KeyArena Rebuild RFPs Are In

 Other Arenas, Property  Comments Off on KeyArena Rebuild RFPs Are In
May 012017
 

KeyArena RFP Responses

The KeyArena RFP announced by Ed Murray back in October 2016 has had more detailed, although still annotated as “redacted for public,” responses.  The AEG/Seattle Partners response is a 6 page executive summary and a 690 page full proposal pdf that includes letters of support from other NBA team owners.  The Oak View Group has submitted a 3 page executive summary and a 108 page proposal.  This is going to take some time to comb through, so I’ll add more details when time permits.  I added the Key RFP page to the list of links above.

King5 has a story that summarizes some details of the proposals, which can give you some inspiration on what to look out for.

Russ Partners with SoDo Arena Group (ArenaCo) “not just for PR”

 Other Arenas, PR Campaign  Comments Off on Russ Partners with SoDo Arena Group (ArenaCo) “not just for PR”
Nov 142016
 

Chris Hansen’s “all private, but not really” arena plans needed to be re-injected into the news cycle a bit more and so there’s this…

Bringing local celebrities into ownership groups is not exactly new, of course.  Will Smith owns a bit of the 76ers, Jay Z owned a tiny bit of the Barclay’s Center and Nets, Fergie and JLo (and many others) own a bit of the Dolphins, etc.

But, as far as generating local excitement for Hansen’s plans vs an almost-RFP’ed “something” to the KeyArena, this bit of news may be exciting enough to be worth giving Russell Wilson a chunk of the arena/team, if it happens.  (As these are usually private transactions, we have no idea if Russell becomes a partner as payment for endorsement services or if he signs a check from his personal bank account and the percentages involved have not been disclosed).

Now if only Hansen could find a NHL team not too cheap to participate in his privately financed arena.  Oh bother.

The Coyotes and Arizona State University announced that the Coyotes have entered into an exclusive negotiation agreement with Catellus Development Corp., ASU’s athletic facilities district developer, to work towards the finalization of a new arena and commercial development project within the 330-acre district along Tempe Town Lake.

Correction:  An “unnamed, but familiar” source says it’s not just for PR, but won’t tell us any terms of the arrangement.  Not just a PR figurehead could still be “we’ll give you 0.1% of the arena if you schmooze the right councilmembers and talk up the deal on sports radio”.

A person familiar with the agreement told KIRO Radio’s Michael Lewis that Wilson independently approached the Seattle Arena partnership, making it a five-member team. Wilson is a financial investor – not just a PR figurehead – in the partnership, though the source would not disclose the terms

Hansen Seeks to Terminate MOU in SoDo, Build Privately and Scoops KeyArena Remodel RFP

 Finance, MOU, Other Arenas, PR Campaign  Comments Off on Hansen Seeks to Terminate MOU in SoDo, Build Privately and Scoops KeyArena Remodel RFP
Oct 312016
 

Chris Hansen and SoDo Arena

Chris Hansen re-emerged from the inky shadows and dropped a bit of a bombshell last week in a letter sent to the City Council, County Executive Constantine, and Mayor Ed Murray.  Hansen says his group no longer needs public bonds to assist with financing the arena (even though it wasn’t about the financing but a means to return tax money to the project) and is, instead, able to proceed with only future tax money being expressly abated.

We have concluded that a changed economic climate makes possible the private financing of the arena. For that reason, and to address concerns expressed by city council members, we would consider revising the street vacation petition to eliminate public financing of the arena. In such a case the MOU would be terminated and the rights and obligations of the parties under the MOU would end. The City and County would recoup the $200 million in debt capacity, and tax revenue streams generated by the arena would cease to be encumbered for arena debt service.

  • Approval of the street vacation
  • Granting of a waiver of the City’s admissions tax for the arena, just as similar waivers have been granted for the other sports venues
  • Adjustment of the City’s B&O tax rate for revenue generated out-of-town

The letter glosses over the fact that the admissions tax was the largest chunk of the money for the prior bond repayments and the other venues in town (Centurylink and SafeCo Field) did a tax-swap where the county collects admissions tax even though they’re venues within the city limits (and they only collect a fraction of the legally allowed 10% admissions tax).  Details may be coming, but a few days later the public learned why Hansen was grabbing headlines where he could.

