest neighborhoods.

The AT&T Center never delivered on that promise, though modest signs of economic activity are cropping up on East Houston Street.

“Most of the people who come to the AT&T Center don’t patronize the small businesses around the East Side,” said Ernest Mitchell, former president of the Jefferson Heights Neighborhood Association. The neighborhood lies between the AT&T Center and the eastern edge of downtown.

“They come in, they have a good time at the event, and they leave.”

The Bexar County-owned AT&T Center, the Spurs’ home since 2002, is an island of leisure mostly surrounded by hardworking distribution and manufacturing operations.

A county FAQ sheet said the new arena “spreads the wealth” by bringing “the potential of spinoff economic development opportunities to an underdeveloped part of the community.”

a 2003 East Side planning report commissioned by the city and county reinforced the idea that the $175 million facility would revitalize the area. It called the arena and the adjacent Freeman Coliseum, which is also owned by the county, “an emerging focal point for the Eastside.”

Residents’ concerns about increased traffic “are offset by hopes that the new arena will act as a tool for revitalization,” the report said.

 
At 11:09 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2024/03/04/nationals-five-dollar-ticket-deal/

Nationals’ new $5 ticket program is exclusive to D.C. fans

The new program, called District Tickets, enables fans who present proof of D.C. residency to purchase up to four $5 tickets in Sections 401 and 402 per game at the Nationals Park box office adjacent to the center field gate. The offer is available for all home games but is limited to D.C. residents, who may purchase tickets for up to four games per transaction. There is no limit on the number of games for which a D.C. resident may take advantage of the promotion.

The team’s previous $5 ticket offer, which dated from the opening of Nationals Park in 2008, made roughly 400 day-of-game tickets in Sections 401 and 402 in the upper deck down the left field line available for purchase two hours before first pitch. Fans were limited to one ticket per purchase and, in recent years, were required to have the MLB Ballpark app, but the offer was not exclusive to D.C. residents. The ballpark is owned by the District.

A Nationals spokesperson said the new program “gives the Nationals the chance to say ‘thank you’ to our neighbors for their support throughout the years and during the 2024 season” and added that more than 400 tickets were sold in the first two hours after District Tickets went on sale Monday. In March, the Nationals Park box office is open weekdays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

 
At 2:44 AM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

https://www.kansascity.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/vahe-gregorian/article286772710.html

KC Current stadium opening is ‘something that will last forever’ for women & the city

3/16/24

On the pitch of what is believed to be the first stadium or arena “on the planet” purpose-built explicitly by and for a women’s professional team, Akers said, “I never felt like we had a home for women’s soccer.” And now there is — and, from that, an epicenter for all that will follow from the approximately $120 million, 11,500-seat stadium project that was almost entirely privately funded. So if all of this wasn’t exactly like landing on the moon, well, this one small step for women certainly was one giant leap for womankind — and yes, mankind — with Kansas City serving as the launch point to another galaxy

 
At 2:04 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

How will Royals manage parking for 38,000 fans in KC Crossroads? Architects detail plan

https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article287001115.html

McKerrow said the Royals will build 1,500 parking spots with the stadium for fans. He expects a typical ballgame to generate an additional 7,500 cars, which would park in one of the 40,000 parking spots within a 20-minute walk of the proposed ballpark location. They plan for about 70% of fans to drive, 10% to take the streetcar or bus, 10% to use rideshare, and the other 10% to walk, bike or scooter to the stadium. Depending on the day of the game, a slideshow shared at the conference showed how many spots would be needed for the planned 38,000-capacity stadium. A weekday game would require at least 8,900 spaces, while a weekend game would require 8,300 spaces. Based on the developer’s study, they anticipate three fans per car attending weekday games, and 3.2 fans per car coming to a weekend game. So, on a given night, the Royals could use anywhere between 6,800 and 7,400 parking spaces that are already built in the area, according to the presentation.

Read more at: https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article287001115.html#storylink=cpy

 

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