The Macon Telegraph, Ga. Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
Apr. 20--While members of City Council peruse a proposed contract between the city and the National Basketball Development League, several local organizations are lobbying against the deal.
The local Republican Party, area hoteliers and officials with the Macon-Bibb County Convention and Visitors Bureau have come out against the new sports franchise.
Despite assurances by Mayor Jack Ellis that a minor league basketball team will not affect the recruiting of conventions in Macon, local hoteliers and CVB executive director Janice Marshall still are worried about competing for dates at the coliseum.
Officials with the Bibb County Republican Party have expressed concern about the $250,000 induction fee required to bring a team to town. If the city has that much money to spend, it should use it on local improvements, not for a sports team that may or may not bring revenue to Macon, officials said.
Ellis has said the team would bring about $80,000 per year to Macon through ticketing, concessions and other revenue. He said those were 'conservative' numbers. Ellis also said more revenue would come down the road when companies buy indoor advertising at the coliseum.
Part of the incentive to purchase indoor advertising, he said, is a telecast contract between the league and ESPN. Businesses would be willing to buy ads knowing it may be shown on national television.
NBDL officials, however, said the cable sports network will only air 24 games -- out of 224 games played in the season. Macon, therefore, will only play one or two nationally televised games. Most of those, NBDL officials said, will air on ESPN2.
'That doesn't persuade me that that's enough,' said Councilwoman Elaine Lucas.
Lucas said she would like to see basketball in Macon. Still, she said, she only gives the deal a 50-50 chance of going through. The contract, as it stands, needs quite a bit of work before it would be acceptable to her, she said.
Other concerns she expressed included the rights to name the coliseum. If the basketball league sells a company the right to use its name on the coliseum, it would get a 20 percent commission and 35 percent of the revenues. If the city sells a company the naming rights, the basketball league would not get a commission but still would get 37.5 percent of the revenues.
'I would like for the city to retain those rights,' Lucas said.
Ellis guessed the naming rights could sell for as high as $500,000 or even $750,000.
The city has considered selling the naming rights of the coliseum for more than five years.
Ellis has said the basketball league and its partner, SFX Entertainment, will use a total of 46 nights at the coliseum. But no existing convention dates will be switched, he said.
Still, those who rely on conventions for their livelihood say competing against hockey, arena football and now possibly basketball will stymie their ability to increase convention business.
'There are just 52 weekends in a year,' said Marshall of the CVB. 'When you add up all the weekends these entities are asking for, that's more weekends than we've got.'
Marshall also disputes Ellis' assertion that the basketball games and SFX events will create an economic boon in the area.
Entertainment events such as sports and musical shows draw people to the coliseum and collect their dollars, she said. But those shows are usually promoted by an outsider. Therefore, she said, the lion's share of the money will leave town in the pockets of the basketball league or SFX corporate officials.
Conventions, on the other hand, draw people from outside the area to Macon. The money they spend in restaurants, hotels and local shops stays here.
'We don't need for our money to be going out,' Marshall said.
After viewing the proposed contract, Mike Boscoe, president of the local hotelier's association, said he thinks the city is giving too much money and too much authority to the basketball league.
'Looking at the contract, I'm still very suspicious that the NBDL has the upper hand,' he said.
Though Ellis has assured Boscoe any conventions already booked will not be rescheduled, Boscoe said he thinks future conventions will conflict with basketball games when competing for dates.
'The dates on the books for this year are protected,' he said. 'We have contracts signed for those dates. What we're worried about is 2002, 2003.'
On Thursday, the Bibb County Republican Party came out against the city's contract with the basketball league.
'There are several reasons why we oppose this deal,' said Debby Lyons, county chair. 'The large expenditure of $250,000 of tax revenue just to sign the contract is not a good use of taxpayers' money. We are very doubtful that tax revenue from this team would prove to be a 'windfall' for the city.'
If the city has the big dollars needed for the contract, Lyons said, it would be better spent to improve facilities in the parks and recreation department. It could also be used to meet other needs for local children.
'The extra tax revenues could be better spent to make improvements at Luther Williams Field and to help improve attendance and give support to the Macon Braves,' Lyons said.
Lyons also noted the recently signed contracts with two other sports ventures -- arena football and hockey.
'First, we have an obligation to those teams to ensure that they are successful and that we do not drain ticket sales from these teams,' Lyons said.
The proposed deal with the basketball league is much more lucrative than the contracts signed with the hockey and arena football teams. That would put the basketball team on a better financial footing than the existing teams, Lyons said.
Ellis wondered where the GOP objections were when the city shelled out $450,000 to keep the hockey team in town and when it spent money on baseball.
'Where were they when we spent $250,000 to keep the Macon Braves here?' Ellis asked.
The mayor said the basketball team plans to do its own promoting, plus the owners say if basketball isn't successful and paying its own way in three years, they'll pull out.
'There's been a lobbying effort to keep basketball out of the community,' Ellis said.
'Sometimes, it seems as if (Republicans) oppose anything this mayor recommends. But I'm still willing to work with them and anyone else who's willing to work to move Macon forward.'
The contract is expected to go under the review of the City Council Appropriations and Public Properties committees next week. A final decision by the entire council is expected within a month.
-- By Thomas W. Krause and Randall Savage
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(c) 2001, The Macon Telegraph, Ga. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.
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