Beth Rich, city councilwoman has an idea for a new football stadium to be built on the campus of South Alabama. Wants the city to be part owner and for the Dollar General & Senior Bowls to be moved to be played there, from from Ladd. Also selected city events including high school football.
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Hope you guys get your stadium. College football deserves to be played on college campuses.
Except for being on campus, sounds like the same thing Birmingham, JeffCo and UAB are trying to get together. I got no problem with either cities ideas, and probably means the end of Ladd and Legion. Swallowed by the neighborhoods they live in.
That would be awesome if the city actually partnered with USA on this. The city would be a primary benefactor of such a stadium, so why not have them kick in some bones?
Here's how it could play out
Initial payment
10m from the University
5m from the City/County
The city would commit to financing 10m, and the University would commit to financing 50m. That would get us to 75m. Both entities can easily digest such an investment.
USA would also provide the land to the partnership. Parking would remain under the control of USA.
That would leave the debt service to USA around 1.5 million a year, and to the City at 300,000 per year. The city would get the revenue from the Senior and Dollar General Bowls, plus the right to rent free use of the stadium for a certain number of other days during the year. They could use it for city events and keep the rent from that. USA would get first dibs on it and would have most of the use of the stadium, They could split concert revenue based upon a 4/5ths to USA, 1/5th to the City formula. You'd need an administration board, but that's not a real barrier.
I'm not in favor of spending money like its going out of style, but if the city is willing to put in like that, I think we can swing 10 million down (heck its only half a year's subsidy for our athletic program anyway) plus 1.5 million a year to get a brand new, state of the art on campus facility.
That would be a fair deal. The city gets to keep the Senior and Dollar General Bowls and the revenue from the tourism and the University gets help building the stadium. Everyone pays their fair share. And the city doesn't have to keep spending millions to keep Ladd-Peebles standing. And they could find other uses as well for the facility.
I think that other than an end of the year all star game of state championship, the field isn't going to be suitable for regular season high school games. There are only a couple of high schools still using Ladd. They can do what they did when there were double the number of teams using Ladd....play on Thursdays and Saturdays at other high school venues. Or, it might be a nice little signal to the Mobile County School Board and to Murphy HS, that maybe they might want to buy Ladd anyway. I think the City would literally give them the stadium for 1 dollar if they'd be willing to take it off the City's hands. The school board is refusing to do so, but if that meant that 4 of their high schools would play many of their home games on Thursdays and Saturdays, well then that might just prod them to buy the stadium.
Or we can just make Ladd-Peebles into some sort of park or even sell it for development.
I'm on board with this as long as USA is in complete control of all operating activities. The City of Mobile has shown that they cannot manage concessions at Ladd, so I don't want them with any control over something like that again.
(02-02-2018 07:57 PM)USAJag2011 Wrote: [ -> ]I'm on board with this as long as USA is in complete control of all operating activities. The City of Mobile has shown that they cannot manage concessions at Ladd, so I don't want them with any control over something like that again.
That's an easy fix. Just have the city cede concession management to USA or its agent and split the proceeds with the city in the same ratio as the investment.
I'd also ensure that USA retained all parking receipts and control.
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Here's how it would work
A board, with seats that are in proportion to the investment (which means USA would control it) would handle all management issues related to the stadium. The original agreement would specify that a supermajority would be required (at least 1 vote from a City board member) in order to change the financial allocations or the scheduling allocations (to protect the city) outside of the subsequent investment provision below, but other than that, it would be a 50% plus one vote, meaning that it is USA that is in control.
I think the City/County wouldn't mind that. Because, they
1) Are no longer spending millions to prop up Ladd. They'd still be spending millions but they'd be getting something they could actually compete with other cities with in return
2) They get a state of the art facility to keep the DG Bowl and the Senior Bowl and they get to try and compete for events using a NEW facility
3) The city no longer has to effectively subsidize the school systems' athletic program
Now, there is one open issue. The issue of maintenance and subsequent investments in the facility. Ok, here's how it would work. The vote to make improvements or additional investments shall be made on a 50% plus 1 vote. Meaning USA will decide. If the City does not elect to invest in the same proportion as the City, then the City will lose some of its percentage gate, its scheduled usage, its board seats and its ownership. Easy enough. By the way, I don't think the City will care about this either, because they really don't care so long as the Senior Bowl and DG Bowl are protected and they no longer have to subsidize Ladd.
By the way, the requested investment from the City works out to about 13 bucks a person up front and about 3 dollars a year per capita after that.
How about a proposed name for this joint venture? Jaguar Field at Mobile City Stadium?
I guess if the BayBears are headed to North Alabama in 2020, any high school games can be moved to Hank Aaron Stadium. Once the on-campus stadium is built then Ladd Peebles could come down.
If the BayBears stay, or are replaced, there should still be some available dates for high school football even in scenarios where USA would have 8 home games (7 plus CCG), as that still leaves at least six weeks during the college football season at USA’s stadium. Minor league baseball has to finish by September 15, so the only issue with Hank Aaron would be the first 3-4 weeks of the high school season.
(02-04-2018 10:15 AM)chargeradio Wrote: [ -> ]I guess if the BayBears are headed to North Alabama in 2020, any high school games can be moved to Hank Aaron Stadium. Once the on-campus stadium is built then Ladd Peebles could come down.
If the BayBears stay, or are replaced, there should still be some available dates for high school football even in scenarios where USA would have 8 home games (7 plus CCG), as that still leaves at least six weeks during the college football season at USA’s stadium. Minor league baseball has to finish by September 15, so the only issue with Hank Aaron would be the first 3-4 weeks of the high school season.
The City should not be paying for high school football stadiums. Or to convert a minor league baseball stadium to football. That is the job of the school system. Basically, the City wants the School system to take either Hank Aaron or Ladd Stadium off the city's hands.
Years ago, there were 6 teams using Ladd Stadium for home football games. They made it work. Now there are only 3. They can easily be accommodated at other existing high school stadiums. If those schools' backers want to not be a tenant at another high school, they can put together a deal to take over Ladd or the Hank...And lets not kid ourselves...the City would sell both those facilities for 1 dollar to the School Board if USA had a football stadium available for the DG Bowl and the Senior Bowl.
Quite frankly, I see no need for a minor league baseball team in Mobile. If a suburb wants to spend 50-100 million bucks in a giveaway to a private business, they're welcome to do so.