by Elvis 9 years 7 months ago Total posts: 41507 Joined: Mar 28 2015 Los Angeles Administrator Complicated and expensive: What recent NFL stadium deals can teach St. Louis POST #1 TOPIC AUTHOR http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt ... 7867e.htmlComplicated and expensive: What recent NFL stadium deals can teach St. LouisDavid HunnST. LOUIS • In the heated debate between football fans and stadium critics, people on both sides have been asking the same question:What other city would build two stadiums for the National Football League within 25 years?Well, Atlanta would.The Georgia Dome, home to the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons, opened in 1992 for $214 million, entirely financed by the state. It was renovated for $300 million not 10 years later. The public paid half.And it soon will be torn down. The Falcons and the Georgia World Congress Center are building a new stadium for $1.5 billion. It is to open in 2017.Three cities across the country have financed professional football stadiums in the past few years. Plans in Atlanta, Minneapolis and Santa Clara, Calif., are all different, the funding sources and taxing structures varied.But some consistencies are worthy of note as St. Louis aldermen prepare to publicly debate legislation this week that would help finance a $1 billion riverfront football stadium.Each deal took years to negotiate. Each changed over time. In each project, costs started under $1 billion. In each project, they rose to well over that. In each city, the public paid more than is commonly discussed.And each was labyrinthine in its complexity.“They are very complicated deals,” Minnesota Budget Director Margaret Kelly told the Post-Dispatch last week.“It was a lot of people working a long time to pull it together,” she said, speaking of her state’s plan. “The Vikings were trying to get a stadium built for years and years and years.”‘THERE WASN’T GOING TO BE ENOUGH’It took multiple trips from NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to get the Minnesota Vikings a new stadium. The team had worked for years to win state funding. But in the spring of 2012 the effort stalled. The Vikings’ lease on the Metrodome was running out. State officials feared the team would move to Los Angeles.Finally, the state Legislature passed a charitable gambling bill to back a $348 million bond measure. The state estimated the new games would eventually raise more than $50 million a year. Instead, they’re raising about $11 million.“It was very clear, once we got a year into stadium construction, that there wasn’t going to be enough revenue from that source to pay off the bonds,” said Michele Kelm-Helgen, chairman of the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority, which will operate the new building.So the state closed a corporate tax loophole, adding $20 million a year to the pot. In addition, it issued bonds backed by a series of Minneapolis convention center taxes, fronting an additional $150 million for stadium construction.Those city taxes, however, aren’t yet available — they’re still paying off debt on the Metrodome.Construction started late in 2013. The toll has risen from $975 million to $1.1 billion. The public will pay for just under half.SAN FRANCISCO 49ersNearly a decade ago, the San Francisco 49ers suggested that a new stadium could be built in suburban Santa Clara for no more than $800 million. After years of negotiations, lawsuits, state legislation, a public vote and the creation of a special government agency, total costs rose to more than $1.3 billion.Levi’s Stadium opened last year. It is touted for its lack of public funding. Still, Santa Clara gave the project $42 million in redevelopment dollars, authorized a new hotel tax worth an additional $35 million — and then, through its new Stadium Authority, fronted more than $1 billion in construction loans.The city pays off the loans with millions of dollars each year from stadium rent, naming rights, ticket taxes and seat sales. But the stadium authority still owes more than $500 million, and critics worry about what will happen if team popularity dips.ATLANTA FALCONSAtlanta’s plan is the simplest — the city committed to paying $200 million in bonds toward the project, and no more. Falcons owner Arthur Blank is taking out at least $850 million in loans himself, to add to seat license sales, naming rights and other revenue that the team could use for construction.But even in Atlanta, with an owner committed to staying in his region, the deal required years of negotiations, a state law and several multi-page agreements. Frank Poe, executive director of the Georgia World Congress Center, said all sides wanted the deal done right.“It’s hard to say what the test of time will look like, 50 years from now,” Poe said. “But none of the parties entered into negotiations understanding this would be repeated in the future.”The city bonds are backed by the extension of a hotel-motel tax, Poe said. The portion of the tax dedicated to the new stadium brings in about $20 million a year, more than enough to pay off the bonds. The extra goes for stadium debt and upkeep.Construction started this year. The tab has risen by half.COMPLICATED, CONTENTIOUSThis week, St. Louis aldermen will host committee meetings, open to the public, on financing legislation for the proposed football stadium along the Mississippi River just north of downtown.The aldermen will contemplate a city tax and funding package worth about $150 million. The legislation, if passed, would extend the $6 million annual Jones Dome debt and upkeep payments, which the city has made for two decades, for an additional 35 years. And it would rebate about two-thirds of the city’s game-day taxes — on tickets, hot dogs, beer, parking and T-shirts, for instance — back to the owner of the team.Aldermen and residents will almost certainly discuss the roles of other agencies. And there are several.Gov. Jay Nixon, through his stadium task force, has agreed to extend the state’s $12 million Jones Dome debt and maintenance payments to front an additional $151 million in bonds from the state’s general fund.The state’s development finance board has begun approving about $50 million in donation tax credits — an obscure program that rebates half the worth of a project’s charitable donations. The state Department of Economic Development has agreed to $43 million in toxic cleanup incentives. And, to bridge the gap, the public board that owns the Jones Dome will throw in $5 million, in cash.For some, that shows a desperation in the financing by a state and city that can’t afford it.Many assume the Rams will leave after this season. Team owner Stan Kroenke has presented his NFL colleagues with designs for a $2 billion stadium on land he owns in Los Angeles.The Oakland Raiders and San Diego Chargers have proposed competing plans in nearby Carson, Calif. The cities of Oakland and San Diego are scrambling to come up with their own proposals, in hopes of keeping their teams.Owners will vote this winter.Team officials and stadium planners in Atlanta, Minneapolis and Santa Clara say the rewards are worth the efforts.“This stadium has been an outstanding catalyst for the city,” said Santa Clara City Manager Julio Fuentes. Fuentes said Levi’s has attracted a $6.5 billion, 9 million-square-foot retail and lodging development, worth more than $16 million a year in city taxes, plus a 5 million-square-foot office park. After costs, the stadium rent alone is netting the city nearly $3 million a year, he said.“So it’s a good deal,” he insisted. “It’s incredible, really.” RFU Season Ticket Holder by The Ripper 9 years 7 months ago Total posts: 494 Joined: May 13 2015 Naples, FL Starter Re: Complicated and expensive: What recent NFL stadium deals can teach St. Louis POST #2 And it would rebate about two-thirds of the city’s game-day taxes — on tickets, hot dogs, beer, parking and T-shirts, for instance — back to the owner of the team.They fail to realize that those taxes take money right out of the owners pocket since it limits the amount that the team can charge and that's why the NFL says it's their's. A $5 ticket charge lowers the amount the team can charge for game day tickets and the same for the rest. 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by The Ripper 9 years 7 months ago Total posts: 494 Joined: May 13 2015 Naples, FL Starter Re: Complicated and expensive: What recent NFL stadium deals can teach St. Louis POST #2 And it would rebate about two-thirds of the city’s game-day taxes — on tickets, hot dogs, beer, parking and T-shirts, for instance — back to the owner of the team.They fail to realize that those taxes take money right out of the owners pocket since it limits the amount that the team can charge and that's why the NFL says it's their's. A $5 ticket charge lowers the amount the team can charge for game day tickets and the same for the rest. Reply 1 / 1 Display: All posts1 day7 days2 weeks1 month3 months6 months1 year Sort by: AuthorPost timeSubject Sort by: AscendingDescending Jump to: Forum Rams/NFL Other Sports Rams Fans United Q&A's Board Business