A new case study authored by an Augusta State University professor offers Augusta Commission members a framework for deciding whether to build a downtown stadium for the Augusta GreenJackets.
"It is my hope that the information laid out in the case can be used by decision makers in the community to make the best decisions for the economic development of our city," said Simon Medcalfe, an assistant professor of finance at ASU.
The 12-page case study lays out existing research on a proposal from GreenJackets owner Ripken Baseball and developer Jacoby Group to build a $38.7 million multiuse minor-league baseball stadium at the 17-acre former Georgia Golf Hall of Fame and Botanical Gardens site downtown.
The proposal, backed by Mayor Deke Copenhaver, has seen mixed reviews by commissioners and the public. The commission voted 6-3 last year to develop a “transaction plan” for financing the stadium, then voted to hold a referendum on the issue. A question on the 2010 Democratic primary ballot saw 77 percent reject the idea.
In the case study, Medcalfe notes the voter disapproval and that voiced by Sen. Hardie Davis, D-Augusta, who spoke out in 2010 against publicly financing the stadium without voter approval.
Medcalfe reports increases in game attendance of 117 percent to 184 percent in Greenville, S.C.; Greensboro, N.C.; and Charleston, W.Va. – three cities that built stadiums for existing teams.
The GreenJackets, he notes, could have extended their existing player development contract with the San Francisco Giants beyond 2012 but didn't, citing the need for a new facility. Regardless, Augusta is guaranteed a minor-league team through its membership in the Minor League Baseball association, the study says.
The case study concludes with a set of questions but reaches no conclusions. Among the questions Medcalfe raises are whether the rate of return used in a 2008 stadium feasibility study showing cash flows over 30 years at $623 million was reasonable, and whether an unscientific survey of game fans who panned the idea was significant.
Three Augusta commissioners and City Administrator Fred Russell said Wednesday they were unaware Medcalfe had prepared the study and hadn't seen it.
"Usually, they're pushing stuff they want," Commissioner Jerry Brigham said of similar case studies he had received. "We're a long way from doing anything right now."
Russell, who met with Ripken and Jacoby officials last year to discuss stadium locations and possible financing options, said he expected to learn more in a meeting with them later this month.
Of the two financing options for the stadium mentioned in the case study, issuing a revenue bond or a general obligation bond, Russell said the general obligation bond, which requires voter approval, is probably out, as is including the item on a new sales-tax referendum.
I'm curious what prompted Medcalfe to do the study? Also, how did he choose the three cities he used for examples?
The theory is if you ask enough times, you will eventually wear the people down.
No, means tell me more, I'm not sold yet. These guys should sell timeshares. Opps, they are trying to!
Interesting how Russell is already nixing any financing that requires approval from voters. I wonder why.
If it doesn't require approval from voters, tax dollars should not be used.
I hope if they try to push it down the people's throats, there will be a lawsuit.
Yeah, Medcalf just decided on his own to do the study and then just happened to pick cities that make the process look favorable. Yeah, buddy.
Why would Medcalf take the time to prepare the study/advice giver, but not send it to Russell, Deke and the commissioners? Doesn't sound reasonable. And it is interesting that any number of studies using other cities would net a much different view.
I have no objection to a stadium. Just make sure the financing comes from the private sector. IF it is a good thing, finding financing should not be a problem.
I am all for anything that will make our city nicer / better. However, if it is a business (and this is a business), then the funding should come from the private sector. I have no problem in working out a deal for the rental of the land at fair rates or selling the land with favorable financing, etc. but to use tax payer funds on a stadium when we have a perfectly fine stadium at this time is unacceptable.
I, along with most others commenting believe that NO means NO and that we need to move on to dealing with what really matters in this community.
So we are now interested in studies before we spend tens of millions? What happened when Professor Heywood Sanders from Texas A&M agreed to come here and explain his studies why the TEE center would be a monumental failure? Think he was right? Think the fallout from that is part of the reason someone came up with this idea to get a positive "study" out? Please tell Deke to hurry up and take his Speedos back to the beach before the city goes bankrupt with his spending of hundreds of millions.
Wow. Sounds like such a great deal. A win-win situation, a real money maker. Go for it.
But let the "baseball people" spend/invest in it. We the people of Augusta have already spoken and said that we have other things we want to spend our money on though.
This is too funny...77% say NO...but NO means nothing to the % downtown....could this be a distraction from something else going on??
Let's burn the barn down while we break in the house!
Let's see, Augusta is looking for ways to lay off employees without getting repercussions because they don't have the money to pay them! Services are going to be cut and done away with and delayed due to this. Now they want to do an end run around the very people they are supposed to be serving to build something these same people have said no to? Even Forrest Gump was smarter than that!!
Somehow (perhaps following Obams' example) our elected leaders have declared themselves "rulers" and they rule accordingly.
Build it and they will come. But they won't be able to park, so they'll go to Augusta Exchange for dinner & a movie instead. Die-hard baseball fans will park six blocks away, have a great time, and maybe get mugged on the way back to their car, which will have been vandalized in the mean time.
Meanwhile, the Chronicle will do a series of nostalgia pieces on the venerable old Lake Olmstead Stadium, Augusta's own Wrigley Field.
This'd be funny if it wasn't so sad.
Willow Bailey wrote:
Why would Medcalf take the time to prepare the study/advice giver, but not send it to Russell, Deke and the commissioners?
I read the document (skimmed part of it) provided by Susan in the link above. If he were trying to sell it as a "study" he would be laughed out the door. If he were turning it in to a professor as an assignment, he would get a D-.
It looks like he wrote the document as an exercise for his students to do further research and turn the results back into him. After his students gather some more data, perhaps the professor can sell the junk to the Augusta city government for $125,000.
The stadium idea is not even on the radar of the commission. I would put it next to the stack of effieciency studies that have been done and never implemented.
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