Bidding (Part 2)

Part Two of a series

Where baseball and football stadium construction has exploded in the years since Camden Yards, there is something to be said for arenas used for basketball, hockey and other indoor sports. For the NYSCC, the combination of a football stadium and convention center seemingly solve the problems of maximizing the space (therefore generating dollars). For Cablevision's Madison Square Garden, this is a HUGE problem. The current and fourth version of Madison Square Garden has hosted more events outside of NBA and NHL games than any place in recent memory, possibly ever. While still providing the NBA and NHL action, "The Gah-den" features dozens of concerts, boxing matches, exhibitions, even the intense action of the Westminister Dog Show. What makes MSG unique from other indoor venues is its location within New York, not just its history. Unlike many arenas, MSG is situated in the middle of a commercial district. Even the three predecessors of the current arena were located in the same district as pre-existing shops, restaurants and commercial businesses. With the adjacent McGraw Hill Publishers' office building part of the complex and many other Fortune 500 headquarters in the area, MSG appears like a condensed office building. Though MSG blends into the commercial district that is Herald Square and nearby East Midtown, the district does not soley depend on the arena for total financial gain (though when the Knicks and Rangers are in contention, the financial gains are tremendous). I bring this to mind when discussing other indoor venues.

Many arenas around the country have different locations, none as viable as The Garden. Some are located out in suburbia, such as The Palace at Auburn Hills (Detroit Pistons) and newly minted Glendale Arena (where the Phoenix Coyotes would play if there was an NHL season). Some are in the commercial center of the city as many of the latest arenas are located (Staples Center in Los Angeles, Gund Arena in Cleveland, MCI Center in Washington DC, Toyota Center in Houston, etc.). Then there’s Continental Airlines Arena in the swamps of New Jersey. All have had some sort of financial arrangement with their local and state governments, but not as costly. Because these venues can host multiple events and do not hold anything more than 25-26,000 seats, owners can make revenues quicker than outdoor stadiums. Concerts are common for arenas rather than stadiums because unless Bruce Springsteen is in concert, most artists cannot sell out a football stadium, but can sell out an arena and pocket some cash. Local events such as high school tournaments and touring circuses can come for similar reasons. Yet, for MSG, a new stadium/convention center can swing all of these events a few blocks west.

Going back to the locations of other arenas, a specific one that can be considered in the realm like Camden Yards is Gund Arena in Cleveland. Cleveland, like Baltimore, has also its own image problems. This is a city, mind you, that is called "The Mistake by the Lake" after the Cuyahoga River caught fire in 1969. Not to mention years of sports failures after the great Jim Brown retired from football after the 1965 season. Outside the sporting world, Cleveland was one of many cities in the northern United States caught up in urban plight as the sixties became the seventies and eighties. As Baltimore, Cleveland officials felt that it was pertinent to civic pride to rebuild the city through large public venues. While Jacobs Field was to Cleveland what Camden Yards had been for Baltimore (except that the Indians actually became successful in time for its opening), Gund Arena set a slower pace. The arena, which is housed by the NBA Cavaliers as well as minor league hockey, was completed in October 1994 in time for the start of the NBA season weeks later. Gund Arena, its next door neighbor Jacobs Field and the Gateway Plaza make up the Gateway Sports and Entertainment Complex; its purpose being to bring life back to Cleveland's Central Market. The Central Market was... well, the name says everything, a center for residential and commercial activity for about sixty years until the area was scorched by fire in the 1940s. It would not be for another fifty or so years that there would be significant efforts to rebuild the area. When ground broke in 1990, the area had been a predominantly empty lot with a few commercial buildings.

The financing for the arena was similar to those in other cities, but on a smaller scale than for larger venues like football stadiums. The $152 million construction costs were taken from tax-exempt bonds issued by Cuyahoga County as well as "sin" (liquor and cigarette) taxes levied by the county. Gordon Gund, the former Cavaliers owner who sold his majority share to Dan Gilbert in March, purchased the 20-year naming rights for $14 million. As most modern arenas, much of the hoopala stems from the 92 luxury suites, of which 24 of them are 15 rows from the hardwood. This brings in a majority of the revenues when the Cavs are in season. Now that the franchise is centered around phenom LeBron James, those luxury suites have been filled to the windows and the revenues that were slow to come in the nine years before LeBron have arrived.

Arenas can do something that stadiums cannot; grant quicker returns. Outside of sports, major arenas host concerts, conventions and some private engagements. The greatest deterrents from other entertainment at a stadium are weather and capacity. Because stadiums have at least double the capacity of an arena, stadium owners charge as much, leaving promoters and entertainers to go elsewhere. Plus, since the weather is never guaranteed to be great, what's the point of paying thousands more for Safeco Field in Seattle when you can play a town over at Tacoma's Key Arena? Team owners have been making the push for retractable roof stadiums so that these alternate events can be hosted and that games are never canceled due to inclement weather. Yet, for every SkyDome in Toronto, one of the few retractable roof stadiums fully utilized, there's the newer parks such as Bank One Ballpark in Phoenix and Miller Park in Milwaukee, neither which have hosted major concerts. The question for New York: will it be fully utilized as it should?

Limit

It's been a strange month for me in bloggerland... since I haven't done much. The reason is simple, when the resources to write are not yours, you tend to be a slave to them (work computer, cafe computer, time, other writings, etc.). Find it in your hearts to forgive this weathered hustler.

