A consultant estimates that a new Can-Am Association ballpark in Ramapo, N.Y., should turn a profit if things go well. But a closer look at the number shows that the city has almost no room for error and will rely on offseason events, not baseball, to cover debt payment.
A consultant estimates that a new Can-Am Association ballpark in Ramapo, N.Y., should turn a profit if things go well. But a closer look at the number shows that the city has almost no room for error and will rely on offseason events, not baseball, to cover debt payment.
The report from Fishkind and Associates says that with the strong potential for offseason events at the ballpark, there's a very good chance all the revenue from the proposed independent Can-Am Association ballpark would cover debt payment and more — some $3.2 million over 10 years. Bottle 9 Baseball will pay $175,000 annually in rent for the ballpark, but the bulk of revenues for the city will come from sales-tax revenues and other sources (some $775,000 during baseball season, discussed below) and $450,000 in direct revenue from concerts, non-baseball sporting events and other events in the offseason. When all is said and done, the ballpark should generate $1.4 million for the city, more than enough to cover $1.3 million in debt service.
Also on the speculative side of the ledger: the city will receive half of all revenues generated from suite sales, broadcast revenue and naming rights, estimated to be worth $250,000 annually. This, too, seems highly speculative: we're now entering an age when broadcast revenue is nonexistent for most teams, while suite sales are slowed and naming-rights deals hard to acquire. We're just not sure a Can-Am Association team can pull off a naming-rights deal worth a quarter of a million dollars annually.
In the end, Fishkind and Associates may be right about the potential for revenues in a new Ramapo ballpark. But their numbers have no margin for error, and we think their projections — particularly on the revenue side when it comes to broadcast revenues and naming-rights deals — may be unnecessarily rosy. Whether the city agrees as it debates borrowing $16.7 million to build the ballpark remains to be seen.
RELATED STORIES: Ownership emerges for Ramapo Can-Am team; Citizens seek public vote on new Ramapo ballpark; Miles Wolff: Can-Am Association eager for Ramapo team; New ballpark pitched in Ramapo for Can-Am team
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