Park Lane – Sports Finance Bulletin

Larry Scott, the Pacific-10 commissioner, intends to start a television channel like the one that the Big Ten started in 2007…

But his goal is to have “more premier programming” than the “third-tier” games he said were on the Big Ten Network…

Currently, the conference has football contracts with ESPN/ABC and Fox Sports Net…and a basketball agreement with FSN. Each football contract expires after the 2011 season and the FSN basketball deal after the 2011-12 season…

Scott seemed to brush off those concerns…

“With two teams in each market, we’re custom-tailored around revenues,” Scott said…

In 2009, [the Big Ten Network] had [an approximate] operating revenue of $203.9 million and cash flow of $35.9 million. This year, the figures are expected to rise to $229.5 million…and $75.9 million…

The combination of a profitable channel — which would have a partner like Fox, [the] Big Ten Network’s partner — and a bigger rights deal from ESPN or FSN would alleviate financial pressures on the universities, Scott said.

Scott said athletic programs “feel tremendous pressure to pay for themselves because of a decrease in spending on higher education. Conferences are expected to generate more money. If they don’t, programs will have to be cut.” (New York Times 7/28)

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The Bengals will not make concessions in their lease, Bengals owner Mike Brown said Tuesday - leaving county taxpayers alone to make up looming multi-million dollar deficits in the fund that pays for the team’s riverfront sports stadiums…

Those statements…were a blow to county commissioners, who have long said the teams must help plug a deficit in the fund - a deficit projected to cumulatively top $700 million by 2032…

“The numbers don’t work if it’s just county taxpayers who are forced to foot the bill,” [Hamilton County Commissioner David] Pepper said. “It cannot be solved if everyone doesn’t chip in. That’s not about politics or philosophy, that’s simple math…”

[Brown added,] “There’s nothing we can do to remedy that - the shortfall in the tax receipts and that’s a reflection I think of the economy…It is an amount of money that neither we or the Reds can make good…”

Brown took the county to task for making poor planning decisions when building the stadium. He said moving the stadium west, to make room for The Banks, cost an additional $150 million.

“That wasn’t our decision,” said Brown, adding the team asked the county not to do that. (Cincinnati Enquirer 7/26)

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A lazy pass opened the highway for Manchester United on Wednesday night, giving most in the sellout crowd what they wanted only 24 seconds into the 2010 AT&T MLS All-Star Game.

Reliant Stadium erupted when Federico Macheda gave the Red Devils a quick lead. Macheda caught a break to score his first of two goals, but legendary Manchester United needed no help to thoroughly dominate the MLS All-Stars 5-2…

United is arguably the most prestigious soccer club in the world, and Forbes recently ranked it the most valuable franchise in all of sports…

The game drew a record crowd of 70,728, the largest crowd to watch a stand-alone MLS All-Star Game. It was also the fourth-highest attendance for any all-star game in American professional sports…

Coming off the U.S. national team’s exciting display at the 2010 World Cup, the MLS All-Star Game exceeded most expectations and delivered at the box office even if the MLS All-Stars weren’t quite on par with a Manchester United still gaining fitness in preparation of next month’s kickoff of the Premier League.

“This is one of the 10 highest-attended All-Star Games in all of professional sports,” MLS commissioner Don Garber said. (Houston Chronicle 7/29)

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If only for a few days, Anschutz Entertainment Group might consider changing L.A. LIVE’s name to L.A.X. Live.

That’s because starting Thursday, July 29, the high-flying, fast-driving, power-pedaling extreme sports competition known as the X Games will take over the 28-acre complex in Downtown Los Angeles.

It is safe to say that X Games 16, which continues through Aug. 1, will be unlike any other happening ever staged at AEG’s $2.5 billion campus. While high-profile events such as the Grammys have utilized buildings for a week or more (including set-up and tear-down periods), no single entity has occupied as many L.A. LIVE venues for as long a period as ESPN’s X Games will, said Lee Zeidman, AEG senior vice president and general manager of the Staples Center and Nokia Theatre.

“This will be the first event to completely take over the entire campus,” he said.

Downtown has been a site for part of the games since they moved to Los Angeles in 2003, with Staples Center a venue for several sports. (LALive.com 7/23)

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Emotions fumed and facts emerged with little clarity at the Winchester Town Advisory Board meeting Monday in the first public discussion of a proposed sports arena on the north end of the Strip…

[International Development Management CEO Chris] Milam’s presentation featured a 22,000 capacity arena…The facility would cost $400 million, and Milam said his company would spend $100 million in local labor and another $100 million on local materials…

He pledged the project could break ground in the fourth quarter of 2010 with the goal of opening in October 2012. Milam repeated that, as previously reported, negotiations were under way to bring an NBA team to Las Vegas and added the potential for an NHL team as well. He said UNLV had also expressed interest in having its men’s basketball team play there…

Milam said his company would pay 85 percent of the cost. The other 15 percent would be funneled through a redevelopment tax district, which would cap its revenue at $125 million. He stressed that no new taxes would be introduced to pay for the arena…

[Supporters] pushed the project by pointing to the potential for economic growth and employment…However, [opponents] expressed concerns about the area’s ability to handle the traffic flux and other possible damages to their quality of life—noise, pollution, etc…[They also] wondered if an NBA team was really on the verge of coming to Las Vegas, as Milam has been unable to publicly disclose which franchise would come to the Strip. (Las Vegas Sun 7/26)

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Mayor Bill Foster is proposing changes to the city’s contract with the Tampa Bay Rays that would allow the club, for the first time, to explore alternate sites to downtown’s Tropicana Field.

