Audit Finds Yankees Improperly Deducted $11M From Ballpark Rent
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Yankees Improperly Deducted Almost $1M From
Rent In '05 For New Ballpark Planning Costs |
N.Y. Controller William Thompson, in a year-long audit of Yankee Stadium set to be released Friday, found that the Yankees "improperly deducted more than" $11M from their annual rent bill at Yankee Stadium from '03-06, according to Juan Gonzalez of the N.Y. DAILY NEWS. Thompson said that the Yankees have "agreed to pay it all back -- with interest." Thompson found that the Yankees "overstated expenses" by more than $24M from '03-06, "which allowed it to underpay its rent bill on the city-owned stadium." The audit also indicated that the team "wrongly deducted from that rent nearly $10[M] in planning costs for the new Yankee Stadium," set to open next season. Since '01, the city of N.Y. has "let the team deduct up to" $5M from its annual rent to "pay for planning costs" for the new ballpark. Thompson said that Yankees execs took more than $9M in planning cost deductions in '06, "even though they had already claimed those same deductions in previous years." Team execs also deducted almost $1M from rent in '05 "for new stadium planning costs that Thompson found 'inappropriate.'" Yankees spokesperson Howard Rubenstein said of the audit, "The Yankees accept this finding. They will be paying it in full." Rubenstein added the team has "always cooperated" with Thompson and has "no problems with the audit." The Yankees in May agreed to pay back $9M to the city "in an installment plan." They paid the first $5M in May, while the additional $4M, plus interest, is due March 10. But Gonzalez notes after the Yankees agreed to pay the city, the auditors "discovered an additional $2.3[M] in rent underpayments connected to the team's revenue sharing arrangement" with MLB (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 11/7). City officials said that under the rental agreement, the Yankees pay the city a "percentage of all revenue from tickets." In N.Y., Jeremy Olshan reports from '03-06, the team took in more than $1B in ticket sales and paid the city $17M. The audit also found $1,021,157 in "duplicate payments related to the planning of the new stadium, and $626,015 in planning costs that were improperly deducted." These payments "included bonuses for the stadium's developer and travel expenses" (N.Y. POST, 11/7).
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