Regina | New Mosaic Stadium

[mjpaul]

Originally Posted by sask1982

Think of this: A Rider game on at the same time as The Queen City Ex (aka Buffalo Days). For the hard-core's...do the Riders' usually have a home game that weekend?

I cant recall that they ever have home games during Buffalo Days.

[Nathan]

Originally Posted by mjpaul

"Mosaic Stadium is currently undergoing $14.2 million in renovations. The upgrades include the addition"

and the stadium will be torn down in 3 or 4 years? honest to God there are some incredibly stupid people making some some bizarre decisions. that money could be put towards the new stadium. makes you want to scream into your pillow

Let's look at what this 14 mill includes...

Purchasing temp seating which will be distributed throughout the province o amateur sports program (something the riders are heavily involved in). Also, we'd have been reting extra capacity every year as we've been doing anyway, so it could actually be better in the long run. They are also adding numerous corporate boxes, something we don't currently have, and this will bring in more money... It also gives te riders a chance to test the "corporate box market" before the new stadium.

- good deal... I don't lose sleep over this decision.

Renting a further 17k or so temp bleacher for the grey cup year

- this would have to be done anyway... I'm fine with it.

Purchasing new video boards

- these could possibly be used in the new stadium, or perhaps given to the u of s or something afterwards if bigger screens are to be used in the new stadium... Fine with this too.

LED ribbons

- to be used for advertising... Might even make money on those over 5 years.


So overall... No... I'm not gnashing my teeth and screaming into my pillow over this decision. It's a bit of a departure from the penny pinching riders of old though. Maybe that's what got you all worked up? Might be better off if Al Ford was still at the helm?

[ceedub1170]

Originally Posted by Nathan

Let's look at what this 14 mill includes...

Purchasing temp seating which will be distributed throughout the province o amateur sports program (something the riders are heavily involved in). Also, we'd have been reting extra capacity every year as we've been doing anyway, so it could actually be better in the long run. They are also adding numerous corporate boxes, something we don't currently have, and this will bring in more money... It also gives te riders a chance to test the "corporate box market" before the new stadium.

- good deal... I don't lose sleep over this decision.

Renting a further 17k or so temp bleacher for the grey cup year

- this would have to be done anyway... I'm fine with it.

Purchasing new video boards

- these could possibly be used in the new stadium, or perhaps given to the u of s or something afterwards if bigger screens are to be used in the new stadium... Fine with this too.

LED ribbons

- to be used for advertising... Might even make money on those over 5 years.


So overall... No... I'm not gnashing my teeth and screaming into my pillow over this decision. It's a bit of a departure from the penny pinching riders of old though. Maybe that's what got you all worked up? Might be better off if Al Ford was still at the helm?

We better not be giving anything to Saskatoon. Haven't you read this discussion? Saskatoon doesn't want any money spent on a new stadium.

[Chaps]

Originally Posted by mjpaul

"Mosaic Stadium is currently undergoing $14.2 million in renovations. The upgrades include the addition"

and the stadium will be torn down in 3 or 4 years? honest to God there are some incredibly stupid people making some some bizarre decisions. that money could be put towards the new stadium. makes you want to scream into your pillow

Except they will actually make money on this investment...which could then be used for a new stadium. Not so stupid.

[Stormer]

Originally Posted by Chaps

Except they will actually make money on this investment...which could then be used for a new stadium. Not so stupid.

I would figure they would probably make about $5 million over 4 years on extra ticket sales. The will also make a lot on new corporate boxes, video board advertising, and concessions. The extra 20,000 seats for the Grey Cup is included in the cost and that shoudl net about $4 million alone. I would guess that over 4 years they will probably break even. Every year after that will be profit.

[Udon'tknow]

So maybe this is a dumb question, but how come the Riders themselves are not contributing financially to the new stadium? They'll be the main tenant, main beneficiaries, are the most financially successful team in the league, and they seem to get all sorts of benefits from the city and province, such as the low rate loan from the province to expand the seating at Mosiac. If it's a community built facility and a community owned team it only makes sense that some of that community money would go to the cost of the stadium.

[Brutopian]

Proposed tax surprises Regina hoteliers

Could be used to pay for new stadium, city says

CBC News Posted: May 8, 2012 11:52 AM CST Last Updated: May 8, 2012 11:49 AM CST

Regina's hotel operators say they were "blindsided" when they learned the City of Regina is looking at a hotel tax to help pay for a new open-air stadium.

According to a plan submitted to the province last week, a hotel tax could raise between $1 million and $2.1 million a year — money that could help the city pay off $80 million worth of stadium and land development debt.

