Stadium Capacity ( 21K, 23K, 25K, 5K SRO ??? )

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What do u think the stadium will start out at and how much can it be expanded??

21,000 - 23,000 no expansion
5
7%
21,000 - 9,000 expanded
8
11%
25,000 - 10,000 expanded
33
45%
30,000 - 10,000 expanded
21
28%
35,000 - 5,000 expanded
4
5%
90,000 -10,000 expanded
3
4%
 
Total votes: 74
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tpstulane wrote:
Green Wave wrote:
tpstulane wrote:
DfromCT wrote:
tpstulane wrote:Oh yeah I forgot, Benson gets $60MM from Mercedes Benz for naming rights to.

No F!@K!ng way. The owner of the building, not a tenant, gets money for the naming rights.
$400 million in revenue for Mr Benson.... (including $60 mill from Merc Benz)
http://www.forbes.com/sites/danalexande ... ith-state/
In October 2011, Mercedes-Benz signed a 10-year agreement worth $50-$60 million to call the Saints stadium the “Mercedes-Benz Superdome,”. Under the terms of the lease, the Saints get all of the money from the naming-rights deal.
That is not entirely correct.



NAMING RIGHTS SOLD TO SUPERDOME
October 6, 2011
Copyright 2011 MediaVentures

New Orleans, La. - The New Orleans Times Picayune said the New Orleans Saints and Mercedes-Benz have reached a 10-year naming rights agreement that will turn the 36-year-old Louisiana Superdome into the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. The deal is worth between $50 million and $60 million, according to sources who talked with the newspaper.

The announcement comes slightly more than six years after Hurricane Katrina tore the roof off the stadium as it was being used as a shelter by thousands of New Orleanians. A massive renovation allowed the stadium to reopen for the 2006 NFL season, and the building has been improved every off-season with the final touches of the $336 million project completed in August. According to Saints officials, it's a new stadium that is better than any in the country.

The stadium's profile will be raised as it hosts three national sporting events in the next 16 months: January's BCS championship game, April's men's Final Four and in February 2013, the Super Bowl. Those events and the success and stature of the building's primary tenant - the Saints - helped persuade Mercedes-Benz to sign on, the newspaper said.

As part of the Saints' 15-year lease extension with the state that was signed in 2009, the Saints were allowed to negotiate a naming rights deal on behalf of the state with the proceeds from the sale going toward any subsidies the state would have had to pay the Saints.

According to the current lease agreement, the Saints get the first $1 million of net revenue from the naming rights deal, with a 50-50 split between the team and the state of the remaining revenue, although the state's share is in credits toward the subsidy payments, not cash.

While the state won't actually reap any cash from the sale of the naming rights, the Times Picayune said the new revenue streams from the renovation and naming rights sale reduced the state's financial obligation to the Saints based on a sliding scale.

And because it appears the Saints will reach their goal of at least $12.5 million in new revenue, the state is off the hook, the newspaper said.
It's worth $60 million to Benson no matter how you want to try to spin it.

I am not spinning anything. Had Benson took the money how you are porting it to be then that money would be increased by 30 million instead of knocking off what was owed to Benson under the lease agreement.


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GW I'll stick with the Forbes four page story. The $60 mill is part of the $400 million in rev's Mr Benson gets from the state. I don't want to hijack this capacity thread.
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tpstulane wrote:GW I'll stick with the Forbes four page story. The $60 mill is part of the $400 million in rev's Mr Benson gets from the state. I don't want to hijack this capacity thread.
You can stick with anything you want the fact is, when the naming rights deal was signed, the State's obligation to Benson under the terms of the lease was reduced by almost 30 million dollars.
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tpstulane wrote:
winwave wrote:
tpstulane wrote:
DfromCT wrote:Please, inform me. Does Benson own the Superdome or does the State of Louisiana own it?

