Super Bowl a PR Success for Indy

By all accounts, Indy's hosting of the Super Bowl has been a fantastic success for Indianapolis and its image.  I want to be sure to acknowledge the 8000 volunteers who, as usual in Indy, helped put our best foot forward.  Much must be said in coming days about things spinning out of the Super Bowl, but we should enjoy the positive buzz created by the smooth operation of the downtown event .

I have a couple of commitments running right now that will make posting sporadic.  But, I did want to jump in and congratulate everyone involved in Indy's success.

CIB To Alternate Use Of MSA Parking Lot With the NFL

The Capital Improvement Board gets to operate the two surface parking lots that now exist in the footprint of the old Market Square Arena (NE and SE corners of Market and Alabama).  They contract with Denison parking for the actual operations.  Back in 2008, the only year I have documentation of net proceeds, the CIB brought in $788,693.12, and that was considered a typical year.

During the Super Bowl festivities, the CIB will alternate when they and the NFL get use of the northern parking lot.  The NFL gets to charge whatever it feels and has the responsibility of paying for the operation of the lot during the times it is scheduled to oversee the lot.   I have uploaded the schedule to Google docs.  The rate column shows the price the CIB will charge when it is scheduled to operate the lot.  If xxxx appears in the rate column, it indicates a time scheduled for NFL operation of the lot.

Here's the general summary of the schedule for the northern MSA parking lot:

The CIB will operate the lot and charge its normal $6 all day parking rate on:
January 27 (Friday)   --  7 am - 4 pm only
January 30 (Monday)  through February 3 (Friday) schedule  --  7 am - 4 pm only
February 6 (Monday)   --  7 am - 4 pm

On Sunday February 5, the CIB will operate the lot from 2 am to 11 pm, charging $99 a day.

The NFL will operate the lot and charge what they like on:
January 27 (Friday) at  4 pm through January 30 (Monday)  at 7 am  [the entire weekend]
January 30 (Monday) through February 2 (Thursday)  --  4 pm - 11:59 pm only
February 3 (Friday) at 4pm through February 5 (Sunday) at 2 am [half the weekend]

In addition, the CIB will raise rates on the southern lot the weekend of the Superbowl, charging $199 for a weekend tailgate pass from February 3 (Friday) at 6 pm through February 6 (Monday) at 6 am.

Readers Chime In With Super Bowl Costs Updates And More

Alert readers have added links and information to help us flesh out the costs to taxpayers for the City of Indianapolis and the State of Indiana to host the 2012 Super Bowl.  I simply have the best readers !  Thanks to all the Anonymi and those who have sent links through email.

The latest blog entry on this topic was posted a couple of days ago here (see "Super Bowl Costs FINALLY Beginning To Be Revealed") and just today Gary Welsh comments on an WRTV report that 7000 fewer seats are being added to LOS for the big game than originally planned (see "7,000 Fewer Tickets For Super Bowl Being Sold Than First Promoted" over at Advance Indiana).
Here's a round up of comments and email alerts that you might miss if you don't check old comment streams.
1) The free-to-ride IndyGo buses are being underwritten, at least in part, by corporate donations and some local visitor bureaus.  From Anonymous 2:26:

I believe bus service is being provided with corporate sponsorships and extra government funding. 

During the week of the Super Bowl, Monarch Beverage and World Class Beer will be sponsoring free shuttle buses that will run between downtown, Fountain Square and Mass Ave taking visitors to bars, restaurants and stores along the route. On that bus will be advertising for our “Drink Local” campaign along with a Twitter hashtag, #IndianaBeer.

http://in.worldclassbeer.com/2012/01/08/indiana-beers-for-the-super-bowl/ 

The Hancock County Visitors Bureau agreed to chip in $3,600 to fund the service.

The visitors bureau already is underwriting the $17,000 cost of bus service between Greenfield and downtown Indianapolis on Super Bowl weekend.
http://www.indianaeconomicdigest.net/main.asp?SectionID=31&SubSectionID=135&ArticleID=63533

The first link leads to a website promoting Indiana Beers

During the week of the Super Bowl, Monarch Beverage and World Class Beer will be sponsoring free shuttle buses that will run between downtown, Fountain Square and Mass Ave taking visitors to bars, restaurants and stores along the route. On that bus will be advertising for our “Drink Local” campaign along with a Twitter hashtag, #IndianaBeer.