The city wants to spend $278 million to build a new open-air stadium in Evraz Place, with the province providing most of the money.

The Regina Hotel Association agreed in 2009 to raise $10 million over 15 years to help pay for a new facility — but that was for an all-weather, covered, multipurpose facility, association CEO Tracy Fahlman said.

"When we read through the report and found that a hotel tax was being proposed as part of funding a new open-air stadium, we were blindsided," Fahlman said.

[..........]

Read more:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskat...-tax-1205.html

[Nathan]

Originally Posted by Udon'tknow

So maybe this is a dumb question, but how come the Riders themselves are not contributing financially to the new stadium? They'll be the main tenant, main beneficiaries, are the most financially successful team in the league, and they seem to get all sorts of benefits from the city and province, such as the low rate loan from the province to expand the seating at Mosiac. If it's a community built facility and a community owned team it only makes sense that some of that community money would go to the cost of the stadium.

In the end it could be a bit of a wash. Chances are if the riders are just tenants and rent the new stadium, they won't get a sweetheart deal like they have now, so those rental payments will help the city pay off the stadium. If however they are partial owners, would they really have to pay rent as they own the facility partially? They would just be responsible for their share of the upkeep/continual improvements (which they have been doing with mosaic over the last few years).

So IMO, we either have to wait to see why the new rental agreement is like, or see what the funding structure is before we can really make a judgement here. It could be a bit of a six of one half dozen of the other type situations.

And I would argue that te riders are the most financially successful in terms of the last 5 years or so... But the Eskimos probably still have a pretty solid case for most successful overall.

The Bombers are paying for part of their stadium... 84 million or something, but that is through a loan by the province of Manitoba... And to be honest I have some pretty big reservations about whether or not they will actually be able to pay it back.

[SkydivePilot]

Originally Posted by Brutopian

Proposed tax surprises Regina hoteliers

Could be used to pay for new stadium, city says

CBC News Posted: May 8, 2012 11:52 AM CST Last Updated: May 8, 2012 11:49 AM CST

Regina's hotel operators say they were "blindsided" when they learned the City of Regina is looking at a hotel tax to help pay for a new open-air stadium.

According to a plan submitted to the province last week, a hotel tax could raise between $1 million and $2.1 million a year — money that could help the city pay off $80 million worth of stadium and land development debt.

The city wants to spend $278 million to build a new open-air stadium in Evraz Place, with the province providing most of the money.

The Regina Hotel Association agreed in 2009 to raise $10 million over 15 years to help pay for a new facility — but that was for an all-weather, covered, multipurpose facility, association CEO Tracy Fahlman said.

"When we read through the report and found that a hotel tax was being proposed as part of funding a new open-air stadium, we were blindsided," Fahlman said.

[..........]

Read more:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskat...-tax-1205.html

Boy, we can sure see the rationale for the Hotel Association for wanting a covered facility. (Off-the-record though; as a taxpayer, I'd personally much prefer to help pay for a domed facility rather than another mostly useless open-air stadium.) Oh gawd ---- what a mess!!!

[djforsberg]

Originally Posted by Udon'tknow

So maybe this is a dumb question, but how come the Riders themselves are not contributing financially to the new stadium? They'll be the main tenant, main beneficiaries, are the most financially successful team in the league, and they seem to get all sorts of benefits from the city and province, such as the low rate loan from the province to expand the seating at Mosiac. If it's a community built facility and a community owned team it only makes sense that some of that community money would go to the cost of the stadium.

The CFL really isn't normally a huge money maker. The Riders made a profit of $6.6 million off of $38 million in revenues in 2010-11 (I'm guessing that is a fiscal year) which is decent, but in the 3 years previous to that, they made less than half that profit, 2 of those years less than a third (source). It would be nice if they can continue making those types of profits but there will definitely be lean years. They can put some money into the stadium but who pays when the profits of some years are much lower or non-existent? They don't have a rich owner to fork over the money in those cases. They are a community owned team. Do people forget that fact?

[Brutopian]

Originally Posted by djforsberg

The CFL really isn't normally a huge money maker. The Riders made a profit of $6.6 million off of $38 million in revenues in 2010-11 (I'm guessing that is a fiscal year) which is decent, but in the 3 years previous to that, they made less than half that profit, 2 of those years less than a third (source). It would be nice if they can continue making those types of profits but there will definitely be lean years. They can put some money into the stadium but who pays when the profits of some years are much lower or non-existent? They don't have a rich owner to fork over the money in those cases. They are a community owned team. Do people forget that fact?

