Jackson Jambalaya

Imagine that, a feasiblity study prepared to sell the deal overestimated the impact. I’m shocked.

I'm a big baseball fan but that sport is in trouble at all levels. Mississippi State will find that out once the newness wears off on their 70 million dollar facility. About 40 million of that was financed. Biloxi has hosted the Conference USA baseball tournament the last few yearsand many media members have blasted the Stadium because it has no roof or canopy over any of the seating. Not good in this part of the country with brutal heat and rain.

I pay $16.00 in a city tax each day I go to Biloxi and stay in a casino hotel. Don't tell me the city is getting ripped off. Do you have any idea how many $16.00's a day people are paying? Stop this BS.

What’s the pearl connection?

Here's an idea:

One night per month have a "Men's night".

Topless softball and free beer with a $ 50.00 cover.

What could go wrong?

807- Pearl is nearly bankrupt over the Braves stadium. There is a great article in The Atlantic about how a guy who mowed lawns signed the multi million dollar deal after they took city leaders to a Braves game and put them in a box.

@7:49, Mississippi State has nothing to do with this. AT. ALL. We hold pretty much every attendance record in NCAA baseball. There is a ravenous fanbase that follows our team. When the newness wears off of the new stadium, we'll build a bigger and better one. The reason that stadium was built was because the attendance and actual feasibility had already been proven. What Pearl / Biloxi are facing is the fact that anyone can make a feasibility study say anything, and at the end of the day, while destination shopping is cool, its not a everyday thing, or everyday draw, and that baseball stadium is not opening the gates regularly, 52 weeks per year.

@7:49- MS State holds 17 of the top 25 on campus attendance records in NCAA college baseball, 14 of the top 15, and 9 of the top 10. You may possibly be right, but I see a lot of other parks failing before the new Dudy Noble Stadium. They don’t call it the Carnegie Hall of college baseball just for semantics.

Aw shucks!

Are you serious, 8:07? The 'Pearl Connection' is that there is an almost identical situation across the street from Bass Pro in Pearl with a farm team and borrowed money to prop it up.

All roads lead back to Tim Bennett

Speaking of Pearl and baseball - holy shit the concessions were a cluster f~€k during the Governor’s Cup game last night. Lines were obscenely long, they ran out of many items during the early innings and prices were on par with pro parks in big cities. Probably all side effects of being a financial drain on Pearl and figured they’d milk the largest crowd of the year.

Biloxi can cry me a river. Biloxi gets all that casina money that the rest of us don't.

At least the state didn't give tax breaks to build a shopping mall next to it. Between Renaissance and the Outlets of Pearl, our state has lined some pockets while putting other venues out of business.

Pensacola and Birmingham teams in the Southern League are booming in their new stadiums. The difference? Both built in already dense downtown areas.

A suburb like Pearl can't support AA baseball and the rest of the metro isn't going to drive there more than once or twice a year.

@9:45

You must not understand basic economics. You cannot whine about lines being "obscenely long" and running out of concession items under the premise of prices being too high which, I assume, is what you are meaning by the comparison to big league prices. If lines are long and they are running out of the products, the prices were not high enough.

If you are under the impression that jacking up concession prices for one baseball game per year is going to cover the interest on the city of Pearl's debt, you are sadly mistaken.

We experienced the Braves in Pearl this week. The food was pathetic, and the baseball was laughable. The coach faked an ump argument and got thrown out of the game to try to pump up the meager number of fans, which didn't work. They won with a walk off bunt. We spent 40 dollars each without beer and will never go back.

Pensacola Average Attendance Per Game

2012 = 4826
2013 = 4653
2014 = 4453
2015 = 4421
2016 = 4319
2017 = 4320
2018 = 4348
2019 = 4459

DAMN, now THAT is what you call BOOMING. How much you want to bet Sparky that the trend is negative?

As the late, great Herman Cain would say, "Aww . . Shucky Ducky."

Don't forget that Deputy Feel put in a few millions of Uncle Sugar's spill bucks.

