Will the Braves stay or will they go? Tis a question that worries Pearl as the minor-league baseball team's twenty-year lease expires next year. The Columbus Ledger-Inquirer reports:
Columbus Council Thursday took another step toward trying to bring Minor League Baseball back to the historic Golden Park stadium downtown. Councilors voted unanimously to explore financing for a $50 million bond issue to upgrade the ball park to league standards, the first move toward inking a deal with a Minor League team, likely a Double-A team from the Southern League.... Rest of article.
The newspaper reports the city is negotiating with Diamond Partners, Inc. The company owns five minor league teams, including the Mississippi Braves.
It would not be surprising if the Mississippi Braves are at the top of the list for Columbus. The team is the only one in the Braves organization not in Georgia. Indeed, JJ warned this might happen as the Braves are notorious for manipulating cities into giving them sweet deals only to leave them high and dry down the road. Bloomberg News reported in 2016:
Sometime in 2003, when he was the mayor of Pearl, Miss., Jimmy Foster got a visit from a man he’d never met. The stranger, Tim Bennett, came to City Hall, an old brick schoolhouse on Pearl’s church-lined main street. “He just showed up in my office that day,” says Foster, “and started talking about baseball.” Specifically, Bennett wanted to know if Pearl might be interested in building a stadium for a minor league team.
A ballpark, it turned out, was just the kind of project Foster was looking for. Now 62, with gray hair and a potbelly, Foster, who spent 19 years as a policeman in Pearl before becoming mayor, was desperate to help his hometown shed its reputation as a poor neighbor of Jackson. “There just wasn’t a lot of commercial or retail in town,” he says. “And there wasn’t a lot of money.” The sewers, the streets—it all needed attention. “Having a baseball team in Pearl? That was a pipe dream.”....
(Tim) Bennett caught wind that the Atlanta Braves’ Double-A team in Greenville, S.C., was coming to the end of a 20-year lease and potentially in the market for a new home. He saw an opening. In December 2003, with negotiations inching along in Greenville, he persuaded the Braves to let him pitch them on Pearl, only a 50-minute flight from Atlanta and with a mayor eager to make a deal. The Braves liked what they heard....
Over the last 15 years, the Braves have extracted nearly half a billion in public funds for four new homes, each bigger and more expensive than the last. The crown jewel, backed by $392 million in public funding, is a $722 million, 41,500-seat stadium for the major league club set to open next year in Cobb County, northwest of Atlanta. Before Cobb, the Braves built three minor league parks, working their way up the ladder from Single A to Triple A. In every case, they switched cities, pitting their new host against the old during negotiations. They showered attention on local officials unaccustomed to dealing with a big-league franchise and, in the end, left most of the cost on the public ledger....
Not long after Bennett first visited Pearl’s City Hall, Foster brought his baseball dreams to the city’s bond attorney and financial adviser. They told him a standalone stadium wouldn’t pay for itself, no matter how you crunched the numbers. Foster was undeterred. He’d been chatting with Bass Pro Shops, the hunting and outdoor retailer, about opening a store in town. So he went to Bass with the idea of building next door to a new stadium. Bass Pro was interested. Early in 2004, Foster and Bennett worked with Plant, the Braves executive, to outline a plan to bring the team and a Bass Pro Shop to Pearl, with the city issuing bonds to pay for both....
Under Pearl’s stadium agreement, which Foster closed in a marathon phone session with Bennett and Plant just before the announcement, the city would raise $78 million through a series of bonds, with $28 million set aside to pay for the ballpark...
Pearl planned to pay back bondholders through more than a half-dozen revenue streams, including a $1 surcharge on every game ticket and half of the sales tax from the Bass Pro Shop. (Bass didn’t respond to requests for comment.) The city also planned to collect $3 or $4 per car for parking. “That didn’t go over too well,” says Foster. Fans screamed at the parking lot attendants and jumped the fences. So Pearl swapped out the parking money for a new sales tax on a shopping and restaurant district near the ballpark.
Altogether, the taxes and fees were supposed to be more than enough to pay the debt back. But just in case, Pearl pledged to cover as much as $950,000 annually from other sources if money didn’t come in as planned. It hasn’t. In 2014, the most recent year on record, the city paid $911,748, more than 5 percent of its general fund spending for the year, to cover shortfalls. The year before, it paid $967,944. Rogers says he isn’t sure why Pearl paid more than it pledged..... Read the rest of the article. There is much more to read.
The audit for the 2021 fiscal year states Pearl still owes $2.3 million on the bonds. The monthly payment is $34,321.