Foster said the amended agreement would permit the Rays to consider a stadium anywhere in St. Petersburg and the “greater Gateway area,” which would include land outside city limits.

Derby Lane and Pinellas County’s Airco Golf Course, which have been mentioned as possible sites, are in the Gateway area and not in St. Petersburg…

The current contract between the city and the club requires the Rays to play at Tropicana Field through the 2027 season. Last month, Rays owner Stuart Sternberg said he wanted to leave the Trop before then. He said he’d consider keeping the club in Tampa Bay only if he could look at all possible sites in the region, including those in Tampa and Hillsborough County… (St. Petersburg Times 7/20)

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Two long-running L.A. stories improbably cross paths this season: HBO’s “Entourage” and the on-again, off-again saga of the NFL’s return to Los Angeles.

Over the last 15 years, no one has been able to solve L.A.’s stadium/team/timing Rubik’s Cube — not billionaires, powerful politicians or league owners.

So in struts fictional agent Ari Gold, the crass, uber-arrogant, and, for the most part, amusingly unprintable star of “Entourage.” He’s a loudmouth who has crushed, connived and bullied his way to the top, emerging as the most powerful agent in Hollywood…

So far, no one has been able to maintain momentum in a bid to bring back a team. Casey Wasserman, a real L.A. businessman who’s looking into building a stadium next to Staples Center, warns that the NFL is “more unattainable than any client Ari has ever chased.” (In an upcoming “Entourage,” Wasserman has a bit part as himself, playing a potential investor in Gold’s deal.) (Los Angeles Times 7/16)

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Majestic Realty Co. CEO and chairman Ed Roski Jr. said he remains committed to returning professional football to the [City of Industry] and building a state-of-the-art NFL stadium near the junction of the 60 and 57 freeways.

“It will happen,” said Roski, making his first public comments since the emergence of a competing stadium plan in downtown Los Angeles.

Roski admitted the NFL’s labor stalemate has slowed progress on his proposed $800 million, 75,000-seat stadium, which is fully approved for construction…

Some experts have said the delay in signing a new labor deal with the players’ union, which could last until next year, has opened the door for rival stadium plans to emerge.

Tim Leiweke and prominent sports agent Casey Wasserman announced in April they hoped to build a $1 billion NFL stadium in downtown L.A. behind the Staples Center…

The billionaire said his group continues to talk with owners who might be willing to sell at least a part of their team and move it to Los Angeles, but he declined to discuss specifics. (Whittier Daily News 7/24)

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The Nashville Predators local owners have agreed to buy the ownership shares of disgraced financier William J. “Boots” Del Biaggio for $15.2 million in a bankruptcy sale that strengthens local control of the team.

Federal bankruptcy court records say a hearing is set for August 6 in San Francisco to finalize the deal that was filed in court on Friday. The purchase price for the 27 percent stake in the club is significantly less than the $25 million Del Biaggio paid in December 2007 when he joined a local group to close on the deal with former owner Craig Leipold.

The terms of the agreement still requires the approval of the NHL, the Nashville Sports Authority and CIT, which loaned money to the ownership group when it bought the team from Leipold. (The Tennessean 7/21)

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The Blue Jackets president believes that the casino taxes that will flow to Columbus and Franklin County would be the best fix for the hockey team’s financial woes.

“I think it is the most viable solution, and it wouldn’t require any other money being used,” Mike Priest said today. “But it’s up to the public sector to decide how it wants to use that money.”

Business, government and team officials have been meeting for more than a year to come up with a way to stem the Blue Jackets’ bleeding. The club is losing an estimated $12 million a year in operations.

A 2009 report blamed the team’s arena deal - the Blue Jackets pay $5 million annual rent and lose $4 million to run Nationwide Arena - as the biggest factor in the poor finances.

Local leaders have considered a number of possibilities, from using casino dollars to raising taxes on rental cars, hotel stays and alcoholic beverages… They say that losing the NHL franchise would devastate the Arena District.

Priest said using casino taxes is the most attractive idea so far because the city and county would not have to seek voter approval to use the tax money.

Four casinos…are approved to be built in Ohio. A 33 percent state tax on gross casino revenue could generate $24 million for Columbus and about $16 million for Franklin County… (The Columbus Dispatch 7/16)

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