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January 29, 2009
Colts stadium losing even more money
Remember how the public's costs of operating the Indianapolis Colts' Lucas Oil Stadium were running $10 million a year over initial projections? Well, now it's $20 million. Or maybe $35 million.
"I'm hoping it's a first-year cost and ... not an ongoing type of cost," state senator Luke Kenley told TheIndyChannel.
Kenley probably shouldn't read today's Bond Buyer, then, which mentions: "Part of the problem is the possibility of $15 million in increased costs for the Conesco (sic) Fieldhouse as the National Basketball Association's Pacers renegotiate their lease this year." The Pacers' lease gives them the right to renegotiate after this year; why the city is already anticipating giving them a $15 million a year rent break is beyond me. Even if they are losing money, what are they going to do, move to Kansas City?
Apparently the Pacers want to renegotiate "game day" expenses, which is pretty much the total deal. It would be a little hard to renegotiate the current rental charge of ONE DOLLAR PER YEAR. Nor is there an assumption that they want to change the part of the deal where they get the revenues from the non-basketball events at the fieldhouse as well as their own games.
Posted by Fred McCarthy on February 2, 2009 06:21 PM
The Pacers aren't moving to Kansas City. The NBA will fail in Kansas City, especially having to share the sports dollar with the NFL and Baseball in a market relatively similar in size to Indianapolis.
Posted by Brent on February 15, 2009 03:35 PM