Whoops!- Here's an article say Deputy Feel and friends put $15 million of BeePee Spill money down this hole!

https://sports.vice.com/en_us/article/qkqyqm/biloxis-crude-deal-oil-spill-reparations-are-funding-a-baseball-stadium-in-mississippi

Better get Shad and his posse of special agent revenooers to ride out on this shit. Ooops- theyse all probably kind of connected!

http://www.wlox.com/story/23637325/biloxi-takes-a-swing-on-downtown-baseball/

"The lease will run for 20 years, with options to renew. A few loose ends have to be tied up before construction begins. The owners of the un-named AA baseball team still have to sign the lease, which is considered a formality. And the Mississippi Development Bank will have to issue the bonds.

You can read the entire stadium lease agreement showing the terms and conditions between the city and Beau Rivage: http://www.biloxi.ms.us/PDF/BRlease.pdf

You can also read the team agreement detailing the proposed sublease between the city, the baseball team and Beau Rivage: http://www.biloxi.ms.us/PDF/baseballteamlease.pdf"

Article quoted says: When the Shuckers first came to town, a feasibility study predicted attendance to be more than 4,100 people per game. But it’s never come close to that, and neither has the dollars coming to the city.

Feasibility study actually says on page 13 "To remain conservative in our approach, Johnson Consulting has assumed attendance will remain
consistent over a ten year period. Beginning in 2015, average paid attendance at regular season baseball games is projected to be 4,300.

So that's another 200 seats lacking asses per game by my ciphering. No wonder the taxpayers are getting picked off! But at least it makes it look like the projections weren't as far off as they apparently were!

I am proud of Tim, he figured out how folks having been screwing the taxpayer, just like the other guys have been doing for years. I had a Dream and We have Overcome.

Tater should have hired Bennett to get his road.

Is there a beef plant in there? Or an electric car manufacturer?

Thank goodness Rs took over!

With news that welfare money now goes to pay for kids fraternities at Ole Miss....Rs have completed the cycle!

Tax the poor and feed the rich

Yes we have Overcome, look at Chris Epps...his wife is still living large too.

The Finesse Gawd strikes again! Praise him!

Actually, MSU is beacon of how you build a baseball stadium and do it right.
First and foremost, the demand drove the decision. Long standing, and increasing demand that is. The premium seating and premium amenities (that are sold out with waiting lists) will pay for the thing alone, so much so another left field loft will be added in the next two years. The outfield platforms were undersold to keep the Left Field Loungers from going into all out revolt. They could triple that rate (and most likely will)and not loose a person. Its all good in Starkville.

https://www.moodys.com/research/Moodys-confirms-Pearl-MS-at-Ba2-outlook-negative--PR_905598476

11:00 PM, yes, by AA baseball standings that is booming. Pensacola built a stadium with only 5,000 capacity so attendance is 90%+ of capacity. Go watch a Braves game and compare. Or a Shuckers game.

Who the hell stays up to 11 pm looking up baseball attendance figures for a AA baseball team two states away? Sad.

Here are the pathetic stats.....Mississippi is just not a baseball state, unless you count acting like a fool or bumpkin at a meaningless college game.

http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?t=l_att&lid=111&sid=l111

Anyone interested in the topic of cities paying for sports franchises should read the book, Field of Schemes. It's both fascinating and depressing.
https://www.amazon.com/Field-Schemes-Stadium-Swindle-Expanded/dp/0803260164

I bet more Mississippians drive to Talladega each year than go to boring old baseball. What Missississipi needs is a NASCAR Super Speedway and more NHRA dragstrips. I would even argue for a WRX course or a F1 Road course. Need to get Nissan involved. A Maxima winning on raceday couldn't hurt sales. Racing has real world benefits to automotive engineering performance.

look at PDF pages 41 through 45 http://www.osa.ms.gov/documents/municipalities/2017/17mPearl-cpa.pdf

@8:58 While MSU does have a large baseball following, LSU has led the nation in attendance for years, and surprisingly, for the last 3 years Ole Miss has been number 2. LSU, Ole Miss, Arkansas, MSU, South Carolina and Texas are the historical baseball attendance leaders. It is also surprising that with all the improvements to Dudy Noble Field, MSU is "down the ladder" so to speak with this years attendance. A lot of this is from memory; for all of the doubters, do a Google search on college baseball attendance. Geaux Tigers!

