2015 OKC Energy FC

[Jersey Boss]

Norman has a fine music festival every April that exceeds by miles OKC Fest. No special facility was needed to be built on the taxpayers back in order to have a successful event. Jazz in June should also be mentioned in the same point.

[borchard]

LeBron James still isn?t worth $500m a year to Cleveland economy, people, get over it | Field of Schemes
To recap for those who missed the whole “LeBron is worth $500 million a year” fiasco when it broke last year:

A staffer for Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald was reported by Bloomberg News to have said that the Cleveland Cavaliers re-signing LeBron James would be worth $500 million a year to the local economy.
FitzGerald’s office said that Bloomberg got it wrong, and they were only claiming LeBron was worth $53 million a year in local economic activity.
Lots of people, including me, pointed out that even this lower number was pretty implausible, and the overall impact of LeBron’s presence was at most something on the order of a few million a year, of which maybe a few hundred thousand gets returned to the city or county as actual tax receipts.
So repeating a $500 million impact figure that even the person who conducted the study says isn’t true is not a good start. But then the Guardian doubled down by citing Convention, Sports & Leisure, a consulting group that really should come with a warning label reading “objects in studies may be less lucrative than they appear”:

CSL overestimated the impact of the San Diego Padres‘ new stadium by including the economic activity at the city’s new convention center that opened at the same time.
The group took on a contract to study the impact of a new Los Angeles Angels stadium even though its corporate owner was also the Angels’ concessionaire.
It reported $109 million in economic benefits from a new D.C. United stadium, then later admitted that two-thirds of that amount had nothing to do with the stadium.

http://www.fieldofschemes.com/2015/0...verruns-again/

D.C. and United approve stadium deal (again), stick taxpayers with most cost overruns (again)
Posted on June 10, 2015 by Neil deMause
The city of Washington, D.C. and D.C. United have officially agreed to a new stadium deal! Yes, they already officially agreed to one last December, but apparently they left out a few things, and then one thing led to another and suddenly team execs were lunching with development officials from Virginia, and anyway, now it’s really settled, so the stadium is happening for sure.

Along with the previously announced $183 million in public cash and tax breaks, the new, updated deal provides that:

D.C. United will agree to pay for half of the first $20 million in any cost overruns.
The team will also provide a $5 million escrow fund to reimburse the district for its costs if the stadium ends up not getting built for any reason.
The district has to either reach an agreement to buy the stadium land by September 30, or begin eminent domain proceedings to seize the land from its current owners. If it fails to do so, United can seek to relocate elsewhere.
This is maybe a marginally better deal for taxpayers than the earlier one — originally United’s owners weren’t going to pay anything for cost overruns, so $10 million is better than nothing. It’s still the case, though, that the team’s costs are capped, while the public’s are not. But then, it’s not like D.C. has any experience with sports stadium projects sticking taxpayers with ballooning costs.

[borchard]

so does anyone know what's going on at Taft? I just drove by and all of the field pods, the luxury suites, or sitting out in the parking lot. The general admission section has been stacked up and put against the fence. Spring cleaning?

[bradh]

Are they striping the track?

[Edgar]

It could also be used for concerts. With the tear down of the airpark, there is an opening for another open air concert venue close to downtown. Apparently that's a major way FCD's stadium gets paid for every year.

what happened with the Downtown Airpark? I see no bookings.

[borchard]

what happened with the Downtown Airpark? I see no bookings.

The concert venue is gone. That is where the Wheeler District is going to be

[Laramie]

Economic impact studies are ways to attempt to 'paper the house' with figures used as window dressing . We refer to them when we want to drive home a point. Anyway, it's all good for talking points.

[Jersey Boss]

Economic impact studies are ways to attempt to 'paper the house' with figures used as window dressing . We refer to them when we want to drive home a point. Anyway, it's all good for talking points.

What are you trying to say here? Paper the house? Window dressing? Do you have anything to refute the studies that show that tax payer funded stadiums are not a huge money suck for the tax payers and a bonanza for the team owners?

[elitespy]

Just a question, I don't follow all the development here in OKC as much as I should, but what about the area directly east of the downtown airpark?

