Harrison Stadium - The rumours of my demise..

Somebody said in MLS N&A earlier that Kroenke has bond repayment guarantees in his stadium deal. He doesn't have an escrow account, though.

The bigger problem with the written guarantees is that they make the bonds taxable, which defeats the purpose of using government financing in the first place. I don't know what the tax status of Kroenke's financing is; they may not even be using municipal bonds, for all I know.

 

Paypal ok?

 

NJSEA: we want guarantees and an escrow established.

AEG: no, we'll give you neither.

time passes. (how much, i have no idea).

NJSEA is likely doing the study to justify their request for the guarantee.

hopefully, aeg will give the guarantee and njsea will back off the escrow idea (which is ridiculous to begin with).

basic haggling.


NJSEA: No, no, no. Come on. Do it properly.
AEG: What?
NJSEA: Haggle properly. This isn't worth nineteen.
AEG: Well, you just said it was worth twenty.
NJSEA: Ohh, dear. Ohh, dear. Come on. Haggle.
AEG: Huh. All right. I'll give you ten.
NJSEA: That's more like it. Ten?! Are you trying to insult me?! Me, with a poor dying grandmother?! Ten?!
AEG: All right. I'll give you eleven.
NJSEA: Now you're gettin' it. Eleven?! Did I hear you right?! Eleven?! This cost me twelve. You want to ruin me?!
AEG: Seventeen?
NJSEA: No, no, no, no. Seventeen.
AEG: Eighteen?
NJSEA: No, no. You go to fourteen now.
AEG: All right. I'll give you fourteen.
NJSEA: Fourteen?! Are you joking?!
AEG: That's what you told me to say.
NJSEA: Ohh, dear.
AEG: Ohh, tell me what to say. Please!
NJSEA: Offer me fourteen.
AEG: I'll give you fourteen.
NJSEA: He's offering me fourteen for this!
AEG: Fifteen!
NJSEA: Seventeen. My last word. I won't take a penny less, or strike me dead.
AEG: Sixteen.
NJSEA: Done. Nice to do business with you.

 

Write to Codey, Tell him how you feel

If you're so inclined, drop Gov. Codey a line and ask him to support the stadium project.

Here's my note:

Governor Codey,

As a MetroStars supporter since 1996, I'm writing today to ask for the state's financial support of the MetroStars stadium project in Harrison.

Not only will the stadium bring MLS fans from around the country to Harrison, but the stadium will benefit the community and the state by hosting NJ high school, college, and other local events.

As a sports fan, you know the excitement that a home-field advantage can provide. Unfortunately, the Giants Stadium experience offers little for the MetroStars fan base to be excited about. Facing 60,000 empty seats and long and searches for open concession stands, The Giants Stadium experience is so poor that some fans prefer to watch the MetroStars at home on television rather than in person.

I've read that the state has voiced concerns over the long-term viability of MLS. Certainly an organization that has five stadiums either operating or under construction in Columbus, LA, Dallas, Chicago, and (soon) Denver is planning for the long haul. It's only through control of facility-based revenue streams that MLS teams will become profitable.

As I father of a 1-yr old son who is already kicking a soccer ball, I'll tell you that a night at the MetroStars provides a more reasonably priced and family-friendly entertainment option than any other pro sports team in the metropolitan area.

I'm hoping that you'll put your and the state's support behind the MetroStars stadium in Harrison.

As a fellow West Orange resident, I'd hate for the state to lose a decade-old New Jersey business that provides affordable sports entertainment for my and thousands of other New Jersey families.

Thank you.

 

Re: Write to Codey, Tell him how you feel

Side Note: I was looking for a link on the Kroenke bond guarantee, and found it on the club website, here. In that:

So we can now better parse that six ways to sunday My first attempt is that this guarantee is meaningful because KSE is an enterprise that goes beyond the Rapids and therefore even if the Rapids fold, KSE is unlikely to fold and thus could be held to account.

So, being that AEG is also entity beyond MLS, (ie, covering such investements as the Staples Center and the LA Kings) the escrow account seems pointless as the conventional guarantee would in all likelihood be sufficient. And I can see why it would be such a dealbreaker for AEG.

 

Which is why i keep hoping some rich dude ala Glazer can help us out somehow.... A SSS with no concert limitations, no share (at least not with NJSEA) of parking, concessions, naming rights, etc. ... seems to me a better deal than what has been worked on for so long.... only to come to the present situation......

 

BTW, i guess this is a new wrinkle , no?
Jets officials make play for Giants Stadium
Surprising offer to N.J. heightens football's 2-team, 2-state drama
Wednesday, March 16, 2005
BY MATTHEW FUTTERMAN
Star-Ledger Staff
http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/index.ssf?/base/news-20/111095613979140.xml

The Jets have offered to buy Giants Stadium, acting Gov. Richard Codey said late yesterday, adding another bizarre twist to the high- stakes negotiations over the future of professional football in New Jersey.

