The Louisville Arena Authority's financial statements for '12, which included the first six months of management of the KFC Yum! Center by AEG, show that event revenue “dropped by more than $4 million,” according to Marcus Green of the Louisville COURIER-JOURNAL. However, Arena authority officials said that the revenue drop and “a reduction in arena expenses shouldn’t be compared with 2011’s figures because of AEG’s short time in charge of the building.” AEG took over arena operations from the Kentucky State Fair Board last summer. The authority, a nonprofit board appointed by Louisville’s mayor and Kentucky’s governor, is “responsible for paying off" the project’s $349M in construction bonds. The report “doesn’t explicitly show how the arena authority pulled together the money to make its two debt payments last year totaling more than" $20M. Some of the money included more than $3M “borrowed from a renovation fund and an increase in Metro Government’s annual contribution" to $9.8M, from $6.5M. The report showed that the authority had $26.2M in "operating revenues and other support last year, up from" $24.9M the year before. That is “largely [the] result of the additional city money, which made up the biggest chunk of arena revenues.” The arena authority’s net assets overall “fell by" $16.9M last year, "following a decline" of $14.6M the year before. The ‘12 figure includes “expenses such as depreciation of the building’s value," roughly $10M, and cash payments like $21.8M in "debt-related interest payments" (Louisville COURIER-JOURNAL, 6/3).
