Jul. 12--A special committee of the Macon City Council on Tuesday gave the Whoopee the right to sell permanent indoor advertising at the Macon Coliseum. But the minor league hockey team did not get exclusive rights to sell those ads -- a negotiating point the Whoopee has said was imperative.
The decision may appease both the Macon Whoopee and organizers of a local arena football team -- or it may create increased dissatisfaction on both sides.
Regardless, the decision will keep negotiations with both sports franchises moving forward.
Mayor C. Jack Ellis said the committee did not give the Whoopee exclusive rights to sell the ads -- but the committee did not force him to give ad rights to anyone else if he doesn't want to.
In other words, though it's not in writing, the Whoopee may still have exclusive sales rights for indoor advertising.
Sports Towne, the company attempting to bring arena football to Macon, had said it would not begin negotiations with the mayor if the Whoopee received exclusive advertising rights.
Bryan Watson, president of Sports Towne, said he does not want exclusive rights to sell indoor advertising but he does want some right to sell ads. He hopes to discuss the matter soon.
And the clock is ticking.
Watson was given an Aug. 1 deadline by the arenafootball2 league. He must, therefore, negotiate at least a tentative lease with the city before then. If negotiations move too slowly, arena football may not be possible for this year.
Likewise, if negotiations with the Whoopee are not completed soon, the hockey team may not play next season.
After passing the special committee Tuesday, the proposed lease agreement is scheduled to go before the entire council July 18. If approved, the mayor and the Whoopee owners must sign the lease.
Several members of the City Council committee said they would have voted to give the Whoopee exclusive indoor advertising but the Whoopee owners have not been entirely truthful.
When Macon Sports Group bought the team a few years ago, they also bought a note used to purchase ice equipment. The city was giving the team a greater share of revenues to help pay that note and its 15.23 percent interest.
Team owners, however, signed the note over to a bank and took out a new loan at 8.05 percent interest -- they did not tell the city as required.
The city, therefore, was paying the Whoopee owners for a 15.23 percent note, not knowing the owners were only paying on a 8.05 percent note, City Attorney Pope Langstaff said. The lease required the owners to tell the city.
When the city attorney asked for the bank records regarding that note, the team owners refused, Langstaff said.
Councilman Henry Ficklin said the Whoopee owners lost credibility in his mind when they were not forthcoming with all the information.
'I want the Whoopee to stay here but I can't in good conscience give them exclusive advertising rights knowing they have not given us the financial records we asked for,' he said.
Whoopee President Keith Burdette declined to comment.
Brother Stewart, the majority owner of the Whoopee, did not return phone calls.
Nancy Walthall, president of the Whoopee booster club, said she didn't believe the owners had done anything in bad faith.
'I don't think anybody intentionally tried to pull the wool over anybody's eyes,' she said.
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(c) 2000, The Macon Telegraph, Ga. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.
