Posts Tagged Progressive Field
Game Being Played by Larry Dolan and Gateway
Posted by Roldo Bartimole in Economic Development, Media, People, Politicians on May 20th, 2010
May 20, 2010… It was a pleasure to see The Plain Dealer’s front page today. The PD for the first time in my memory asked a question that needed to be asked: “If Progressive Field needs improvements, who will pay the bill?” It was played prominently on Page One.
If there is any other board that needs PD probing besides the Port Authority it is the Gateway Economic Development Corp., the entity Cuyahoga County set up to own and operate the baseball field and the basketball arena (Progressive Field and the Quicken Arena).
It too has operated in vacuum, unwatched and unattended.
The answers to question about the so-called improvement at the baseball field are evasive both from the Cleveland Indians and from Gateway. True to standard.
Here’s what Indians PR spokesperson Bob DiBiasio said about the big but undisclosed plans, “We’re not there yet. It’s not a question that needs to be asked yet.”
Doesn’t need to be answered? That is strict PR bullshit from someone who never gets challenged by the news media. A happy face he has but not a trustful one for me. If you believe him on this one I have some special mortgage bonds to sell you.
“The Indians have not made any requests for alterations or payments,” was the answer from Gateway’s top operating official Todd Greathouse. Equally evasive. But not unexpected.
Don’t you think that the owner – Gateway – might want to inquire and have that information, especially when it has been in Crain’s Cleveland Business, online in my posts and now in the PD? And it could cost you millions of dollars? Oh why get testy.
It’s the disgusting proof – long tradition – that the owner are not in control of their facilities. The tenants are.
The question is WHO WILL PAY – THE TEAM OR THE PUBLIC?
Let me tell you. You will pay.
The PD – and I hope this ends the marriage the paper has had with Gateway – has been wed to Gateway and its desires from the beginning.
But the writing was on the wall.
Here’s what I wrote in the City News in April 2005:
“Gateway Economic Development Corp. Chairman Bill Reidy let it drop quietly, almost nonchalantly, during a non-eventful quarterly meeting a week ago.
“Reidy said that ‘the city and county would have to step in’ and put up money for Gateway’s capital fund when major repairs are necessary at Jacobs Field and Gund Arena (the original names for the two facilities
“What?” I wrote. Did I hear that right?
“Haven’t taxpayers paid enough for Gateway? Now Reidy wants the taxpayers to dig into their pockets for possibly hundreds of thousands of dollar in capital expenses that Gateway should have been putting aside itself,” I continued.
“Gateway, however, can’t put money aside because it has never charged the teams enough to maintain Jacobs Field and Gund Arena,” I went on.
“What’s so upsetting about this is that at that same meeting new representatives from the city – Chris Ronayne, Mayor Jane Campbell’s chief of staff – and Dennis Madden –Cuyahoga County Administrator – said nothing about this raid on their respective treasuries.” Somebody wake up our officials.
Let me tell you what I expect is happening.
Larry Dolan – and I expect Dan Gilbert won’t be far behind – has set in motion “improvements” at Progressive that will cost in the millions of dollars.
It will take some time.
But there will be money around. The sin tax extension of 10 years has a stipulation that the revenue up to $116 million will go to help pay for Browns Stadium for the City of Cleveland. However, once that total is reached the money – some $68 million had been the estimate – will go to the County. The tax has raised $94.3 million. So it’s not far from the $116 and is coming in at some $13 million a year.
The new money is not to go to Gateway. It is supposed to go to the County general fund. Where it is needed, I might add.
Watch County officials for the rest of this year. They must not be allowed to make any revisions that would send this money to Gateway.
At the time of the Reidy statement, I quoted a County official and wrote:
“’This is our money,’ said a County official. He went on to say, the County has paid an extra $100 million on other bonds and has to continue to paying. Now, it should derive the benefit from the 10 extra years of the sin tax, he said.”
So that’s the game – using more public dollars to boost the revenue of the teams.
