[Mpls] New Yankee Stadium

[David Brauer]

On Jun 20, 2005, at 12:37 PM, Jeremy Wieland wrote:

> Don't know if anyone was following the news this week.  Just got =20
> back from
> New York and the headlines there?  Steinbrenner to lay out $800 =20
> million out
> of pocket for a new baseball stadium.  I would love to know how =20
> that works
> for George, but not for Carl.

It works on a couple of levels.

The biggest one is that any George kicks in lots of money (about $100 =20=

mill, I think) to the rest of Major League baseball through revenue =20
sharing. That's because of his massive Cable TV contract in the =20
nation's largest market, and higher ticket prices 'cause everything =20
costs more in NYC, and about a million and a half more fans than the =20
Twins because of the Yankees' perennial success.

HOWEVER - and this is key to understanding the unique economics of =20
the Yankee stadium deal =97 MLB rules let you deduct stadium debt =20
service from profits used to calculate revenue sharing. Therefore, in =20=

effect, George gets to keep money he otherwise gives away to other =20
owners to spend on his new playpen, replete with more suites and a =20
new club level.

This sort of cash flow stream is simply not available to other =20
owners. (SF did its private deal by charging about 50 percent more =20
per ticket than other places with new stadia -  function of high Bay =20
area prices and also the park's stunning beauty. The Cardinals mostly =20=

private deal was amply explained by the Strib this weekend.)

Also, it should be noted that in any apples-to-apples comparison, =20
local NYC government is spending about $300 million to build new =20
parking ramps, a new subway stop and swap parkland in the Bronx. So =20
if you're tacking on the $84 million in county infrastructure costs =20
onto the Twins' ledger, the Yankee thing is a $1.1 billion project of =20=

which the Yanks have offered $800 million.

David Brauer
Ballpark geek
Kingfield=