Kingfish note: If the terms did not change, Pearl owed $1.8 million on the bonds after the 2022 fiscal year. Hmmm.... will the Braves stay or will they try to squeeze a brand spanking-new stadium out of Columbus?
57 comments:
Most of the professional game players are just in it for the money. To hell with them.
Pearl and Biloxi both got swindled by that clown with Overtime. Now both cities are stuck with stadiums that are only filled by folks dumb enough to pay $50 per ticket for college baseball. The Braves and the Shuckers draw garbage attendance. Good riddance. Both stadiums need to be bulldozed. That whole are in Purl will be a ghost town in 5 years. The Bass Pro has gone downhill and tenants have left thr outlet mall in droves since nobody shops there.
It’s a. question of when, not if.
They are good as gone. Why wouldn’t they get a new stadium in return for a new lease? If they can get it. I doubt they would stay in Pearl if the rent was free. That said, 11:31pm is quite the ray of sunshine isn’t he? Trustmark is a great stadium and I like college baseball, as do tens of thousands around here. Chill man!
It’s been pretty obvious for ten years that they plan to leave. Just going through the motions. Same old tired promotions and entertainment. They aren’t even trying and haven’t been for years. I do appreciate having pro baseball here, but the writing has been on the wall for a long time. Enjoy it while you can.
We can gripe and complain but having nice things like professional sports stadiums helps recruit folks to live here and builds pride in our area. Yet, the support for the braves is putrid and they never built a culture of attendance.
Columbus MSA is less than half of ours. Embarrassing.
9:22
ALL of the professional players are in it for the money.
@9:22 - Ima write that down. Who would ever have thought it?
These things are like marriages made in Hollywood. They last a while, are lotsa fun and glamour for a little while, then they end and....NEXT?
Loading the rental trucks and buses as we speak. Now we'll have two empty stadiums just a few miles apart.
7:36 am, when the players loyalty is money versus a "team", eventually the "team" is no longer successful. Look at what is happening to college football and much of corporate America. And possibly the fabric of American politics.
Hey guys! I’ve got an idea! Put a top on it and bring a hockey team. Wait, nope, that was done before…..scratch that. How about a field for tractor pulling? In Rankin that ought to be a draw. Wait, wait, Or….. dig a hole in the middle and bring in some dolphins and stuff, maybe one of them Killer Whales.
The commenters on this site prove it every day. This is the dumbest state in the union.
Imagine how valuable that empty stadium will be after one lake gets built.
I think its a shame. A lot of money and time went into building that stadium. I think if they pull out, they pay the balance on what's due. That should be put into every contract when the hosting city has to sign the dotted line.
Nobody nowhere ever ought to build a home, i.e. stadium, for some rich owner of a ball club. If richboy wants the glory and cachet of owning some ball club, he can damn well build his own place to play without the public subsidizing it for him. Organized sports are among the worst things to happen to America along with allowing females to both drive a vehicle and vote.
Yeah, I know what you think I sound like already; deal with it best you’re able.
Tis just the modern equivalent of chariot races and gladiator games. Let's distract the taxpayer by spending their money to entertain them. Look a squirrel. Take their attention from how the city and country is falling down around them. Who cares if the water is unsafe, the country is being invaded, I have my favorite team that I can root for that is in the running for some useless trophy. Nevermind that my politician of choice raided the public treasury to buy this pig in a poke, at least I'm entertained.
If you want to have fun at a minor league game, go the Pensacola. It’s a blast. Run by real pros. Very entertaining, and a beautiful venue. Less population than Jackson metro, but double the attendance. Check back in twenty years, the Braves will be looking for a new home again. The owners clearly want to run a bare bones operation. The Braves leaving is akin to the old saying about a tree falling in the woods.
Jackson hasn't supported pro sports since the days of the Jackson Mets.
The park charges for parking now. I will miss the games if they move. They were fun.
Pearl is lost.
Charging for parking reeks of desperation. They are screwing the 80 people who actually show up.
The Braves drew good crowds the first few years. Thirsty Thursdays were always well attended.
It is hard to draw in July and August though. I know "summer is hot" isn't a strong opinion. The Rangers just built a new stadium to replace a fairly new stadium for this reason. I hate to see them leave though. The Braves had the best chance to thrive here due to the parent organization.
We can gripe and complain but having nice things like professional sports stadiums helps recruit folks to live here and builds pride in our area. Yet, the support for the braves is putrid and they never built a culture of attendance.
Well stated, but when you have elected officials who thrive off the futility of the state, you get what you vote for.
