The Meadowlands Sports Complex has been a phenomenal success by any economic or entertainment measure, and has put New Jersey on the international map of top venues. Some 8 million people visit here every year for more than 600 night and day events. It has hosted Pope John Paul 11, Pavarotti, the Final Four, the Army-Navy Game, World Cup, the Hamiltonian, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus and the Harlem Globetrotters. It is the only venue in the nation that hosts five professional teams Giants, jets, Nets, Devils and MetroStars.
The New Jersey Sports & Exposition Authority (NJSEA), created by the Legislature in 1971, opened the Meadowlands Racetrack, which handles the single highest volume of wagering of any track in America, and the $75-million, 77,000-seat Giants Stadium in 1976 (the Giants came that year; the jets in 1984); and the $90-million, 20,000-seat Continental Airlines Arena in 1981.
Since then, the State of New Jersey has called upon the NJSEA to expand its operations and assume new functions, and it has done so with spectacular success. In 1986, it purchased the Monmouth Park Jockey Club and operates Monmouth Park Racetrack. In 1992, the Legislature asked the Sports Authority to launch a new $268-million Atlantic City Convention Center, which opened two years ago and is a stellar, sellout venue. The NJSEA oversees operations of the Atlantic City Convention & Visitors Authority and is now rebuilding the former Atlantic City Boardwalk Convention Center.
The Legislature tapped the NJSEA to oversee the design and construction of the Thomas H. Kean State Aquarium in Camden, a world-class cultural and educational complex on the Delaware River, which features the second-largest open ocean tank in the nation.
The year 1992 also saw the Sports Authority provide $29 million in financing for the renovation of Rutgers University Stadium. In December, 1997, the Legislature authorized the Authority to acquire, construct, own and operate a convention center in Wildwood. In February plans for the $70-million center, four times as large as the existing Convention Hall, were unveiled. It will have a 72,000 square-foot exhibit hall, seating up to 10,000 people, a 12,000 square-foot ballroom, retail space and a glass-enclosed lobby it would be surrounded on three sides by beach.
Dennis R. Robinson, NJSE president and CEO, estimates the Authority generates a $1.24-billion annual economic impact on New Jerseys economy. The Authority has annual net revenues of over $200 million, employs more than 3,000 union and nonunion staffers and generates $62 million a year for state and local treasuries. Robinson, a graduate of Wesleyan University who earned a Masters in Sports Management from UMASS and has a Harvard MBA, has been with NJSEA since 1990. He had been chief operating officer for sports, entertainment and administration prior to taking over as President/CEO when Robert E. Mulcahy III left to become athletic director at Rutgers University. It was Robinson who worked out the financing package for the Atlantic City Convention Center and the State Aquarium and made sure their construction programs were on-time and on-budget.
Robinson personifies the current-age sports and entertainment CEO with a wide-ranging background in budget, operations, marketing, development and strategic responsibilities. He is repositioning the Sports Complex for the 21st century as a complete family complex combining sports, entertainment, cinema, dining, action bars, hotel, transit facilities, participatory game and sports facilities--and retail shops. While he is working on a strategic plan for the new millennium, he also has to oversee cost controls; worry about new revenue enhancement; keep current sporting team tenants happy; continue to upgrade existing facilities; and plan new venues.
Against this backdrop, John McMullen, owner of the New Jersey Devils of the National Hockey League (NHL), wants to move his team to a new stadium he is trying to convince the state to build in Hoboken. He says the Continental Arena doesn't have enough executive boxes to earn more income and that the Meadowlands site does not have rail transit. The Devils' lease at Continental Arena runs out at the end of the NHI. 2006/2007 season. His franchise gets an extra $5 million a year in a deal worked out by Governor Christie Whitman when McMullen threatened to leave a few years ago.
Meanwhile, the New Jersey Nets of the National Basketball Association (NBA), has been purchased for $150 million by a consortium of well-known people, led by Ray Chambers, the leveraged buyout genius and former partner with William E. Simon, who established Amelior, a philantrophic entity. He seeks to relocate the Nets to a new $300-million arena complex he wants to build in Newark, through a non-profit corporation. it would be a few blocks from the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, which he brought to the city.
His partners in the Nets now include Lewis Katz, Allen Bildner, L. Dennis Kozlowski, Alan Landis, Ray Walsh, Stan Gale, Finn Wentworth, Bill Cosby, David Gerstein, Henry and Joseph Taub, Jerry Cohen, Alan Aufzien and some management people, such as Nets President Michael Rowe and Willis Reed. Chambers wants the arena in downtown Newark to help boost the city's image and economy.