KeyArena Remodel RFP On the Way

We learned a few days after Hansen’s announcement that senior analyst for Mayor Murray, Sara Belz, had been a point person for soliciting KeyArena renovation proposals with Irving Azoff and Tim Leiweke in one group and current KeyArena operator AEG in another.  Apparently the discussions have been off-and-on for a while, maybe being hinted at during the “did AEGCOM’s report get hidden by the council” story in April 2016.  The mayor was planning to make an announcement of the plan to issue the official RFP to renovate the KeyArena in January 2017 and Hansen may have rushed his announcement to refocus the public on his plan.  Details are even more unknown, since an RFP is mostly a framework for a project and bidders need to respond appropriately.

Still, as the NBA season kicks off, Seattle has a lot of arena news, but there are no NBA teams available, no plans to expand the league, and then there’s the great unknown of the NHL.

Donald Sterling’s Not Ready to Fade Into Obscurity, Clips Sale of Team

 Lawsuit, Other Arenas  Comments Off on Donald Sterling’s Not Ready to Fade Into Obscurity, Clips Sale of Team
Jun 102014
 

Donald Sterling has reversed course, instead vowing to fight the sale of the LA Clippers to Steve Ballmer.  Yes, we all saw this coming, but that doesn’t make this any less amusing.

“From the onset, I did not want to sell the Los Angeles Clippers,” he said in the letter. “I believe that Adam Silver acted in haste by illegally ordering the forced sale of the Clippers, banning me for life from the NBA and imposing the fine. Adam Silver’s conduct in doing so without conducting any real investigation was wrong.

“The action taken by Adam Silver and the NBA constitutes a violation of my rights and fly in the face of the freedoms that are afforded to all Americans.”

Different circumstances, entirely, but it will be entertaining to see what goes on in a lawsuit against the NBA (like so many had suggested Hansen should do re: the Kings).  Will LeBron and the Players Association follow through on their threats to boycott ?

Steve Ballmer Goes Rogue, in LA

 Finance, Other Arenas, Security  Comments Off on Steve Ballmer Goes Rogue, in LA
May 292014
 

We’re all in (LA bitches, Seattle can keep their rain clouds)!

Steve Ballmer has had enough time on the sidelines and, now that he’s retired, doesn’t need Hansen as his “the city should have some skin in the game” pauper beard anymore.  $2B to buy the LA Clippers, with a promise not to relocate.

Of course, the Sterlings still have to interject some drama here.  Per ESPN:

 The agreement is going straight to the NBA for final approval and does not require additional approval from banned Clippers owner Donald Sterling, according to sources.

The Sterling family trust, which owned the Clippers, had rules and guidelines regarding mental incapacitation, sources told Shelburne and ESPN.com’s Darren Rovell. Very recently, sources said, Donald Sterling was found by experts to be incapacitated. His wife Shelly Sterling then became the sole trustee and had the power to deal directly with Ballmer, according to sources.

If I were to coin a hashtag, I guess Hansen got #Ballmered

Art Thiel’s perpective on all this:

Ballmer was Seattle’s muscle when it came to getting the NBA back to town. He partnered with Seattle native Chris Hansen to seek an arena in SoDo and relocate the Kings from Sacramento, a futile 15-month saga that previously led the Can You Top This? list of implausible sports-business stories.

When Sacramento, led by Kevin Johnson, an ex-NBA star turned Sactown mayor and forever the pet of former commissioner David Stern, found the money and the arena plan one year ago to keep the Kings, it was the beginning of the end for Ballmer’s Seattle ambitions.

$2.5 Billion Dollars ???

 Finance, Lawsuit, Other Arenas, Security  Comments Off on $2.5 Billion Dollars ???
May 272014
 

Ok, so this could all be bluster, but this is absolutely an insane amount of money for an NBA team.  Maybe we all vastly under-estimate how profitable this game is.  Remind me again how Ballmer and Hansen couldn’t pay for their own building ?

 

From Sterling’s response, it sounds like I need to pick up some popcorn.

