Oakland Raiders: Breaking Down Coliseum City ENA Report
The Money
I could go full nerd and dive into some real depth regarding the logistics of this project, but I do want you to actually finish this read. In order to achieve this I will simply move into money and market analysis which yielded some fascinating results. The ENA team hired a group named AMP to do some extensive market analysis and here are the more fascinating results:
-There is a high concentration of high salaried season ticket holders which is higher than several other studies AMP did for other NFL fan bases that were aggressive with their premium seating. That is a tremendous sign because it could potentially limit the corporatization of the live experience.
-The premium segments of current season ticket holders are actually wealthier and have higher incomes than their counterparts in other fanbases. The cynic will say this is because this is California which means they also have more debt and cost of living, but nonetheless it is a good sign for investors.
-The fan base is geographically diverse and although most season ticket sales come from the surrounding counties, they only account for half of the total ticket buyers. This goes back to the idea I have said for a long time that the Raider fanbase is dispersed and is not congregated centrally as is the Niners fan base which is primarily regional.
-125,000 target households exist in the surrounding four counties with 400,000 in the extended area which is 2.5 times the amount in the Dallas market and there were significant populations of fans from Sacramento, Reno, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Las Vegas that attended games. Moreover, the fan base in the West, South, and North Bay regions is larger than previously assumed.
-The four county area around the Raiders has a target household population larger than the Vikings whom are building a 68,000 seat and 7,500 premium seat stadium.
With all of that said, it is time to move on to why an investor would be interested or how would they be tempted to enter into this project. The ENA states that the public properties would be transferred not sold to the developer on the sole condition that it can demonstrate “financial and legal ability to construct and operate a multi-purpose football stadium on the site, and possibly a baseball stadium, along with ancillary commercial developments”. In short, if there is a developer with huge liquid capital, long term vision, sustainability, and a track record of managing complex projects then the Joint Powers Authority will give you all publicly held land. There will also be some private properties that need to be acquired and this is how the report covers the topic:
“The specific properties to be acquired will depend upon the resolution of discussions and design decisions between the ENA Team and the Raiders, along with input from the City and the County. The methods of acquisition are expected to be a combination of private purchase and public acquisition with funds provided by the Developer, dependent upon determination of transportation and parking needs for the project which determination cannot be completed until the design of the facility is approved. Some of these parcels may only require easements or temporary occupancy during construction.”
In short, once the design is approved, the developer pays for all the private property needed, but it will be backed by the local government which means eminent domain will be used if necessary.
Conclusion
This is a complex project with many many moving parts. I simply hope I broke the information down in a way that is easy to digest for you normal people who do not nerd out on this sort of thing. If you want to read the entire report you can find it at the following url: http://www.scribd.com/doc/217811490/Coliseum-City-ENA-Team-Report