The Nets' lease, signed last October (which included enhanced multimillion-dollar annual payments in a ticket sale formula) at Continental Arena runs out at the end of the 2007-08 NBA season; but, the team can leave at any time. The NJSEA could penalize the team financially if it left the state before 2004. If it moved to Newark, however, there would be no penalty.
The 19-year-old Continental Arena, Robinson says 'has great sight lines, has been beautifully maintained and has been a pleasant venue to watch an event.' But, he concedes, it is short on luxury boxes, with only 29 private suites. New arenas around the country have 100 or more such suites. He says a new 20,000-seat arena now being discussed for a site between Giants Stadium and Route 120, would have many more luxury suites and would be accompanied by multitiered parking garages of two or three levels. As envisioned by NBBJ of Los Angeles and Ewing Cole of Philadelphia, a joint architectural effort, this 'new New Jersey Meadowlands' would have commercial development on the site of the existing arena, which would be connected to the proposed arena by a broad boulevard, or artery lined with sports bars, restaurants and shops. The commercial development on the site of the demolished Continental Arena may include a hotel and meeting facilities, multi-plex cinema and a phalanx of other entities to attract visitors, night and day, 365 days a year.
'This is a five-year project and by the time it is done, the current arena would be 23 or 24 years old -- a good shelf life,' advises Robinson. 'We need a long-term solution for the franchises in order for them to make long-term commitments. To maintain the competitiveness of the teams, you need new facilities.'
He says the Nets team is an exciting franchise and the Devils play a key role in the life of the Sports Complex and the state. He would like to keep them both. 'They will have to make a decision as to what is in their best long-term interests,' the Sports Authority chief executive says. 'We are offering a very viable proposal.'
The new arena-commercial enterprises development is indicative of the direction Robinson is moving the Sports Complex into the 21st century -- juxtaposing sports, entertainment, cinema, shops, sports bars and lounges and the like. 'There are bits and pieces of it all over the state, but we want to merge it into a critical mass here at the Sports Complex.'
That critical mass means transportation has to be improved for the new millennium, he says. 'It is a regional issue,' he explains. 'We have to have a heavy rail connection to the Sports Complex, so we can move great masses of people and reduce car traffic. The Allied junction endeavor is part of that. It is a sleeping giant.' Allied junction is a mixed-use commercial complex to be built over a train station in the Meadowlands.
'We had one of our best years in 1998,' he explains. 'Revenue from the three facilities was $156.6 million, one of the best years in a decade.'
Racing had its best year since 1990, with a $19.8 million bottom line. 'Despite the well-documented struggles of the regional and national racing industry and the need for continued reform, the Meadowlands Racetrack remains one of the country's most profitable facilities,' he advises.
Robinson says the NJSEA is adding $6 million in purse money to the Meadowlands Track and $3 million to Monmouth Park. 'We're also working with the horse racing industry to draft legislation for off-track betting and account wagering for racing.'
If a referendum is approved by voters this fall, it will be a boost to the states $1-billion racing industry. The 12 or so off-track betting parlors would be removed enough from the Sports Complex so as not to dampen attendance, and would be large enough (20,000 square feet or so) to accommodate dining and other activities.
'The stadium operating revenue came in at $11.2 million, another historically strong year.' There were 71 events at the stadium last year, drawing over 2 million people. The Dave Matthews Band, which appeared last June, grossed more than $2 million, the highest of its 1998 U.S. tour. The stadium will host the FIFA Women World Cup of soccer on June 19 and 26, with the opening ceremonies and two doubleheaders. Robinson says the 46 new private boxes, added for the 1998 Giants and jets season, completely sold out before construction was completed. They lease for $156,000 to $350,000 apiece and bring the total suites to 118. They include 26 tower suites, 14 terrace suites and 6 super suites. Robinson views that as another phase of a constant do-over of the stadium.
Now, the NJSEA is considering the possibility of creating a club seats section on the north side of the stadium, perhaps as many as 2,500. They would have wait-service, club space and a controlled environment. 'There are many small companies that want to entertain clients but can not afford the full suite. We think there's a market there.'
The arena's net income showed a historically very strong $1.5-million bottom line. 'We had 187 events at the arena in 1998, including 18 concerts, versus 10 the prior year,' explains the CEO. 'That the most this decade.'
So, the Sports Complex continues to be a source of pride and profit for New Jersey.
Комментариев нет:
Отправить комментарий