I have always heard that Tulane has carte blanche w/r/t the Superdome, due to how integral it was in the creation of the Dome.
The building and land is owned by the state. But Benson owns all the revenues from the Dome, and the state picks up all the expenses.
TPS I love ya but you are wrong on this . That article you always reference in reality reflects that on SAINT'S GAME DAYS BENSON GETS ALL THE REVENUES. I have posted the article numerous times that shows the teams in the HS kick-off classic get revenues from parking, concesssions,et al.Tulane chose the low cost lease. Tulane could have negotiated for revenue from all of that if they chose to. With our lack of success the low cost lease was best for us. If we ever became successful and stayed there we would have been in a position to renegotiate and get those revenues. If what you say is true no other event would take place there-HS championships, Essence,Bayou Classic,Sugar and NOLA Bowls and on and on.
Jeff, Forbes article quoting the Dome's director of business operations....
http://www.forbes.com/sites/danalexande ... h-state/2/
Benson also collects all revenue from non-football events at the Superdome, according to Evan Holmes, director of business operations for the Superdome. That revenue stream, an estimated $5 million a year, does not get divided with other owners in the league.
“He’s pretty savvy in terms of figuring out how to maximize his revenue at somebody else’s expense, which is the business of being a sports owner these days,” deMause said. “Whether you consider that to make him a great businessman or a supervillain depends on your perspective.”
None of that refutes what I said. HS teams are getting revenue from parking,concessions, et al. So Benson Doesn't own the Dome and he most certainly does not get all the revenue.
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Jeff, you had included the Essence Fest in your statement. But that event is non-football. I've never seen a link on the high school state championship or Bayou Classic etc. to the contrary. Until it's provided I'm going with the fact that Benson gets those revs. Jesuit and St Pauls both played each other earlier in the the regular season at the dome. I know both AD's at the schools and neither one said they got parking or concession money for that game. They split the gate for tickets sold. They played rent free. And GW the deal Benson has with the state includes the rev for naming rights. Call it credits off the top but at the end of the day it's worth $60 million to Mr Benson. It just means the state doesn't have to come out of it's pocket for that amount Merc Benz is kickng in. Just like any credit you may receive from the IRS it comes off the top. I love the dome but the deal Tulane had only provided for ticket rev. Nothing else. And it was on a sliding scale so the rent was always based on attendence. The less in there the less Tulane paid in rent. Now could we have done a deal that icluded parking and concessions I don't know. But if we had, Benson would have then charged us more for rent. So in the end with small crowds we would seen a negative effect with that deal. Benson gave us millions to help us get our own stadium. The TV money deal the P5's get is the real game changer these days. That needs to be our next goal. It's pointless to bring this up and discuss now since we're leaving the dome for an on-campus Yulman stadium anyway.
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FWIW I have heard before that high schools playing in the dome get concessions money. Not so sure on parking.
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tpstulane wrote:Here's that thread again
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=2248&start=0
That's not the thread I was talking about. There was a stadium thread that reached over 70 pages. I think Steve may have split it up into the various stadium topics.
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tpstulane wrote:Jeff, you had included the Essence Fest in your statement. But that event is non-football. I've never seen a link on the high school state championship or Bayou Classic etc. to the contrary. Until it's provided I'm going with the fact that Benson gets those revs. Jesuit and St Pauls both played each other earlier in the the regular season at the dome. I know both AD's at the schools and neither one said they got parking or concession money for that game. They split the gate for tickets sold. They played rent free. And GW the deal Benson has with the state includes the rev for naming rights. Call it credits off the top but at the end of the day it's worth $60 million to Mr Benson. It just means the state doesn't have to come out of it's pocket for that amount Merc Benz is kickng in. Just like any credit you may receive from the IRS it comes off the top. I love the dome but the deal Tulane had only provided for ticket rev. Nothing else. And it was on a sliding scale so the rent was always based on attendence. The less in there the less Tulane paid in rent. Now could we have done a deal that icluded parking and concessions I don't know. But if we had, Benson would have then charged us more for rent. So in the end with small crowds we would seen a negative effect with that deal. Benson gave us millions to help us get our own stadium. The TV money deal the P5's get is the real game changer these days. That needs to be our next goal. It's pointless to bring this up and discuss now since we're leaving the dome for an on-campus Yulman stadium anyway.
The reason it's important to discuss is that some people who desperately wanted an OCS put that myth out there to try and convince people we had to do it. You are not one of those people.
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JDTulane wrote:FWIW I have heard before that high schools playing in the dome get concessions money. Not so sure on parking.
First off, for the high school games beer is not served, so that knocks down concessions money quite a bit. Sometimes you'll see school volunteers behind the counters, and they are allowed to have a tip jar for which they can keep. That's it. Centerplate has a deal with the dome to provide concessions. Benson gets a spilt with them after expenses. The high schools get to keep all the money made from game day program sales. That's it.
The LHSAA picked up State Farm as a sponsor for the football Prep Classic. State Farm picks up the rent in exchange for sponsorship. The schools playing there split the gate with the LHSAA. 100% of parking goes to Benson and he gets his % cut of concessions from Centerplate.

Steve maybe you can move the Benson/ Dome talk to this thread....
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=2248&start=0
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I don't know who gets the parking on non-Saints game days, it is either the Saints or the Dome / state of La. It doesn't matter which one it is; the point is that none of the teams playing on any of those other days (or tractor pulls, motocross, etc) get any of it.
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tufinal4 wrote:I don't know who gets the parking on non-Saints game days, it is either the Saints or the Dome / state of La. It doesn't matter which one it is; the point is that none of the teams playing on any of those other days (or tractor pulls, motocross, etc) get any of it.
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tufinal4 wrote:I don't know who gets the parking on non-Saints game days, it is either the Saints or the Dome / state of La. It doesn't matter which one it is; the point is that none of the teams playing on any of those other days (or tractor pulls, motocross, etc) get any of it.

