If not stopped the Sports Authority will be a generational public rip of mammoth proportion. And the new Sports Authority is starting out much like the current public failure in Memphis River Parks Partnership (MRPP) started, in the dark. That MRPP failure was launched in the public sector, through the Riverfront Task Force chaired by Mayor Strickland appointee Alan Crone.

With a local Memphis currency of civic decline, Crone now has been rewarded for the Riverfront botch and appointed as Chair of the Sports Authority. Crone is an architect of public failure with the MRPP public -private delivering public ripoffs in the Cossitt, Cobblestones and Mud Island and while going in debt and not collecting promised private pledges to the supposed 50-50 public private partnership.

MRPP also allowed Beale Street Landing to deteriorate into a state of disrepair and as part of the Tom Lee Park renovation botched Cutbank Bluff and landscaping all along the Riverfront, while Memphis in May was forced out of Tom Lee Park and downtown commerce declined. And just know there were 1.5M trolley riders downtown in 2012 and trolley ridership is going to zero in 2024.

Crone has traditionally identified as a Republican, but his public exploits exhibit a pattern of fiscally liberal corporate socialism. And Crone has several Democratic supporters. So, the Sports Authority is indeed just one more bipartisan corporate socialist effort, which continues to fail the City of Memphis.

Anyway, for $100M, in public dollars on the Riverfront, the public gets a pavilion, a public restroom, a playground and a skywalk under construction. That’s it. Please see Check the Facts below for video documentation of the Riverfront failure.

Again, the Riverfront Task Force and MRPP started out much like the Sports Authority, where press coverage and public documentation is scarce and public meetings are not well publicized. The County Sports Authority webpage is sorely out of date and there is not a current roster of Sports Authority Board members easily accessible. Much like we are all learning now that MRPP should have been stopped, the Sports Authority’s current trek must be halted.

The Sports Authority is scheduled to be an elitist led, massive generational public ripoff. And what is sad, is that the Sports Authority has more than enough money and then some to renovate and pay off current FedEx Forum debt with just State funds and traditional NBA revenues streams. Let’s get into the numbers.

The above self-generated table is derived from a Sports Authority public information request and press reports. This self-generated table is also due to a lack of coherent published information on a long-term projected public cash flows dedicated to the Sports Authority. The last Sports Authority meeting was not press covered, so I requested the meeting documents to help generate the above table. The received requested public documents are unavailable on any known public website. And should there be gross errors in the above table, especially regarding projections in the near term, I would appreciate feedback to correct the table. 

From the above table, the orange columns represent traditional NBA revenue streams and those in yellow represent traditional revenue streams for public government, that in Shelby County, have been erroneously dedicated to the Sports Authority. The yellow column revenue streams must be stopped because the Sports Authority does not need the money for FedEx Forum renovations or debt. And we know that overspending in downtown has not worked to move Memphis forward, all while local government needs funding now.

Further, the State has provided the Sports Authority with sufficient funds ($230M) to renovate FedEx Forum at $120M, while leaving $70M to pay off existing FedEx Forum debt. After the former, the Sports Authority still has $40M to spare + $9.2M per year for facility maintenance and other needs coming from traditional NBA revenue streams.

The $120M price tag for FedEx Forum was derived by doubling the budget of the recently announced University of Alabama Coleman Coliseum of $59M. Coleman Coliseum is about the same size as FedEx Forum. And it’s also important to note that Wikipedia states that the cost to build a brand-new Forum would be $403M. So $120M to renovate FedEx Forum is more than enough.

All the above to say, the Sports Authority does not need the $24M per year that comes from traditional local government revenue streams in the MLGW PILOT, car rental taxes, City and County hotel and motel taxes. Or put another way, over approximately 25 years, the Sports Authority does not need an additional $600M coming from annual recurring local government revenue.

Elitist corporate socialist exploits like the Sports Authority, the Riverfront and excessive corporate PILOTs are why taxes are so high in Memphis and quality of life is low. Only the small few are benefiting from such exploits, while promising a glorious future for residents that never happens.

That is why yet another generational public ripoff, like the Sports Authority, must be stopped. Excessive PILOTs and MRPP have resulted in generational public ripoffs, community and downtown commerce decline. Both PILOTs and MRPP need to end as well, along with the current trek of the Sports Authority.

And if $37M for the current lease from City/County + a $120M renovated FedEx Forum+ $9.2M more recurring is not sufficient for the Grizzz, well I love you Grizzz, but bye…..

Daily Memphian

Sports Authority Cash Flows