My other suspicion, Dolan will use the improvement to help the revenue for the team and make it more valuable for sale purposes. Forbes in assessing the value of MLB teams puts the Indians at $391 million team value. Dolan bought the team for $323 from Dick Jacobs.
Do you think we ought to put a Dolan in as the County Chief executive to help rule whether the Cleveland Indians should get a helping of that $68 million coming due.” Matt Dolan has moved into Cuyahoga County to run for chief executive. Who would he represent in such a deal – his family or county taxpayers?
I think I know the answer.
My question is whether the Plain Dealer will deal with this money grab honestly. I hope so. But the PD’s record on this score is about as good as guys named Hagan, Dimora and Russo.
Here is the PD story:
Here was my take on the improvement deal: click here.
Progressive Field Will Get a Facelift of Some Kind
Posted by Roldo Bartimole in Economic Development on May 11th, 2010
May 11, 2010… You who are paying close attention may have noticed that in my last posting here I said that a Gateway official told me that – despite a contrary mention in a New York Times article – Progressive Field was NOT getting a re-do.
Well, apparently that’s not true. Sorry about that.
Crain’s Cleveland Business this week reports that the Cleveland baseball team will soon announce an agreement to make “significant changes to the ballpark.” As I said in the original post, who knew? Apparently, not us, the owners and taxpayers.
Apparently, the ball park owner, Gateway Development Corp., which you and I heavily helped pay to build, didn’t know either. Gateway said today it has not been advised of the changes. Crain’s knows but the owners don’t. Is that the way it’s supposed to go?
Bill Reidy, retired partner of PriceWaterhouseCoopers and a former city law director, is chairman of the Gateway board. Cuyahoga County and the City of Cleveland have representatives on the board.
I guess the Cleveland Indians and owner Larry Dolan make the decisions without much consultation with the owners – essentially us – the taxpayers of Cuyahoga County.
Gateway top two officials – Todd Greathouse and Brian Kelly – assured me that Gateway – even if the Indians made capital improvements – would not pay for them.
I kinda find that hard to believe if major changes are in the cards. I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Here’s the Crain’s story, which doesn’t say anything about the cost possibilities or who will pay for them:
http://www.crainscleveland.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100510/SUB1/100509860
To a question of how much Gateway has in any capital fund, the pair assured me it has none. Further, capital improvements WOULD be paid by the team. Each year an operating and capital fund is established with the team meeting the costs.
However, if these are to be major changes unlike normal capital improvements, the public needs to be assured that the team will cover the costs. Especially when it appears that Dolan is making the decisions without even consulting with Gateway’s board.
The public should hear directly from Gateway board as an assurance that no more public money will be plowed into the stadium for the revenue enhancement of the team owners.
The team now pays both operating and capital funding. This resolution came about after a long fight over stadium and arena costs. Without this agreement a few years back Gateway was faced with the possibility of bankruptcy. The team owners, among others, would have been embarrassed by such an occurrence.
Progressive Field, first known as Jacobs Field, was built in the early 1990s primarily from revenue from the County’s sin taxes, which raised some $266 million for the stadium and arena. It opened in 1994. The County had to add revenues to the project because of cost overruns. In addition to the “sin” taxes each year the County has had to pay some $10 million on bonds let by Cuyahoga County to cover additional costs. These payments have cost taxpayers more than $100 million thus far and they continue to be paid. The stadium alone cost $176 million to build. It now has a seat capacity of 45,199.
The team is worth, according to a Forbes magazine compilation of MLB teams worth, $391 million. Dolan paid Jacobs $323 million for the team in 2000. Forbes says gross revenues of the team last year were $170 million. The team is 21st of the 30 teams in gross revenues. Gate receipts were $37 million, according to this listing.
The Gateway board meets only about four times a year. Coverage of the board meetings by the news media has been infrequent to none in recent years. Maybe it needs to be on the assignment list again.