Can someone please enlighten me as to what exactly "community owned" means? Who are the members of the community that "owns" the Roughriders? Just asking, because the whole term seems pretty nebulous to me.

[Nathan]

Originally Posted by Brutopian

Can someone please enlighten me as to what exactly "community owned" means? Who are the members of the community that "owns" the Roughriders? Just asking, because the whole term seems pretty nebulous to me.

I think it mostly comes down to who benefits from the profits. There is no actual owner, and because of this and their non-profit status, the profits from the team are either put back into the community (there are many initiatives province-wide, including support for the Rams, Husies, Hilltops, and Thunder along with support also given to small towns), or the money must be reinvested into the team/facilities.

They also now officially have "shares" which give the purchasers a bit of say on some aspects of the make-up of the board of directors (who serve on a voluntary basis).

So your question of which members of the community own the team is a little hard to quantify; it's more the "overall community" that owns the team since even if one person isn't specifically a fan, their community as a whole may benefit from funds given by the Riders.

Someone else feel free to add more if you think I missed something important.

Edmonton and Winnipeg are also community-owned teams, but I'm not as familiar with their exact organizational structure.

[Dalreg]

Originally Posted by Nathan

I think it mostly comes down to who benefits from the profits. There is no actual owner, and because of this and their non-profit status, the profits from the team are either put back into the community (there are many initiatives province-wide, including support for the Rams, Husies, Hilltops, and Thunder along with support also given to small towns), or the money must be reinvested into the team/facilities.

They also now officially have "shares" which give the purchasers a bit of say on some aspects of the make-up of the board of directors (who serve on a voluntary basis).

So your question of which members of the community own the team is a little hard to quantify; it's more the "overall community" that owns the team since even if one person isn't specifically a fan, their community as a whole may benefit from funds given by the Riders.

Someone else feel free to add more if you think I missed something important.

Edmonton and Winnipeg are also community-owned teams, but I'm not as familiar with their exact organizational structure.

I am a shareholder of the team and as such have voting rights in the annual general meeting. This entitles me to have a very small say as to the management of the team and the leaders that run the team.

Guess I have as much right as any on here to speak my say about the team.

[Stormer]

Originally Posted by djforsberg

The CFL really isn't normally a huge money maker. The Riders made a profit of $6.6 million off of $38 million in revenues in 2010-11 (I'm guessing that is a fiscal year) which is decent, but in the 3 years previous to that, they made less than half that profit, 2 of those years less than a third (source). It would be nice if they can continue making those types of profits but there will definitely be lean years. They can put some money into the stadium but who pays when the profits of some years are much lower or non-existent? They don't have a rich owner to fork over the money in those cases. They are a community owned team. Do people forget that fact?

They also have over$10 million in. Their stadium improvement fund.

[Nathan]

Originally Posted by Stormer

They also have over$10 million in. Their stadium improvement fund.

And they are spending 14 million improving the current one so it lasts another 5 years or so.

And if they chip in their bit for the locker rooms/offices and the other operational parts, it could be another 15-20 for the new stadium. It took the last 5 years to build up that stadium improvement fund, so by the time the new stadium rolls around, they may have what they will need to finance the part they've committed to... and then maybe their rental fees go up as it will cost more to play in a brand new facility, so in actuality they will in the end help the city pay for it, but we won't know rental fees for quite some time, so that's all guesswork on my part.

I don't think it's a bad deal, and in my opinion a heck of a lot more realistic than the plan involving the Bombers (although if media rights go up dramatically - doubtful - they might have a chance at it). Otherwise, when the loan is forgiven, it will have been the same situation as the Riders, except we will have known it would be that way from the beginning.

[UPP]

Well, here we go. The CTF is asking for a referendum on spending money on a new stadium. We had better not be going down that same road Moose Jaw did with their new arena.

[osmo]

This is typical but even me as critical as I have been this is the beat deal for the City and taxpayers. CTF can go blow their budget on legal fees all they want.

[Treesplease]

who/what is CTF?

[Migs]

Originally Posted by Treesplease

who/what is CTF?

Exactly

[UPP]

Originally Posted by Migs

Exactly

Canadian Taxpayers Federation

Represent no one and are accountable to no one. Yet, when they say something, for some reason, the media listens.

On another 'give me a freaken break' note, just saw on CBC Saskatchewan news that a former board member of CUC in Saskatoon says that if Regina gets 250 million for a stadium then Saskatoon should too for a CFL team there.

If this rationale is okay, then look for Regina to get a children's hospital too.