bob sellin the bobcats (Charlotte, Greensboro: rental car, rentals, loan)
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If the owner sells the team does that mean the new owner will continue to get the sweet heart deals that have cost us taxpayers millions. I bet they keep all of this stuff secret till they do the deal. Then its too late for we who paid for the arena to complain.
What good does it do to complain? I mean - the stadium is there. Not like we can change that.
Yes its there but why should we let anyone use it for free...I bet Bob leaves us holding the bag. I thought he signed a deal that wouldnt let him skip out.
Yes its there but why should we let anyone use it for free...I bet Bob leaves us holding the bag. I thought he signed a deal that wouldnt let him skip out.
Everything I have read (wh/ hasn't been much) has suggested he would lose money most likely - if he sells.
Yes its there but why should we let anyone use it for free...I bet Bob leaves us holding the bag. I thought he signed a deal that wouldnt let him skip out.
He's not "skipping out", He's selling the team. Big difference! The deal that was signed made it VERY costly to move the team in the first 2 decades. Seems to me that would be a good thing. Of course, I know there are people on here that could care less about the NBA, the Bobcats, the arena, etc, but does it make any sense to have an arena that hosts 43 less events a year? In order to prevent that from happening, the new owner has to receive the same "sweetheart deals" that Johnson got.
One other thing. I really dont understand the hatred directed at the Bobcats and Bob Johnson about the deals he was given. Frankly, he asked for no more than the owner/CEO of any other company would have asked for. I think it was good business sense for him to ask for what he got. Seems to me the anger should be directed at the city/county government for bending over backwards for him. Obviously, its not, because the same people keep getting elected over and over. Just sayin...
If the owner sells the team does that mean the new owner will continue to get the sweet heart deals that have cost us taxpayers millions. I bet they keep all of this stuff secret till they do the deal. Then its too late for we who paid for the arena to complain.
I thought the arena was being paid for by revenue generated by rental cars and hotel rentals in Charlotte?
I thought the arena was being paid for by revenue generated by rental cars and hotel rentals in Charlotte?
This only generates a fraction of the cost to pay for the arena. It cost ~$265M - $300M depending upon what was counted. In order to pay for it, the banks in town loaned about a 1/3 of this which was repaid by selling off tax payer owned land and other assets. Part of the deal also included tearing down the Charlotte Coliseum which was built as a general purpose for the citizens of Mecklenburg and which was voted in by the public. Because it was not specific to the NBA however it didn't have the things needed to make money for an NBA team so the deal included getting rid of this facility. It was torn down a couple of years ago and was the biggest arena in the Carolinas.
There were other numerous shell games, procedures and "found money" to make this project happen. The end result is the $300M Bobcats arena, the Bobcats get exclusive use of it, and they also receive all revenue generated by not only NBA events but anything else held there. i.e. rock concerts (what few there are), other sports events, etc. They even tried to charge CMS to hold high school graduations at the facility at something like $15,000/pop. This generated a particular amount of outrage and the Johnson decided it was a bad idea. The Bobcats do not pay property taxes on the facility. The city was also spending $1M -$2M in security costs/game.
The Charlotte Coliseum, as I mentioned earlier, was built as a general purpose facility for the public and the biggest reason for building it at the time was that it was also the largest indoor arena in the Carolinas. The rationale for building it was that many concerts were bypassing Charlotte for Greensboro and Columbia because their arenas seat more than the one in Charlotte. That got forgotten in the push for this Bobcats arena which seats significantly less than the Coliseum due to the skyboxes, and therefore concerts are again bypassing Charlotte. Greensboro has the largest indoor arena in the Carolinas as it did in the 1980s. I believe there is a new one under construction in Columbia as well.
All in All it was a huge expense, and loss of public venue for 43 NBA games/year. (which don't even sell out now. one of the promises of this by it's boosters was that it would lead to an economic revival and huge interest in downtown.)
You said
"The city was also spending $1M -$2M in security costs/game."
Where did you get this figure. 1 Million per GAME? I attend most of the home games and I've never seen anything even remotely resembling this type of security/police presence,
Also, I was here when CMS was going to be charged for using the venue. Curious if they were not charged whereever the had graduations in the past?? Maybe Johnson isns't so bad if he heard about the issue and decided that it wasn't a good idea. ;-)
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