Got a little more information from the internetwebs about the new Stadium site. First a few links for your perusal…
Soccer Stadium Supporters Try to Allay Funding Fears – Ann E. Marimow
United Eager to Select Site – Steven Goff
Only the name remains the same – UnitedMania
The Full Stadium Press Conference (video) – Behind the Badge
Behind the scenes of the stadium presser (video) – Behind the Badge
From Marimow’s article, here is how the stadium will get funded, but I’m not entirely clear on how this works…
MacFarlane, sketching the outline of a possible deal, said the authority would own the stadium and the team would pay about 25 percent of the cost through rent, which he estimated would add up to $50 million. The remainder would be funded through new revenue generated by the stadium, primarily from ticket sales, he said.
Sooo…. If I read this right, the County would pay for and own the stadium ($180-195million, paid for by the sale of some bonds according to the article). Then DC United would pay back about 25% by paying rent (about $50million). So what happens after 25%?
There’s about $150million left on the books, and it says it will be paid by “new revenue generated by the stadium”. What does that mean exactly? Will DC United continue to pay, but it won’t be called “rent” since it is coming from ticket sales? Or does that mean that the County will collect taxes to cover the rest? Personally, I think that is the most likely, but I’d like some clarification on that.
Regardless, a new stadium for Unted is FANTASTIC. Renting at RFK was completely unfeasible from an econimic standpoint. The only revenue they got was from tickets as most of the $$$ from concessions and parking went to the DC Stadium Authority. So they will have control over the revenue at the new stadium. Likely there will be luxury suites which are a huge money maker. Indeed, all of the teams (at least I think so) with their own stadiums are profitable. All of those without stadiums are not profitable.