[borchard]

What are you trying to say here? Paper the house? Window dressing? Do you have anything to refute the studies that show that tax payer funded stadiums are not a huge money suck for the tax payers and a bonanza for the team owners?

I think that's what he's saying. I love reading Field of Schemes | sports stadium news and analysis to see editorials on stadium projects across the country.

[borchard]

Just a question, I don't follow all the development here in OKC as much as I should, but what about the area directly east of the downtown airpark?

That is going to be a huge development called The Wheeler District

[bradh]

No he is talking about the land east of Western, which I believe is NOT part of Wheeler.

That piece I think is owned by CHK or Aubrey, and has been previously highlighted as a potential soccer stadium location.

[kwhey]

Another question; if the NASL DOES prevail in their lawsuit against the weasel, and the Energy can't play in Taft after this year where do they go next year?
a. Bricktown Ballpark
b. PC Stadium in NW OKC
c. Wantland Stadium in Edmond
d. Back to Pribil?

One of two things are going to happen. Either they settle out of court or the NASL loses. They shouldn't haven taken the money the first go around.

[kwhey]

so does anyone know what's going on at Taft? I just drove by and all of the field pods, the luxury suites, or sitting out in the parking lot. The general admission section has been stacked up and put against the fence. Spring cleaning?

No games there for a month. Probably more construction.

[kwhey]

No he is talking about the land east of Western, which I believe is NOT part of Wheeler.

That piece I think is owned by CHK or Aubrey, and has been previously highlighted as a potential soccer stadium location.

Evans Electric and they are not interested in selling.

[Laramie]

What are you trying to say here? Paper the house? Window dressing? Do you have anything to refute the studies that show that tax payer funded stadiums are not a huge money suck for the tax payers and a bonanza for the team owners?

Jersey Boss, that was not an attack on the piece you referenced. Just saying that we have our sources when we want to drive home a point, which you did. I'm as guilty of this as anyone:

BTW, How many owners actually build their own stadiums and arenas to support a major professional sport (MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL, MLS)?

[Jersey Boss]

Jersey Boss, that was not an attack on the piece you referenced. Just saying that we have our sources when we want to drive home a point, which you did. I'm as guilty of this as anyone:

BTW, How many owners actually build their own stadiums and arenas to support a major professional sport (MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL, MLS)?

No "attack" taken, just some confusion. We're all good Laramie.

[borchard]

Saw this from a NY Cosmos fan talking about their team beating NYCFC last night in the Open Cup

It was an awesome atmosphere, there was more nycfc fans then there was RB fans last year. They got loud and cocky when they were up 0-2, boy what a contrast to how they walked out, soooo quiet and their heads low. I loved it, in the 90th min I said to myself " these are the Cardiac COSMOS, we got 'em right where we want em" sure enough Lucky pokes one in!
The entire team played their a$$ off, I got to say even if we had lost I would have been proud of my team, but a win.....it just doesn't get any better than that!

If only NY had more SOCCER fans, and LESS Cosmos fans... Geez! All these knuckle-dragging Cosmos fans. Don't they know that the real world-class players are on NYCFC? I guess they just don't like soccer. ;-)

[Laramie]

No he is talking about the land east of Western, which I believe is NOT part of Wheeler.

That piece I think is owned by CHK or Aubrey, and has been previously highlighted as a potential soccer stadium location.

IIRC the airpark is own by the Humphreys family.

[C. B.]

This is the graphic that some people have in mind. When this was posted in the Wheeler District thread, Pete and Steve talked about the area in purple being identified as a possible location for a soccer stadium. However, the preliminary Wheeler layout swallowed that area up.

-

[bradh]

Saw this from a NY Cosmos fan talking about their team beating NYCFC last night in the Open Cup


If only NY had more SOCCER fans, and LESS Cosmos fans... Geez! All these knuckle-dragging Cosmos fans. Don't they know that the real world-class players are on NYCFC? I guess they just don't like soccer. ;-)

What is your point?

[OKCretro]

Is Abby ogle's fiancé the man who runs the energy and the barons ?

[kwhey]

What is your point?

Trolling as normal.

[borchard]

Just pointing out the idiocy of some people's comments

[bradh]

Of us Energy fans here? Is that who you are calling idiotic?