It’s time to do something about the Yum Center. Denis Frankenberger, the former president and CEO of Advance Machinery Co., released [a 38-page study on the arena], which he calls a “financial albatross.” Why? The lease between the Louisville Arena Authority and the University of Louisville
has created a choke hold on the arena’s ability to turn a profit. Frankenberger says the arena is over $800 million in debt, and costs $92,000 per day to operate.
Here is a breakdown of his findings from [InsiderLouisville.com]:
• Lost more than $50,000 per day during 2011
• Lost more than $37,000 per day during 2012
• For each UofL men’s game the Arena Authority incurred a $33,235 loss
• For each women’s game the Arena Authority incurred a $87,624 loss
• For each “Other UofL sponsored event” the Arena Authority incurred a $87,624 loss
• For 2011, Frankenberger calculates an $18 million loss.
Man!! You have to sell A LOT of Chalupas, or Pepperoni Lover's Pizzas, or buckets upon buckets of KFC just to even make a dent in the financial bleeding of that place.
"For the record, we scanned Frakenberger’s math and found some of his calculations hard to follow, particularly in how actual TIF revenues factor into his projections. But [as wrote earlier this month,] I find most of the accountancy around the arena issue muddled at best." ...direct quote from Terry Boyd the author.
Other projections have been made that the arena will actually turn over 1 million dollars profit for 2013. It's strongly believed that has to do with the fact that now the Kentucky Fair Board is no longer in charge. By the way that is one of the most currupt and inept organizations in our entire state. It's believed that they were syphoning off profits from the arena to line their own pockets and and not doing a very good job of controlling interests and seeking future events for the Yum! Center. It was almost blatantly obvious that the Kentucky Fair Board was in over their heads. Just take a look at what has happened with their own interests. Now that they no longer have control over the Yum! Center they shifted focus back to resurrecting the abandonned ghost town Kentucky Kingdom. They had no business being a part of the new arena.
We will see what happens but how about you turn your eyes on your own university and the debt they have on their hands. So how much is Cal making this year for the job he's doing? What about the new locker rooms at the Rupp Arena or the renovations being talked about for the Commenwealth stadium, or the Stoops 11 million pay over the next 5 years? How about the 87 million loaned from the UK academics to UK healthcare to cover the cash short fall? Where will all of that money be recouped? Rising tuition costs and our state taxes is where.
So make sure you check yourself before selling the Yum! Center as some big eye sore when there is an even bigger one down the road in Lexington. The Yum! center has helped bring downtown Louisville back to life as a place to visit and helped breath in a lot more revenue for our state. Yeah it might not be selling itself as a big profitable business yet but it's only in it's 3rd freakin year. It's already garnered more attention positive attention to our state and city than anything we have seen in decades.
The bogus report also stated that each UL game resulted in losses when in actuality UL nets over a million dollars a game.I have no idea if the report is correct or not, but what you said here doesn't really make much sense.
Your exactly right Trolly. UofL does not own the Yum! Center. They do have controlling interest in it though so UofL games have first preference of dates but after the basketball season is over it pretty much is an open gym for the city....although I can almost guarantee you that uk will never have a game there like they did at Freedom Hall once a year because the Kentucky Fair board is not in control. THAT is a thing of beauty right there haha.
This attempt at blasting UofL and the Yum! Center was a failure. The Yum! Center is actually going to turn a profit this year which completely contradicts this guys "report". The numbers have been off based on original projections but not what this guy is saying, as I pointed out in my earlier post. Nothing good was coming from the Kentucky Fair board running things and thank god they got their walking papers. What's being missed in all of these reports is how much the arena has stimulated our local economy because of the concerts being brought in bringing more visitors to Louisville. Also, several new businesses have opened up since the arena was completed which keeps more people downtown and spending money. There is so much new life downtown it's amazing. I work literally one block from the arena and have watched the city grow around us and it continues to grow with Whiskey Row being developed. The arena is amazing and has done wonderful things for our city. So the risk was worth it and the city is better for it.
