Institutional and commercial facilities are always searching for new and different funding sources to prevent and address deferred maintenance. While public K-12 schools, colleges and universities generally face the toughest challenges in this regard because of their need for taxpayer support, every facility must deal with maintenance financing at some point, and that includes professional sports stadiums. Two such facilities recently explored unique financing opportunities to address deferred maintenance.
For the NFL’s Denver Broncos, selling the naming rights to their iconic stadium — originally named Mile High Stadium — might provide the needed funds, according to The Denver Post.
Selling the naming rights is “really being done to try to make sure we’re prepared for all the various capital repair and needs that the stadium will have in the future,” says Joe Ellis, the team’s president and CEO. “Because otherwise we’re going to be stuck with the building the way the team and city were stuck with Mile High Stadium, which was not a viable building at the end of its tenure. We don’t think we need to get there. We got a great stadium, and if we continue to maintain it, if we continue to improve it, that’s, from our standpoint, the primary goal.”
In Pittsburgh, MLB’s Pittsburgh Pirates hope sports betting, recently legalized by the Supreme Court, will provide funds needed to address ongoing stadium maintenance.
According to a team statement in Legal Sports Report, “We have been engaged in constant dialogue over the past five to seven years with city, county and state officials about the need allocate a funding source to the capital needs of PNC Park. It stands to reason that a portion of the revenue collected from sports wagering should be allocated to the maintenance and capital upkeep of PNC Park and the other sports-based facilities in Pennsylvania which provide for sports wagering in the first place. We are concerned that no such provision is included in the current law or the regulation.”
This Quick Read was submitted by Dan Hounsell — dan.hounsell@tradepressmedia.com — editor-in-chief of Facility Maintenance Decisions, and chief editor of Facilitiesnet.com.
