If the Pacers can’t afford the rent, they should get the fuck out of the Fieldhouse and go back to their more humble beginnings at the State Fairgrounds Coliseum.
Or go ahead and move somewhere else. I’m not that much of a Pacers fan.
4 Replies to “Oh, and by the way”
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If I read the article, the Pacers get revenue from basketball games and other events at the Fieldhouse. The only expense related to being at the Fieldhouse seems to be that they pay the operating costs estimated at $15 million per year. I could see the Pacers getting revenue from other events if they built or bought the property, but I’m pretty sure the city built and owns the property.
The article would have been much better if they gave a more detailed accounting of the Fieldhouse operations. How much money do the other events at the Fieldhouse bring in? Do the Pacers pay anything besides the $15 million in operating costs? How much revenue do the city or the Pacers get from concessions sold at the stadium during Pacer Games and other events?
If the Pacers have lost $200 million since Herb Simon bought them, why haven’t they moved already? Or better yet why do they still exist.
I’m not that big a fan of the Pacers, but I still don’t want to see them go. The article left me with more questions than it answers.
I don’t believe the Pacers have lost money for the same reason that I don’t believe the Colts have ever lost money.
The Pacers may not have the same sweetheart deal with the city that the Colts do (where the Colts get a cut of everything that happens in Lucas Oil whether the Colts are involved or not), but I cannot for the life of me see how the Simons can have lost $200 million over the time the Pacers have been in their hands given the price of tickets, the price of licensed goods, income from broadcast rights, and the sheer outrageousness of the concession stand prices.
I just don’t buy that. And now I definitely don’t buy it, because we decided not to renew our 10-game package this year. Not because the Pacers suck, but because we really have better places for the money to go.
The Pacers got the deal the ywanted. Originally they had complete control of the Fieldhouse — they got all of the booking revenue and all of the associated costs. That deal did not work, so they gave control back to the city.
If the Pacers want to increase revenue all they have to do is improve the product. When the Pacers won more games than they lost — in the days before they became dominated by thugs and asshole players — they filled the place every night.
And they became thugs and assholes right about the time Larry Bird became President of Basketball Operations.
Ergo, Bird go.