Who built the shucker's stadium?

Asking for a friend.

10 teams in the Southern League, for the first few years when the Braves were here (2005-2009), they averaged about 4th in total attendence, in the 2nd smallest market in the entire SL. They were ranked 1st or 2nd in ticket and advertising revenue during that time. They had ticket sales from all counties of Mississippi and even ticket sales from 29 different states. In their first 5 seasons they had better attendence than the Jackson Bandits, Jackson Generals and the Jackson Mets. It was a success but due to the Atlanta Braves (parent team and owners) constant changes and also handling of certain areas by previous management they are rebuilding. The concession prices are not raised on a per game basis, concession prices are better than most minor league ballparks in the Southern League. Don't think there are many sporting events that you can go to that you also have to pay to park. The Braves and the city of Pearl had that the first season in 2005 and have not had to pay to park since. Nothing is going to perfect, someone is always going to complain about something there. Bottom line is that people have complained for years that this area needed baseball again, now you have a Braves farm team here owned by the Braves and the AA team is a direct pipeline to players making the jump to the MLB. At one time over half the starting roster of the Atlanta Braves played recently in Mississippi and over 20 teams in Major League Baseball had a former M-Brave on their 40 man roster. Yes the Braves have made mistakes and their are ALOT of things they could do better but if the fans don't support it then they will be gone once the lease is up and it will make it that much harder for an affiliated team to want to come here.

@9:09 AM
Continental Tire should be involved in any racing ventures. Everyone loves racing. Everyone loves cars. Everyone loves the sound.

I agree that Baseball is better read about than watched live.

Bennett has car racing connections too. Y'all need to give him a call, he take your money too.

Truck mud drags!

Tires and mud and rollin coal!

What's not to like?

Lots of comments from jealous poors who dont know how to make any real money so they dont want anyone else to either.

Making your first million isn't really that hard.

10:29am, unfortunate for Pearl, the braves will be gone at least the no matter what happens with fan support. The braves organization has proven at all levels to take ultimate advantage of pitting cities and towns against each other. When the Atlanta team moved to Cobb county, that was the signal that the organization does not care about Atlanta, Pearl, or whatever.

Pearl has to expect and plan for them to leave. Otherwise they are fools.

MSU and Ole Miss both do well in attendance. The thing about college baseball is that people feel invested, and everyone wants to win. Fans want to win the game, the series, the conference title, the regional, the super regional, the national championship.

The problem with minor league baseball is that people don't feel invested. And the product is not about winning. Instead it is about player development. And the fact that it is not about winning makes it even harder for locals to get excited and want to attend regularly. The coaches and organization are not there to win, they are there to develop talent to hopefully move up to AAA then to Atlanta.

Start your engines!

Maybe all those people that will go to the aquarium in Gulfport will stop by for a baseball game. Not...more wasted money.

So does MGM pay anything for the naming rights or is the $1 a year lease of the land the stadium sits on consideration for the naming rights?


"The new stadium will be located in downtown Biloxi at the corner of Caillavet Street and Highway 90 across from the Beau Rivage Resort. Mississippi Governor, Phil Bryant, pledged $15 million and the Biloxi City Council approved up to $21 million in bonds for construction of the new stadium development. MGM Resorts International provided the key downtown real estate, a 15 acre parcel of land for a $1 per year lease for the next 20 years."

Forget a NasCar track, because it's never going to happen. Attendance and TV viewership has be dropping like a rock for the last 7 years. We had a 1/2 asphalt track in Clinton that rarely filled the seats even for national events. I know, because I raced there until the bitter end. People go to "Dega" to party, because the racing is boring as hell. If you want to see a good race at a beautiful facility, go to the Indy Car race at Barber Motorsports Park, just outside of Birmingham. And George Barber built it with his own money, not some government handout.
This is a college football market, period The M Braves have a loyal following, but nowhere near what they projected. If the Shuckers can't fill a game with 2 large casinos within walking distance and with parents looking for some place to take their kids you might want to look at the root of the problem. In the age of instant gratification baseball as a sport, just doesn't fit the demographic. Just too damn slow, sorry.