During Super Bowl week, we strongly encourage everyone to use the #IndianaBeer hashtag to get the word out about local beer and where it can be found anywhere that Super Bowl attendees might be drinking!

The 2nd link offered leads to a piece by Arika Herron of the Daily Reporter who writes:

Super Bowl visitors who stay in Hancock County in the days before the game will be able to ride a trolley to visit restaurants, shops and other attractions around town.

The trolley service will be a key connector between the hotel cluster near Interstate 70 and attractions that are farther away, such as downtown.

The Hancock County Visitors Bureau agreed to chip in $3,600 to fund the service.

The visitors bureau already is underwriting the $17,000 cost of bus service between Greenfield and downtown Indianapolis on Super Bowl weekend. 

2) Seems the LA Times is dissing the parking prices for the Super Bowl.  From Anonymous 2:30:

LA Newspaper Tells Readers To Stay Home 

$399 for Super Bowl parking? And still a 20-minute walk?

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/nationnow/2012/01/399-for-super-bowl-parking-and-still-a-20-minute-walk.html  

Much of the blog entry cited, discusses a report by WTHR's Ricn Van Wyk:

Fans who don't even know which teams are playing in Super Bowl XLVI are already buying parking spaces.

Lots and garages are charging fans much more than usual on Super Bowl Sunday. A $6 space across from City Market will cost $99 on game day.

...

Denison has about 10,000 spaces available and figures the whole week of Super Bowl activities could be worth a million dollars in parking fees, depending on who is playing and if the cities are within driving distance of Indianapolis, Gould says.

A short distance from Lucas Oil Stadium, PanAm Plaza is charging $129, neighboring Union Station is charging $99 and a downtown garage $59.

...

The most expensive advertised parking spots - at $399 - are the furthest away. The family-owned TWAY company expects to make a little money from fans with big RVs and party plans.

3) The figures just released for the CIB loss and their contribution to the City for IMPD costs associated with the big game apparently are in flux.  From Anonymous 7:53:

Fox 59 is reporting that the NFL is actually reimbursing the city only $3.5 million instead of the $4.1 million the CIB is touting. Raising the the CIB's projected loss from $810,000 to $1.4 million.

It doesn't take much questioning to find that this event has been financially mismanaged from the very start.

Much like our $750 million white elephant gift to Jim Irsay.

I am starting to wonder if the true economic impact may be negative if this cold weather Superbowl (during a down economy) doesn't attract the projected 150,000 out-of-town visitors that CIB needs to get to a direct spending threshold of $150+ million.

The NFL shortfall comment is at end of the broadcast.

http://www.fox59.com/videogallery/67474629/News/IMPD-concerns-about-Super-Bowl-safety

P.S.

This public safety meeting also uncovered that security plans are still up in the air, two weeks before the event, and the police union wants overtime pay, while management is trying to keep cost down by adjusting shifts and eliminating vacation days.

The FOX59 video report by Aishah Hasnie mentions that IMPD has received the funds.  These funds were not appropriated for spending at budget time.  Once that step is taken, we will have an opportunity to see what the final numbers are for costs and CIB donations.

4) This nugget from Anonymous 12:00 is served best without an introduction:

The NFL has tentatively called a brief owners meeting for Feb. 2 in Indianapolis, three days before the Super Bowl to approve financing for the planned 49ers stadium, including providing up to $200 million in funding grants from the league.

Should Indianapolis feel like they got ripped off holding the bag on $750 million Lucas Oil Stadium with potential Superbowl hosting losses as a "reward"????

Heck, Irsay just got a NFL loan, not a grant.

http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/news/2012/01/17/niners-stadium-nfl-funding.html

The San Francisco Business Times reporter, Eric Young says:

The Niners appear to be getting ever closer to lining up funding for a new stadium in Santa Clara.

The SportsBusiness Journal reports that the NFL within three weeks could approve financing for the planned stadium, including providing up to $200 million in funding grants from the league.

 5) And last but not least, as mentioned in the opening paragraph, Gary Welsh's take on WRTV's report of 7000 fewer seats in LOS for the Super Bowl than originally expected.  From WRTV reporter Kenna Kooi:

Despite the simmering excitement surrounding the upcoming Super Bowl, NFL officials said Indianapolis will host the smallest championship game in 20 years.