Mississippi is not a hard fix, the main issue is that the citizens refuse to elect any politicians that are worth a damn and they are quite o.k. with the status quo
Central Mississippi, or Mississippi in general simply doesn’t have the population with the expendable income to continue to patronize something like this or a fine dining establishment more than a few times a year. There are people, there are people with money, but there are not enough people with the expendable income to continue to go to M Braves games enough times in a season to keep it going. Same with multiple nice dining establishments.
Think about this: These athletes have to live in proximity to the place where their games are played. Do you think they all fly into Jackson International Airport every time there's a game?
And do those who might fly in really want to stay in a two story motel in Rankin County for a week at a time, carefully avoiding anything related to Jackson?
What athlete, given the option, wants to live in the Metro, much less pay for a house and have his kids in school and reside 2 miles from the nation's leading homicide capital?
You people can pretend Rankin, Madison, Hinds and surrounding counties are destination venues all day long. And you'd be wrong, all day long.
Pearl was lucky as hell to secure this contract for 20 years.
Trustmark Park will make a nice venue for travel baseball and church softball tournaments.
THE CITY OF PEARL got really hustled on this.
you can lay it all at the feet of that bozo mayor and city counsel.
this is proof that the atlanta braves are a lot better at playing cities than playing baseball.
Central Mississippi, or Mississippi in general simply doesn’t have the population with the expendable income to continue to patronize something like this or a fine dining establishment more than a few times a year. There are people, there are people with money, but there are not enough people with the expendable income to continue to go to M Braves games enough times in a season to keep it going. Same with multiple nice dining establishments.
And that's due to our crappy growth rate and poor development in central Mississippi
12:40 has obviously never been to Madison. I’ve seen more Ferraris and Lambos in Madison than in Beverly Hills.
The stadium failed because it was built in the wrong place. The people with “disposable income” aren’t going to pack up the kids and drive 45 minutes each way to have a couple beers, eat a stale microwaved burger, see some ok baseball, and drive back through the speed traps and dui checkpoints. Once the novelty wore off, most with disposable income found other ways to dispose of it.
It was a State Senator’s former son-in-law with the Pearl Chamber of Commerce that always took credit for the Braves Stadium and Bass Pro outlets. He’s not a State Senator’s son-in-law anymore.
I live in Ridgeland. Games would be fun. But by the time I get off of work, change clothes, drive to Pearl, eat, etc. it just isn't practical.
Let's face it, the baseball isn't/wasn't the draw that we wanted it to be. Bass Pro is really the anchor. The outlet mall was okay, as far as outlet malls go. The mini golf wasn't even second rate. The food offerings were fine. The movie theater is actually good and was the best until Madison opened.
My hot take: Van's is a better store than Bass Pro and would have killed it next to the Braves if the rent was doable.
1:07, tell us you know nothing about minor league baseball without telling us you know nothing about minor league baseball.
1:56, the disposable income that likes baseball goes to Oxford, Starkville, and yes, Hattiesburg on the weekends. Pro baseball here is not nearly as entertaining.
1:56 apparently can't read census results. It wasn't built in the wrong part of the metro. Madison county doesn't have more disposable income than Rankin county, but neither has nearly enough. The stadium was built in the wrong state, not the wrong part of metro Jackson.
from 2005- 2014 the Mbraves had over a million fans come through it's gates. Ticket sales from 20+ different states and from all counties in Mississippi. At one time over half of the starting roster of the Atlanta Braves came through Pearl. At one time at least 18 MLB Teams had a former roster member of the M-Braves on their 40 man protected roster. Mbraves hosted several future MLB Hall of Famers Tom Glavin threw his LAST professional pitch at Trustmark Park, Chipper Jones played 2 rehab games there. In the first 5 seasons on the Mississippi Braves IT outdrew the last 8 or 10 seasons of the Jackson Mets and the Jackson Senators combined. In the first few years it outdrew the Jackson Bandits. The first 10 years it was either #1 or #2 in ticket and advertising revenue in the 2nd smallest market in the 10 team Southern League. From what I could tell you had more experienced management staff and ee's then. Not taking away from the current staff but how is the team marketed? How is the team promoted? Is it just locally? Is it just in the state? Is it regionally? What about other events that can be held there? The Florida Georgia Line concert drew close to 15,000 in attendance.
You can sell anything to Pearl, Brandon, Madison, Flowood etc. if you just say "It sure would be nice but we don't want to locate in Jackson...." The rubes will fall for it every time. New ballpark? It sure would be nice but....
Some stuff ain't just a Jackson problem.
