While Pensacola Mayor Ashton Hayward tries to figure how to raise $2.5-5 million to rehab the Pensacola Bay Center and cover the half-million dollars of additional operational losses for Tom Benson’s G League basketball team, Seattle –the town most often thought to be the best fit for relocating Benson’s Pelicans– has reached an agreement to build a $600 million privately-funded arena at the Seattle Center that could host both a NBA and NHL team. According to news reports, construction could begin in 2018, and the facility could be ready by 2020.
Seattle has neither a NBA or NHL team. The Seattle Supersonics played there for 33 years in Seattle before an investment group purchased the franchise in 2006 and moved it to Oklahoma City in 2008.
In Shreveport, Mayor Ollie Tyler and the pro-Pelicans group “Slam Dunk for Shreveport” are picking up the pieces of their proposal to lure the Pelicans affiliate afterthe Shreveport City Council rejected a resolution to use $30 million in dedicated revenue bonds for a sports complex for the team.
“I’m going to do what God put me here to do, and that is to make this city better. If it’s his will … I’m not broken,” Mayor Tyler told Shreveport’s KSLA 12. “”It was unfortunate that we turned a company away with $139 million to invest. … But I respect the council’s decision.”
The $139 million was to be funded by Corporate Realty for hotels, retail and residential near the sports complex. Tyler Comeaux of Slam Dunk for Shreveport told KSLA 12 he wasn’t sure the city could salvage the deal and get a second chance with the Pelicans.
When asked about the lack of transparency concerning her negotiations with the NBA Pelicans, Taylor said she and her team could not disclose too much about the proposal without tipping off Pensacola.
In Pensacola, the public just learned last week about the costs associated with bringing the team here. There is no detailed proposal to host the team yet. Stephen Pate, the Pelicans’ Senior Director of Community and Governmental Affairs, hasn’t talked with the media about the negotiations. He attended the county commission meeting last week but did not speak or answer any questions. Pate has not addressed the city council in open session.
With Shreveport out of the picture, there is nothing holding back Mayor Hayward and the Pelicans from sharing more details of their negotiations.
If the parent team moves to Seattle, will the Pelicans still want a G League team in Pensacola?
Aw, come on now. Seattle and Pensacola have NOTHING in common except the fact that humans live in both cities.
Rick,
I would also submit that the CMP was built during a time of the great recession in Pensacola. The construction jobs and revenues derived by this project, for Pensacola based contractors, saved many citizens during a rough economic period.. Additionally, the City has gained a major “public asset.”
Dale,
You haven’t listed the amounts the Wahoos have paid annually to the CMPA, the Studers’ investments in the office building at the park and upgrades at the stadium for Double A baseball, and the increased development in downtown Pensacola since the park was built – much of it by the Studers. You also failed to include how much of that debt service was to clean up the pollution on the site and create the waterfront park. The stadium cost was about $12 million – the Studers added another $3 million for the upgrades.
The City took a weed-infested, contaminated property in the heart of downtown Pensacola that had become a campground for the homeless and made it one of the premier public waterfront parks on the Gulf Coast. Few people would argue Pensacola’s economy isn’t better off today than it was in 2006.
If a new sports arena for the Pelicans and Tom Benson can duplicate what the Wahoos and Studers have done for Pensacola, then let’s go. But the Pelicans and Mayor Hayward need to give us more details.
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Dale,
Please layout your calculations, particularly the property tax number. According to the county records, the property taxes on the city-owned stadium are $89187.77 – so how did you come up with $4.5M? Tell our readers how you came up with your litany of figures. Send us the links to the supporting documents. I’d be glad to go through each of them.
I figured we were done with sports teams and subsidizing them. The Wahoos cost the City of Pensacola MILLIONS OF DOLLARS!!!
$96,000,000 in Debt Service over 30 years
$4,500,000 in property taxes over the term of the debt service paid by the city
Current Subsidies, around $400,000 per year
In 2012, the CRA shifted $322,000 per year to the City’s General Fund budget along with 3 Employees
Untold expenses with regard to upgrades, repairs, etc which are the responsibility of the City.
NOW, they want to do this again! They must be insane.