A draft of 29 1/2-year stadium lease agreements between
the city of Philadelphia and the Phillies and Eagles shows
that the city would "essentially absorb the extra cost" of
building a downtown ballpark and "cover the tab, in part"
with ticket surcharges and PSLs, according to Clea Benson of
the PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, who writes that the lease draft
"does not contain specific dollar amounts." Mayor John
Street Communications Dir Barbara Grant dismissed the
document, saying the information in the lease draft "likely
had changed since it was written." Grant: "It can't
possibly be accurate because those proposals are still being
worked on." Benson adds that the lease proposal "laid out a
plan under which the city would pay for all the costs of
acquiring and clearing for construction [on] the proposed
stadium sites." The Phillies would pay an "unspecified
portion" of construction costs and the Eagles "would pay all
the costs" to build their stadium at the city's sports
complex. Should that happen, the costs of buying land,
"reconfiguring" streets and relocating utility lines for the
downtown site, "estimated to be more than" $300M, "would
largely fall on the city." The plan "contains several new
concepts," such as the issuance of PSLs by a public entity,
usually done by the team (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 6/22).
WHERE THE STREET HAS A GAME: Street addressed the
Philadelphia Sports Congress yesterday and spoke about the
need for new facilities. Street: "We need new facilities.
... Now, we may disagree about where we need them. But do
we need them? Absolutely" (PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS, 6/22).
SPIN CONTROL: After Tuesday's City Council meeting was
"dominated by opponents" of the new stadiums," Eagles COO
Joe Banner "took exception to contentions" made by Smith
College Economics Professor Andrew Zimbalist and IN Univ.
Professor Mark Rosentraub, who were invited by the City
Council to "present the argument against stadium financing."
Banner disputed Zimbalist's claim that the new facilities
"would merely shift money from one place in the city to
another": "Ludicrous. Anybody saying that should
immediately lose credibility with anything else they say.
... It fundamentally contradicts the entire capitalist
system." Banner also responded to Rosentraub's claim that
the teams "could pay for the entire cost of the facilities
and still make" a 10% profit "every year": "I'd like to see
him produce math that could support that claim"
(PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 6/22). In Philadelphia, Mike Bruton
writes that the Eagles have been "exemplary in their
cooperation" with the City Council and wonders why the city
doesn't give the Eagles the OK to go ahead with their
stadium development. Bruton wonders if the city is keeping
the Eagles "joined at the hip" with the Phillies "in an
attempt to use some of the Eagles' funds to help subsidize
the estimated" $685M cost for the Phillies' proposed
downtown ballpark. Bruton advocates letting the Eagles
build their facility "because they are putting up a big
chunk of the cash" (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 6/22).