But they can. Depends on the lease terms they want.
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winwave wrote:
tufinal4 wrote:I don't know who gets the parking on non-Saints game days, it is either the Saints or the Dome / state of La. It doesn't matter which one it is; the point is that none of the teams playing on any of those other days (or tractor pulls, motocross, etc) get any of it.

But they can. Depends on the lease terms they want.
They can want it all they want. But they can't have it. There's already a deal in place for Benson or whomever to get those revenues. Sure, the tractor pulls, etc, could choose another venue because they can't get those monies, but if they want to use the Dome, that's the deal they have to live with.
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RobertM320 wrote:
winwave wrote:
tufinal4 wrote:I don't know who gets the parking on non-Saints game days, it is either the Saints or the Dome / state of La. It doesn't matter which one it is; the point is that none of the teams playing on any of those other days (or tractor pulls, motocross, etc) get any of it.

But they can. Depends on the lease terms they want.
They can want it all they want. But they can't have it. There's already a deal in place for Benson or whomever to get those revenues. Sure, the tractor pulls, etc, could choose another venue because they can't get those monies, but if they want to use the Dome, that's the deal they have to live with.
Yes they can. Read it and weep.

http://highschoolsports.nola.com/news/a ... -westgate/

Benson gets all game day revenue on SAINTS GAME DAYS ONLY.
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winwave wrote:
RobertM320 wrote:
winwave wrote:
tufinal4 wrote:I don't know who gets the parking on non-Saints game days, it is either the Saints or the Dome / state of La. It doesn't matter which one it is; the point is that none of the teams playing on any of those other days (or tractor pulls, motocross, etc) get any of it.

But they can. Depends on the lease terms they want.
They can want it all they want. But they can't have it. There's already a deal in place for Benson or whomever to get those revenues. Sure, the tractor pulls, etc, could choose another venue because they can't get those monies, but if they want to use the Dome, that's the deal they have to live with.
Yes they can. Read it and weep.

http://highschoolsports.nola.com/news/a ... -westgate/

Benson gets all game day revenue on SAINTS GAME DAYS ONLY.
No. The lease agreement call for Benson to get all the revenues from NON-FOOTBALL events. That's a football event. And for all we know, any revenue the schools are getting could be Benson forgoing it as a "donation" of sorts. Lord knows he surely needs some deductions.
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Benson's name is not in that article. It specifically mentions the lease being w/the Dome. Benson does not own the dome. The articles about the saints are referencing him getting all the revenue on Saints game days. This article proves it. For years people said Benson and/or the dome get ll the revenues and Tulane can't. This article clearly blows that myth up. Teams can negotiate w/the Dome and if they choose they can get a deal that includes the revenue from parking, concessions and so on.
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winwave wrote:Benson's name is not in that article. It specifically mentions the lease being w/the Dome. Benson does not own the dome. The articles about the saints are referencing him getting all the revenue on Saints game days. This article proves it. For years people said Benson and/or the dome get ll the revenues and Tulane can't. This article clearly blows that myth up. Teams can negotiate w/the Dome and if they choose they can get a deal that includes the revenue from parking, concessions and so on.
So I guess this DIRECT quote in the Forbes article from the director of business operations for the Superdome is just BS?
Benson also collects ALL revenue from non-football events at the Superdome, according to Evan Holmes, director of business operations for the Superdome. That revenue stream, an estimated $5 million a year, does not get divided with other owners in the league.
I realize this deals with non-football events. I'll pull up the other stuff after.
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Thank you Jeff, this is the first link I've seen giving a % of revenue. Expenses must be met first. So we don't know if they had any money left over. I wonder if it includes ticket revenue. Because the schools usual keep 100% of that. It seems to me that the schools playing are just happy not to lose money and get to play in the Dome. So I don't think it's much of a windfall if any for them. I went to those games in 2011. They had more fans in the stands then we do for the Tulane games. But Tulane's deal with the Dome includes ZERO revenue. All Tulane gets is game day program, ticket and Tulane merchandise money.
Each team is guaranteed $6,000, plus 15 percent apiece of all revenues once the expenses of the Superdome are met. Acadiana and Westgate also are guaranteed $2,000 stipends for their travel expenses and St. Paul’s $500.
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winwave wrote:Benson's name is not in that article. It specifically mentions the lease being w/the Dome. Benson does not own the dome. The articles about the saints are referencing him getting all the revenue on Saints game days. This article proves it. For years people said Benson and/or the dome get ll the revenues and Tulane can't. This article clearly blows that myth up. Teams can negotiate w/the Dome and if they choose they can get a deal that includes the revenue from parking, concessions and so on.
I was referring to the article on the agreement w/the HS teams. The point is that teams playing in the dome CAN make revenue from parking,etc. which dispels the myth that they can't which is what this debate was about.
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All I know is that a lot of people who aren't entirely sure what the contract says think they know for sure whether a good financial decision was made.
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This isn't even a discussion of capacity anymore. It's just a boring pissing match about who benefits from Dome concessions contracts with tenants not named Tulane.
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Well having our own stadium does guarantee us ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL of this revenue without a doubt. Thats a nice feeling.