Thank goodness Pearl can generate money from its traffic cameras!!
3:11, that is total BS. They didn’t run a single new promotion after the very first game and the seats were empty in year two. The GM, who they brought from the failed South Carolina days ran it the same old cheap way he did in SC, while he ran an Italian joint in the side in Pearl. He was canned by the club for embezzlement. So don’t start telling us how great the original management was. The place hasn’t been worth the price of admission since the second weekend.
"1:07, tell us you know nothing about minor league baseball without telling us you know nothing about minor league baseball."
@2:25 - Tell us you should sit this one out without telling us should sit this one out.
This isn't about minor league baseball at all. It's about the entertainment industry. Meanwhile, you're spilling warm beer on the hot blonde two rows down.
Post-Covid, any town that fronts the money for a stadium deserves to go bankrupt. I’m sure it will be sold as “economic development” but since the minors realigned everything in 20-21, the economics will never work. Even NOLA lost their minor league team. The model just doesn’t work without taxpayers funding all the frills. New Orleans told the Babycakes to pound sand, which was a shocker, but kudos to them.
2:26. What census results? Just the city of Madison alone has more disposable income than all of Rankin county and it’s not close. If you factor in Canton, Ridgeland, and North Madison county, it’ll dilute down the numbers to make Madison county have just slightly more income per resident than Rankin County. Madison the city has an average income of $128,000 per household. All of rankin county’s average is $67k. All of Madison County is $69k. The highest city in Rankin county is Brandon at $87k. It’s really not close. Madison the city is just a lot richer than any of the areas around the ballpark.
If they had built the ballpark around the Renaissance area, they would have never had a problem with tickets. Id probably have 6 season tickets for my family and probably a box a couple times a year for my company. Most of my friends and neighbors too. As the poster said, it is at least a 35-45 min drive one way for the most lucrative Jackson market to get to your stadium. They aren’t driving an hour and a half round trip to watch a 2.5 hour baseball game. Especially when you have college baseball in MS that could rival or beat many of the AA teams.
@3:57 PM I am fully aware of what the GM did, I was talking about the rest of the staff and the support staff. The support staff was experienced and wanted the place to succeed instead of just collecting a paycheck
We pride ourselves at being last and failing at everything. It keeps people away from the state and less crowded. I like less crowded. Keep on keeping on Mississippi. Can’t wait for Governor Fitch.
How's that "convention" center doing in downtown Jackson?
I cannot believe no one has stated the obvious:
Minor league teams in minor league cities in what is now a minor league state - what could possibly go wrong? And you can thank those who sent us to the minors, both white and black, for the situation.
One Name: Tim Bennett
Have ya'll ever been to a Braves' game? BORING, over priced, too far away... not a good business model.
4:28, that’s called cherry picking. Flowood is much much nicer than many parts of Madison the Town
Sometimes you have to spend money to make money.
If they lose money they can make it up by putting more butts in the seats.
They might even need to give the tickets away for free to make money.
It is a lovely stadium. But the Braves games seemed boring. I guess my family is just more interested in College Baseball. And paying $18 for two warm chicken strips and a few cold fries...after paying entry and parking? Predicted this demise years ago.
Its sad but MS just does not have the disposable income to support this venue.
And they truly failed at marketing and advertising it too.
Can't say I know anyone who goes to Braves games.
"The highest city in Rankin county is Brandon at $87k. It’s really not close."
Is that 39042 Brandon only?
I'd think 047 is a decent amount higher than 042?
The issue is minor league teams are not owned by individuals anymore. The Braves were owned by the parent ball club, then some company bought a bunch of teams like 20 or 30. That is why you see things run on the cheap and the experience has really declined. Like a lot of things huge corporations ruin everything including mior league baseball. When the Braves leave the best Pearl can do is fix things up and host a college baseball conferene tournament like Hoover, Alabama does for the SEC.
How's that "convention" center doing in downtown Jackson?
We miss out on a lot because of this state's image.
New Orleans is 10x's worse, but they still have event organizers breaking their necks to squeeze into convention calendar openings.
We are actually bigger than metropolitan Montgomery, Alabama - but yet they are hosting way more national events than us.
Jackson Metro Area - should have hosted a bowl game by now and/or a regional NCAA Division I sporting event
We have the infrastructure (restaurants, hotels, facilities) to host.
What we lack is a metro coalition that is willing to get down to business and make it happen.
It's a stupid war of attrition that does not benefit anyone.
@12:00 Work together? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
It's Mississippi you're talking about. We hate our neighbors as much as we hate ourselves.
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