On a day when New York officials boasted they were on the verge of snaring a Super Bowl game for the Jets' proposed West Side stadium, New Jersey's governor said the team has offered at least $120 million for the state- owned facility in the Meadowlands.

State officials consider a deal to sell the 28-year-old stadium to the Jets the longest of long shots. But if talks proceed, it sets up the possibility of the Giants becoming tenants in the stadium that bears their name.



FWIW, this is officially worse than FUBAR when it comes to stadium negotiations

 

They should just move the MetroStars to Toronto. Why not? It has an investor group, an SSS on the way, and most importantly, it's cosmopolitan.

 

I wonder what Mike Bloomberg thinks of this. How weird would it be for the Jets to stay in NJ and have the Giants as tenants? Or the Jets in NJ and the Giants in the WSS?

 

Just bild the stadium. Don't let the Metros leave. The league is folling tjemselves by saying than they don't need a team in NY.NJ

 

wow.

just, wow.

well he did say it's a longshot

It would be funny if it weren't so tragic

(and my guess is as long as he gets the Olympics and an NFL team in there, he won't care.)

 

?

I couldn't resist.

 

One way to look at it is stated well above. Metrostars are probably overpaying NJSEA now. They don't have much alternative. Anschutz doesn't mind investing in a SSS/multi-purpose stadium but would prefer tax-exempt bonds. NJSEA wants in on the profit. NJSEA probably has enough clout to make sure they're satisfied before any public deal in Jersey happens.

How about building it privately? Then you get these sorts of problems
https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?p=4406729

The state can pretty much arbitrarily set a property value and then put whatever tax rate they want on it. Not to mention the ticket "surcharges" that might happen anyways. If the public is with you, they tend not to be "against" you. Doing business in NJ without the state on your side is probably considered too "risky" by AEG. It has little to do with the viability of the SSS itself IMO. Not to mention the needed infrastructure & possibly parking developments that people seem to want.

Plus, why would Anschutz put his money in the bank for 30 years. That's gotta rival his life expectancy. And I don't think NSEA can resist siphoning off any money in the bank regardless of how well the SSS might do.

 

they're not saying that at all.

they're saying that the league would be better off without a team in ny/nj under the current scenario, if that's the way it stays.

right now, the metros are a money pit.

 

For the record, Garber also said he couldn't contemplate not having a team in the market.

 

Umm Never mind, i guess?

Jets deny making serious offer to buy Giants Stadium
3/16/2005, 12:22 p.m. ET
The Associated Press
http://www.nj.com/newsflash/jersey/index.ssf?/base/news-13/1110993644187540.xml&storylist=jersey

"TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — The New York Jets said Wednesday that any offer made by the team's president to buy Giants Stadium was a joke that was misinterpreted by New Jersey's acting governor, who was not in on the conversation."

a 120 million dollar joke... Good one... i guess Zoffinger could do the same for us... joke about gettting us a deal, but put it in paper and sign it too

 

More Jets news. Sweet God, I just give up on all of this. I don't even know who to root for (er, against).

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2014486

 

nice. I say NYC sports fan just boycott everything untill they implode.

 

Monopoly indeed...

In other news, Steinbrenner is about to sue the jets for libel, saying he hates cablevision twice as much as they do, and was insulted by the yankees not being considered a "major sports event"

 

My heart goes out to you guys. This has truly become a circus of liberal proportions

Frankie

 

bah, this is all a vicious cycle, ill just keep my fingers crossed for another year.

 

I wish this drama would all just end.

 

Yep, it's so sad, that very often having no news is better than having them ....sigh.....

 

I emailed Tom Moran, the author of one of the above articles, with this:

--
My question is, if the NJSEA is earning $18 million a year *after expenses*,
isn't that a profit? And if that is reduced to $6.3 million, isn't that
just a reduction in profit, rather than a 'loss'? It seems to me the Giants
are subsidizing NJSEA, rather than the other way around.
--

He responded:

Thanks for the note.

You could look at it that way. But the state owns the stadium, gets its $18
million mostly because the contract with the Giants calls for the two
parties to split revenues on things like parking, concesions,
advertisements. Then the state pays to actually run the stadium.

But yeah, you could look at the drop from $18 mill to $6 mill as a reduction
in profit, rather than a loss. Either way you look at it, tho, the taxpayer
is worse off by $12 million a year.

It does get more complicated that I have space to discuss in a column,
though. For example, if the Giants build a new stadium, and they get more
revenue from things like luxury suites and clubs seats, the sales tax
revenue flowing into state coffers would increase somewhat, reducing the
taxpayer loss. Codey argues that would be larger than $12 mill a year, so
taxpayers would actually gain. Others say the sales tax boost would be
smaller, so the taxpayer would lose.
--

FWIW, I still say the state legislated itself an automatic revenue stream, and is now just whinging about losing it. $18 Million a year is an awful lot of rent to pay for a stadium that's 30 years old.

 

Yup - not much to argue with the last paragraph.

Fook em