And when we're at capacity in the OCS, we'll make some $
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winwave wrote:
winwave wrote:Benson's name is not in that article. It specifically mentions the lease being w/the Dome. Benson does not own the dome. The articles about the saints are referencing him getting all the revenue on Saints game days. This article proves it. For years people said Benson and/or the dome get ll the revenues and Tulane can't. This article clearly blows that myth up. Teams can negotiate w/the Dome and if they choose they can get a deal that includes the revenue from parking, concessions and so on.
I was referring to the article on the agreement w/the HS teams. The point is that teams playing in the dome CAN make revenue from parking,etc. which dispels the myth that they can't which is what this debate was about.
I think the point is, HS teams CAN make revenue. TULANE CAN'T, as per their agreement with the Dome. That's not a myth. Can you really negotiate when you've got less than 10K people a lot of times?

----

Rick Dickson (to Superdome): "We'd like to see about redoing our lease so we can get revenue from concessions and parking.

Superdome: "Sure, what did you have in mind?"

Dickson: We'd like to get 50% of the concessions and 50% of the parking. We figure that would be about $30K a game additional revenue for us. Would that be agreeable?

Superdome: Well, we can do that. But we need something in return. We'll need to increase your rent by $10K a game, plus $2 a head for everyone in attendance. That should be about,... let me calculate this, about a $30K a game increase in your costs, Rick. Does that work for you?"

Dickson: "That sounds fair, thanks."

(Rick Dickson walks away, not realizing he's been had once again)

---------------

Moral of the story. Tulane has had ZERO bargaining power with the Superdome. Unlike the high school teams, and the tractor pulls, etc, Tulane has NO OTHER PLACE TO GO. No reason for the Superdome to renegotiate the deal.
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RobertM320 wrote:
winwave wrote:
winwave wrote:Benson's name is not in that article. It specifically mentions the lease being w/the Dome. Benson does not own the dome. The articles about the saints are referencing him getting all the revenue on Saints game days. This article proves it. For years people said Benson and/or the dome get ll the revenues and Tulane can't. This article clearly blows that myth up. Teams can negotiate w/the Dome and if they choose they can get a deal that includes the revenue from parking, concessions and so on.
I was referring to the article on the agreement w/the HS teams. The point is that teams playing in the dome CAN make revenue from parking,etc. which dispels the myth that they can't which is what this debate was about.
I think the point is, HS teams CAN make revenue. TULANE CAN'T, as per their agreement with the Dome. That's not a myth. Can you really negotiate when you've got less than 10K people a lot of times?

----

Rick Dickson (to Superdome): "We'd like to see about redoing our lease so we can get revenue from concessions and parking.

Superdome: "Sure, what did you have in mind?"

Dickson: We'd like to get 50% of the concessions and 50% of the parking. We figure that would be about $30K a game additional revenue for us. Would that be agreeable?

Superdome: Well, we can do that. But we need something in return. We'll need to increase your rent by $10K a game, plus $2 a head for everyone in attendance. That should be about,... let me calculate this, about a $30K a game increase in your costs, Rick. Does that work for you?"

Dickson: "That sounds fair, thanks."

(Rick Dickson walks away, not realizing he's been had once again)

---------------

Moral of the story. Tulane has had ZERO bargaining power with the Superdome. Unlike the high school teams, and the tractor pulls, etc, Tulane has NO OTHER PLACE TO GO. No reason for the Superdome to renegotiate the deal.[/quote

We get it. You can't admit you lost.
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Ok back to capacity.

RD remains uncommitted to a firm number in his latest update.
The facility has a capacity of approximately 30,000 and the university is about $20 million away from completing its fundraising, Dickson said.

“We are very optimistic and comfortable that maybe even by the end of the calendar year that we’ll be able to secure it,” Dickson said.
http://www.nola.com/tulane/index.ssf/20 ... cart_river
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