JDSal45
Third String But Playing on Special Teams
- Joined
- Dec 21, 2004
- Messages
- 693
- Reaction score
- 16
PatsRI said:When these small market teams have shown that they have tried to maximize any potential source of revenue, then and only then will I feel sorry for them. We all kind of laughed when Gillette was built and Ford sponsored the parking lots and each gate and ramp had a different sponsor. McDonalds in a football stadium? Now I think we all, well almost all, understand that Kraft was being a good business man. Brown and Wilson won't even sell the naming rights, ok I can let that slide maybe but you can't tell me that there are no Ford dealers, .com companies, or banks that wouldn't love to get thier names out there in Cincy or Buffalo. They may not get as much as Kraft gets but at least make the attempt. If you look at comparisons of the stadiums (Brown: http://www.bengals.com/stadium/paulbrownstadium.asp, Gillette: http://www.patriots.com/stadium/index.cfm?ac=factchart ) itseems that Brown has more Club seats 7600 to 6000 and Suites 114 to 86. Gillette has a higher capacity 68,756 to 65,535 but regular gates are shared. My philosophy is if your team hadn't sucked for the past 10+ years then you should be getting some good revenue from those Suites. Kraft did it the right way, make a committment to making the team on the field better at the same time put on the full court press to sell that new/better product to fans and businesses. It's simple, fans know when an owner is (Kraft and the Sox Henry group) and is not (Jacobs) out to impove the team. When they sense that committment they stick with it (the Pete Carroll years) and support it financially. Have Brown's revenues gone up since hiring Lewis and this year making the playoffs? I'm willing to bet they have. Indy is near the bottom now but with the new stadium being built I'm also willing to bet they will shoot near the top. Tampa and Green Bay aren't what I'd call big markets but they hold up thier end of the revenues. Tampa? The joke of the league for 20 years? Why? Because new owners made the decision to invest in his team, not rely on NFL welfare.
People keep saying the taxpayers "built the Bengals a stadium"....they didn't. They DID build a stadium. Hamilton County in Ohio owns it however. Yes, the Bengals have the naming rights (which they have not exercised)....but beyond that Hamilton County collects much of the revenues from the stadium...the concessions, part of the luxury boxes, etc.
And the Bengals PAY A LEASE to play there. So yes, its still a good deal for the Bengals. But THEY DO NOT OWN THE ASSET...which in time will be worth hundreds upon hundreds of millions of dollars. So its only worth so much.
Some are implying the taxpayers actually GAVE a stadium to the Bengals and a lot of the other teams that have publically financed stadiums. That IS NOT THE CASE. The taxpayers paid for it....but they also own it. They don't give it to the teams, despite implications that is the case. I can't think of one case where that has occurred.
J D Sal
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