INTRODUCTION
On the basis of remarks made in a livingroom during a “lovers’ quarrel,” which were illegally recorded and then disclosed months later in retaliation for a lawsuit by Mr. Sterling’s wife, the NBA seeks to forcibly strip Mr. Sterling and his wife of their ownership interest in the Los Angeles Clippers. The NBA’s use of this illegal recording constitutes a clear and blatant violation of Mr. Sterling’s California constitutional rights. The authors of the charge did not have the courage, decency, or honesty to acknowledge the circumstances surrounding Mr. Sterling’s jealous rant or even that the source of their information was borne from the “fruit of the poisonous tree.” So, in reality, Mr. Sterling is being banned for life, fined $2.5 million, and stripped of his ownership for a purely private conversation with his lover that he did not know was being recorded and that he never intended would see the light of day. We do not believe a court in the United States of America will enforce the draconian penalties imposed on Mr. Sterling in these circumstances, and indeed, we believe that preservation of Mr. Sterling’s constitutional rights requires that these sham proceedings be terminated in Mr. Sterling’s favor. This is particularly true when over its entire history the NBA has never fined anyone as much as $2.5 million, never suspended any owner for life, and never undertaken to confiscate an owner’s team for any offense, much less an alleged offense originating in a conversation in a private setting that was illegally recorded

 

I Missed My Chance ?

update 5/28  at 7PM PST

 

Bids are In

update 5/29 at 4 PM

The first round of bids are in, Ballmer may be in the lead.

Sources close to the process believe that former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer’s group currently has the leading bid, however the situation remains fluid as negotiations continue with the two other strong groups and Shelly Sterling works to persuade her husband of 58 years to agree to sell the team.

Steve Ballmer in WSJ – If I Bought Clippers, I’d Leave Them in LA

 Finance, Other Arenas  2 Responses »
May 162014
 

The Wall Street Journal sat down with Steve Ballmer and talked about his golf game, the new CEO, and if he’d buy the Clippers.  It turns out, Steve has considered that option but doesn’t feel obligated to bring the NBA to Seattle.  He may be a billionaire, but he’s not foolish with his money.

WSJ: You’ve tried a couple times to buy an NBA franchise to return a basketball team to Seattle. Are you interested in the Los Angeles Clippers, if the team goes up for sale?

Ballmer: I have nothing definitive to say. Am I right on top of what’s going on there? Absolutely I am. I love basketball, and I’d love to participate at some point in the NBA. If the opportunity is outside of Seattle, so be it. I will learn about any team that comes up for sale at this point.

WSJ: So you wouldn’t move the Clippers to Seattle?

Ballmer: If I get interested in the Clippers, it would be for Los Angeles. I don’t work anymore, so I have more geographic flexibility than I did a year, year-and-a half ago. Moving them anywhere else would be value destructive.

NHL Commissioner Bettman – SoDo is A No Go (for forseeable future)

 MOU, Other Arenas, PR Campaign  Comments Off on NHL Commissioner Bettman – SoDo is A No Go (for forseeable future)
Apr 252014
 

Bettman backs off from the talk of Seattle being an inevitable for the NHL.  Per the Seattle Times:

“Until there is some better certainty about a building and its availability to an NHL team,” Bettman said, “there’s really not a whole lot of point in even going further in the thought process.”

Others involved in NHL to Seattle rumors are similarly stymied:

With Ballmer and Hansen out of the hockey ownership equation, the only known candidate interested in downtown Seattle is New York investment banker Ray Bartoszek — who had a deal to move the Phoenix Coyotes here last summer in the event their new ownership deal in Arizona fell through. Once the Coyotes secured a deal to stay in Arizona last July, Bartoszek began exploring options for a Seattle expansion team and playing in a Sodo arena built by Ballmer and Hansen.  But in an interview Wednesday at his office in Greenwich, Conn., Bartoszek admitted he doesn’t see much hope of a Sodo deal happening anymore.  Bartoszek won’t rule out Sodo completely, but is exploring other options.  “We’re at the point now where somebody will have to get creative to make this happen,” he said.  One option Bartoszek began looking into this week was a major KeyArena overhaul into a bigger, hockey-only venue. Bartoszek has ruled out Bellevue as an arena site — even though some investors are exploring the possibility of building there.

So, with the NHL mum, I guess that just leaves people to salivate over the Bucks having their deal fall apart.  How noble.

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