Ted Schubel with Info to Go- Here is what the Facebook page - TopicsExpress

Ted Schubel with Info to Go- Here is what the Facebook page Baseball in the Burg is saying about the current local baseball situtation: SO WHAT’S UP WITH BASEBALL, IN THE BURG? Below are more details and specifics than you might be expecting, but we have a lot to cover: BACKGROUND: Fredericksburg leaders agreed to a first-of-its-kind Minor League Baseball (MiLB) initiative last year that would include bringing both the Washington National’s A team and Diamond Nation to Fredericksburg. Diamond Nation is the nation’s premier baseball and softball training and tournament complex. American Olympic Gold Medalist Jennie Finch, who Time Magazine called the most famous softball player in history, along with World Series MVP and MLB Hall of Fame member Tom Glavine, MLB Hall of Fame member Barry Larkin and several other professional baseball superstars are ALL partners in Club Diamond Nation, the online Diamond Nation project featured in the recent video we posted. THE DEAL: City leaders agreed to put in 20 percent of the total up front construction costs of the project, approximately $8.5 million for the project’s parking component. This is an especially impressive achievement by city officials, considering localities pay, on average, 70 percent of the up front costs for minor league baseball stadiums. The National’s A team, Diamond Nation and local business leader Ron Rosner have committed over $35 million in combined up front private dollars to make this project possible. The city has additionally committed to return future city-collected revenue generated at the complex once it is built, to enable the private side to service and manage the majority of this debt and to make the project even possible. SO WHAT’S TAKING SO LONG? As many of you may have read in the Free Lance-Star (Aug. 2), the racetrack project in Spotsylvania is facing possible delays due to higher-than-expected construction costs that have “increased needed financing by 30 percent.” The baseball project is faced with 1) unique costs associated with combining these two kinds of sports facilities into one complex at the chosen location, and 2) similar construction material cost increases that have occurred since the beginning of this year. Diamond Nation has engaged several Virginia engineers and other local professionals in repeated efforts to try and overcome the increased costs facing both the baseball partners and the city. This challenge must be resolved in order to proceed. As part of this effort, and with City Hall’s encouragement, Diamond Nation retained respected economist Dr. Stephen Fuller, a four-time Virginia governor appointee and director of the esteemed Center for Regional Analysis at George Mason University, to evaluate our project so we could better determine how we might close the budget gap. STUDY FINDINGS: Dr. Fuller had to first determine how much new revenue the city would collect AFTER all the rebates and incentives, or how much the city would actually stick in its cash register and clear in profit, and, if the project can generate enough to give Fredericksburg additional financing options (Virginia provides localities with the means to leverage future revenue generated by an entertainment complex to help pay for the complex up front, for example). Using a methodology trusted by several Virginia governing bodies, Dr. Fuller determined the annually recurring economic benefits will add a total of $78.7 million to the City’s economy…” That’s nearly $80 million each and every year! He further determined the majority of all the new visitor spending would occur in Central Park and Celebrate Virginia, making the hotels, restaurant chains, big box stores and national retailers there the primary beneficiaries of all the new spending generated by the project. This would be far more than any ordinary shot in the arm for Central Park and Celebrate VA, it would represent a resurgence there and in the entire Fredericksburg economy, with measurable benefits downtown and across the entire city. Dr. Fuller determined — very conservatively — the city would clear nearly $2 million in NEW revenue each year AFTER all the tax rebates are paid back; at least $1.8 million each and every year. He determined further, using commonly accepted and trusted economic multipliers, that the city would earn and clear over $44 million in 20 years and nearly $100 million after 30 years (the time of an average MiLB stadium lease). This is incredible. The timing is on our side; the city needs a new source of revenue, and clearly, this is it! *Note: People who opposed the Nationals project in DC criticized Dr. Fuller’s findings there, calling his forecasts then rosy or implying they were exaggerated or compromised by the developers. In reality, the actual economic impact there was far more positive and even more lucrative than Dr. Fuller then forecast. BOTTOM LINE: Dr. Fuller’s report reveals we have several options to close the budget gap faced by the city and baseball partnership. The actual final budget can only be estimated to within a certain percent of the projected budget until it is completed, but the baseball partners still have to show Major League Baseball NOW that all the financing for the final cost is in place before construction can start — we therefore have to provide some kind of backstop and show this partnership is prepared for a worst-case scenario final budget gap. Dr. Fuller’s report gives the city many options to do so while we all work to lower the costs, including these five possibilities, among others: 1) The city could reinstate about 70 percent of the recently-retired special tax district in Central Park, and include Celebrate VA to collect the entire worst-case scenario budget gap amount from the hotels, restaurant chains, big box stores and national retailers in Central Park and Celebrate VA — since they have been independently identified as the primary beneficiaries of millions of dollars in new visitor spending there each year (and note this would STILL leave retailers there paying less in total real estate taxes than the same national retailers and commercial businesses anywhere in Stafford and the similar commercial developments of Harrison Crossing, Massaponax and Cosner’s Corner in Spotsylvania); or 2) the city could create a Tax Increment Financing (TIF) district leveraged against a portion of the projected $1.8 million in new revenue it will receive each year; or 3) the city could do a combination TIF / special tax district; or 4) the city could raise the meals and/or lodging tax rates — since the Fuller report shows hotels and restaurants will be major beneficiaries of the project; or 5) the city could do some combination of all the above. There is really no bad news to report now (knock on wood), and the good news is Dr. Fuller’s report clearly shows the project will generate more than enough NEW revenue, above and beyond all city incentives, to resolve even a worst-case scenario budget gap standing between right now and Opening Day — while still leaving a city profit or net financial gain. The baseball partners and city need this backstop and contingency plan in place this month, while all parties continue efforts to secure state funds and additional cost reductions before construction actually begins. We have 100 percent confidence in the citys public-private partnership and in this actually getting done; we encourage you to contact and show members of City Council they have your support as well. We have one of the world’s leading economists telling us we can do this, and Baseball in the Burg agrees. We WILL do this. The City Council has copies of the Fuller Economic Report. Thank you for your support. We will return to the fun stuff, naming the team, etc., once we clear this final hurdle. Thanks again, Tom Byrnes, Managing Member Rappahannock Baseball Initiative Baseball in the Burg