Instead of posting Bidding Parts 2 and 3, I wanted to put down some thoughts on an ongoing issue in sports: the age limit. All of us come from different sides with this issue, but it seems as if only one side is being heard as of late. NBA Commissioner David Stern has been quite vocal in his desire to set a limit to entrants into the league. The NFL's fight with Maurice Clarett was well documented and paralleled to that of Spencer Haywood vs. the NBA in 1971. There are several factors that make the age limit a big deal before we can even touch upon the more serious issue brought about by Indiana Pacers forward Jermaine O'Neal.

One of these issues, the one that is the least mentioned for what the age limit does for the NBA is their prototype minor league, the National Basketball Development League. In its fourth year of existence, the D-League has been criticized by media and officials (if it is even recognized by fans). It's believed by some that the development is not as much as their would be if the players, who are mostly retreads or early-entrants into previous drafts, had attended college for a full four year stay. The NBA, according to this theory, is not in the business of making players better, but to maintain the high-flying act to sell seats. As professionals, there's no need to shoot at 50% like players of old or as their international counterparts.

Stern and the Board of Govenors need to justify the costs of running the NBDL. It was nine years ago that the same group of people founded the WNBA, which has not been a significant revenue generator for the owners that participate nor the league as a whole. Being that the A wants to strengthen their brand of basketball, the most logical means is to funnel as many players as possible to the D-League. Since the D-League is based on try-outs and there is no mandate from the NBA to go, players who have not been called up by NBA teams have bounced in and out of the league, from the CBA (Continental Basketball Association) to the recent incarnate of the American Basketball Association to the USBL and of course, to pro leagues in Europe that bring in cash.

In having an age limit, it would immediately slow the tide of high school players and collegiate underclassmen. Those players are now out in the cold with a decision to make: Should I go to Europe in hopes of making the NBA evenutally while make a few dollars? Not guaranteed since there are many European players (as young as sixteen) and American veterans still hoping to make the show (Chris Gatling is holding the roster spot you want). Should I play in the D-League or the other shows? Will anyone notice me is the question. And the most complex of all: should I go back to college? Well...

The NCAA has had more early defections than Fidel Castro's Cuba. We have heard the reasons. Recently, Sean May (junior), Rashad McCants (junior), Raymond Felton (junior) and Marvin Williams (freshman) have elected to leave national champion North Carolina because they are projected to be guaranteed first-round picks in the upcoming NBA Draft. Scouts have said that in returning next year, they can risk lowering their potential draft positions in the '06 draft. Other reasons: though money figures to be a huge part for the former Tar Heels, money is also key for players who may not be as highly touted. A minimum contract in the NBA is worth $300,000 a year. We have all heard the plight of many of these student-athletes coming from less than nothing to play basketball and receive a college degree. There is no secret that there is money flowing into the NCAA thanks to TV contracts and history of drafted players from many colleges, but the money doesn't come towards the athletes that actually play to create those revenues. Sure, they are receiving a full-ride for their education, but more priority is shifted towards playing than learning... when they have the time or inclination to be in the classroom.

I think of Chris Porter, a former star forward at Auburn from 1998-2000. After two years in junior college, he starred as a tweener forward in the SEC power, leading the conference in rebounding while providing a strong offensive game. While playing in Auburn, his mother was facing foreclosure and eviction from her home. Porter, who was projected to have been in the first round of the 2000 NBA Draft, decided to call upon an agent, even though it is against NCAA rules and he had one more year to play in Auburn due to transfer rules. Porter accepted money from the agent in order to avoid forclosure back home. When the NCAA found out, he was kicked out of school, assuming that he had forgone his amateur status. Porter was drafted by Golden State the following June, and played one season before injuries and an arrest curtailed his NBA career. Now, this story may seem sympathetic... and it is.

It is true that there are many "student"-athletes that think of the glitz before they step on the court and there are many willing to push those kids along. Yet, how can college administrators, boosters and NCAA officials cry "college pride" when they are raking in the dollars? How can coaches field endorsement dollars and lifetime multimillion dollar contracts for themselves? What about me, ask the players who were drafted for their total package to only be forced into a coach's system that may or may not exhibit all those skills? What about my dollars, ask the players who can't even get work-study and pick up a book in Division I ball?

David Stern may see these two factors in pushing the age limit. The NBA has been the dumping ground for many players (collegiate, international and high school) who seem to want a few bills. While many may be quick to point out Kwame Brown and Darius Miles as high school players who are immature and heavy on unfufilled potential, no one exactly went ga-ga over Scoonie Penn not making the A. Was Miles Simon (Arizona) ready to take on the top players in the next level? For international flavor, there's Wang Zhi Zhi, who is somehow on the verge of an NBA title with the Heat this season. Those are prime examples I can think of, but there have been countless players who played four years in college who couldn't crack it both on and off the court.

One has to be shortsighted to forget that Major League Baseball and the National Hockey League are vitually founded upon non-collegiate talents. Yes, there have been great players to have come through the collegiate line (Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds, Brett Hull comes to mind in hockey). Though both have minor league systems that have been in tact for generations, players from high school tend to miss out (and avoid) "the college experience". What would be spoken of Wayne Gretzky (and the NHL, even) if he had attended college? Maybe he would still be a great player, but would he and hockey have a different fate due to those four years?

Is this really and argument? Not really, since I felt that this was an attempt to explain some of the background noise of the age limit debate. Yet, we are unable to ignore the white elephant in the room nor can we ignore that leagues such as the NBA have to reexamine the impact the limit will make.