Baseball is not the problem. Minor League baseball is the problem. The games are meaningless.

Me and a few of the boys have been working on a way to bring baseball into the 20th century! Nothing a few rules changes caint fix! Hold my beer and let me explain. Were thinking that it needs a little dodgeball and a little hockey mixed in to up the ratings and fan participation!

So when the ball is in play sometimes it will be the DAILY DOUBLE and there's to be a second bonus ball in play for the base runners to throw at the opposing player of their choice! They catch it the base runner who threw it is out, it hits them and the loser who got hit is ejected from the game! If it just rolls around and a fan grabs it first it's a worth $50,000 to the lucky fan!!

I'm keeping the part about how the opposing teams getting triggered to brawl with the bats SECRET until all this is patented and trademark! Our next meeting starts Friday at the bar so we are on this like a fly on fresh caca!

Most of these deals are about ego. The mayor and aldermen of these cities want minor league baseball so they can think of themselves as presiding over a "big city". They love being wined and dined, and they want people to think their city is big league. Just like Chicago has the NFL, and Memphis doesn't. Pearl can think of themselves as "big shots" when compared to Hattiesburg, Laurel, Meridian, Grenada, Tupelo, Madison, Clinton, etc. because they have minor league baseball, and the other cities do not. Any money lost is irrelevant because it is taxpayer money.

11:04am, clearly hasn't been to the new Braves park and seen the development around it. Also, doesn't understand that Cobb County is pretty much Atlanta anyway. Turner Field was constructed for the Olympics. Braves did them a favor taking it on as a new stadium as well. It was a Win-Win for Atlanta at the time. And in 1996 who would have predicted that GA State would boom, add D-1 Basketball and then football and need a stadium. Braves may leave Pearl, but Sam's, Bass, hotels and the outlet mall aren't going anywhere.

11:04am probably hasn't been to Brandon Amphitheater either. The Jackson area hasn't had shows like they get in 20 years.

Here's a question for KF (asking for a friend!):

Are the baseball bonds Biloxi has to pay off backloaded to a significant degree?

$4,100/game - can you say "confirmation bias?" The city "leaders" were likely promised a sky box with free shit included.

Interesting how many different project using that big government check to get built all go back to Yates. Outlets, Pearls...
I mean, if it’s good enough to work - let it work on it’s owb without public funding. If not, hands off my checkbook.

1- April 24, 2019 at 10:01 PM your jealously and inaccurate information is showing. Please don't mention things you know nothing about.
2- I'm happy for Tim Bennett after the way the City of Jackson did him back in Harvey's day.

No need to worry just increase taxes in Pearl and Biloxi to pay the bond debt.

You guys will argue about ANYTHING

Heaven help any poor soul who dares say a dark word about MSU baseball.

Fact is that AA baseball is much higher quality than D1 college baseball. But people don't go for the quality of baseball. They go to cheer for their beloved school and look down at the other schools. And maybe act like a drunk idiot. Kudos to the colleges for creating an environment in which people will spend thousands on tickets, booster clubs, hotels and tailgating to watch mediocre baseball.

Because my school is better than yours. I based that on whether we won a women's basketball game against your school. Or a blood drive. You suck! We are awesome!

SEC rules!

12:54, put your money where your mouth is if you are so confident on the future of retail. You cannot be freaking serious...you can buy every single item in that mall on the internet for cheaper. The only purpose a mall serves is a place for teenagers and bored housewives to walk around and spend conspicuously. That is not a sustainable business model.

At least Smith Wills is not surrounded by an empty stucco strip mall.

Naw 5:37....the state will take up the slack. No worries.

These posts are barely intelligible. Need a filter.