"The show won't go on
…In a 5-4 vote, the City Council last week said no to the 1,300-seat amphitheater that would have been built there. Coliseum Managing Director Matt Brown had envisioned the facility as a viable complement to the arena's various indoor venues."
The same Matt Brown who said the amphitheater would only cost $95,000?
The same Matt Brown who says the Aquatic Center will be profitable?
"…All jokes aside, [Brown] made a solid case for an amphitheater. For a relatively small total investment of $380,461, the facility would have generated a projected $149,000 in annual revenue for the coliseum, which is saddled with annual operating deficits."
Isn’t Greensboro’s City Council supposed to pre-approve coliseum projects more than $300,000?Does Revenue equal profit? 1,300 x 10 = $13,000 plus parking plus concessions
"The total price tag would not have included a permanent stage, sound towers and a roof, which would have been added as funding became available. But a portable stage trailer already owned by the coliseum would have been used in the meantime."
So the total cost would have been far more than $380,461?
"Existing coliseum staff would have managed the facility, and the bulk of the construction expenses would have been derived from sponsorship revenues that will be available only this year."
About the sponsorship revenues:Why only this year?
Would they have been transferred from somewhere else?
Would they be new dollars?
What would have been bartered for in return?
Is the sponsorship money coming in regardless?
"...The coliseum projects a deficit this year of $1,712,589. Only $190,000 in non-operating budget money remained to be spent on the amphitheater."
Coliseum Director Matt Brown had proposed spending $190,000 in revenue generated from Pepsi and Siemens sponsorships to finish the job.
Yes Weekly
Is the $190,000 sponsorship money or a euphemism?
"…Brown said the overhead expense for the facility would be negligible."
Really?
"But for such a relatively small investment (by contrast, the planned aquatics center on the site will cost $18.8 million) this would have been a helpful revenue center for the coliseum and a useful hub for community events as well as small concerts."
With a $9.2 budget shortfall before taking into account North Carolina’s $391 fiscal year ending June 30, 2010 problem, and next year's potential $1.2 billion cuts on top of what Guilford County is probably going to shortchange Greensboro with, does mentioning the Aquatic Center the Editorial Board supported even though they admitted the numbers were bogus seem intelligence insulting yet?
Is the Greensboro News and Record Editorial Board saying it’s OK for community leaders to lie to the public?
January 19th, 2010
"The critics who gave this show a thumbs-down were far too quick with their trigger fingers."
At what point could readers lose faith in the ability of opinionators to competently perform economic feasibility analysis?
Greensboro News and Record Editorial Board
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
P.S. As the still unreleased recording of the only debate between Zack and me, the Editorial Board was informed of the then forthcoming City, County and State Budget issues in detail.
Maybe the Federal Government will bail us out.
Is Greensboro News and Record’s Editorial Board asking the Federal Government to bail out North Carolina after promoting profligate borrowing and spending?
December 4th, 2009
12 comments:
Brutal
If tickets for a concert are $10 and it sells out, you have to pay for the band and security and employees etc...
Revenues of $149,000 must be about 10 shows, which may only yield about $0 profit.
Where are the firgues matt brown used to come up with the revenue numbers?
Does Johnson and gang get free tickets to everything or what?
$10 per ticket and $20 per car to park.
$10 beer
$7 hot dog
$5 pop corn
No one will pay that much to park, pay and eat for what a 1,00 seat venue could pay a good enough band to show up.
What about rainout costs?
Maybe the're just into fisting.
Maybe they're into taking business from local clubs.
You could spend $20 to get your kid into Green Street, or you could pay $50 for the same kid to see a show at the ampetheater.
this is the Government wanting to use taxpayer money to put local businesses out of business.
This was a special interest trying to raise taxes with the help of the local papers.
Does the paper of record want to maximize revenues from advertizing colesium events at the expense of local businesses?
The News and Record probably gets more from the colesium than the local clubs.
Today Allen Johnson said:
"Approximately $190,000 in city money already has been invested in the design and grading. Not finishing what was started means writing all of that money off as a loss."
Apparently he thinks throwing good money after bad is sound fiscal policy.
Matt Brown wants a Verizon Ampitheatre-like venue in Greensboro so he can charge $4.00 for a 16 oz bottle of water, $10 for a 22 oz beer, $6 for a hot dog or rubber chicken sandwich, and $15 to park. In other words, Matt Brown wants carte blanche authority to gouge the crap out of Greensboro concert-goers. In the process, he will kill competition to places like Aquarius Music Hall in High Point, Greene Street, Artistika and the N Club in downtown Greensboro, and just about any other club you can think of in Guilford County.
It sucks.
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