In the buildup to Super Bowl 46, officials had considered adding extra seats at Lucas Oil Stadium, taking the total from 63,000 to 70,000 seats on Super Bowl Sunday, but officials have drastically reduced the addition down to 254. 

As Welsh rightly points out:

This is still going to be a big event for the city, but in comparison to the number of visitors who come here every year to attend the Indianapolis 500, it's a much smaller event. The Colts have had plenty of sold out games over the past several years that have drawn as many visitors downtown. Clearly, Super Bowl planners are banking on a whole lot of fans coming into town to experience the atmosphere of the big game, who don't have tickets to the event. Given the marketing campaign for the Super Bowl Village in Central Indiana, planners expect to draw most of those additional visitors from the local market.

That's it for the moment.  Thanks to all the eagle-eyed contributors to this blog for their comments and for going the extra mile to put more information into the hopper.

Super Bowl Costs FINALLY Beginning To Be Revealed

Thanks to all of my alert readers who have sent me links to news items reporting that some of the costs of the Super Bowl are FINALLY being revealed.  So, lets move forward here by listing our references and listing the costs now being reported.  To put it into perspective, the 2012 Super Bowl bid was submitted in April, 2008, and its terms are what are falling out into public view just 19 days before the event.

Articles of interest used for this blog entry in the order I received the links from alert readers:
Scott Olson, IBJ,  1-16-12 -- "CIB expects to lose money during Super Bowl"
Jon Murray, IndyStar, 1-17-12 -- "Super Bowl 2012 will drop Capital Improvement Board for a loss"
Mike Corbin, WIBC, 12-21-11 -- "Super Bowl Host Committee Releases Final Numbers"

Let's start with the last one and the claims of the Host Committee CEO, Mark Miles.

He claims that the "they've raised and are investing $154 million for some 250 housing units as part of the Super Bowl Legacy Project."  Well, as I recall, federal funds coming to the City were the bulk of the money being invested in the near eastside neighborhood.  Those funds were augmented by the NFL, but a clear accounting of the exact dollar amounts supplied by taxpayers but not credited to them has not been forthcoming.  From what I have heard, the lion's share of the investment comes from the taxpayer, not the host committee or the NFL, yet they are the ones getting nearly all the credit.

Also claimed is that the Host Committee "has also raised close to $27 million, surpassing the $25 million goal needed to host the 2012 Super Bowl."  No mention what that money was spent on.

And finally, this nugget: "Committee officials also say the city has fixed the Pan Am Garage which has been plagued by structural and water issues."  I recall news accounts of the Department of Code Enforcement closing parts of the underground garage at Pan Am Plaza until repairs could be made.  I thought that the garage was owned by someone other than the City and our MDC gave Pan Am Plaza to the Indiana Sports Corporation years ago now.  I certainly hope that the implication that the City paid to fix the garage and shore up the Plaza is erroneous.

The two stories on the costs and revenues of the CIB have overlapping figures.

NET - CIB
The CIB will lose $810,000

EXPENSES - CIB
$4 m to the City to pay for police overtime
$2 m for CIB employee overtime and temp hires
$794,000 paid to State to be applied toward stadium and convention center debt

REVENUES - CIB
$2.4 m hotel tax from visitors - not NFL employees
$440,000 food and beverage taxes - but none from LOS or ICC
$100,000 car rental tax - but none from NFL employees
(figures above are from IBJ and total $2.94 m - Star reports total estimate of $3.1 m from these taxes)
$4.1 m from NFL for labor costs due to Super Bowl events

EXEMPTIONS FOR NFL
hotel tax
restaurant tax
fuel tax
car rental tax
admissions tax
Star reports that "State lawmakers exempted the NFL and its affiliates from paying nearly all state and local taxes in connection with the Super Bowl".

LOST REVENUES - CIB
The NFL will get the food and beverage tax revenue for concessions sold inside LOS and ICC, instead of that money flowing to the CIB.

ECONOMIC IMPACT
between $150 m and $300 m in direct spending by visitors

NOT REPORTED
NFL gets proceeds from parking lots owned and operated by State and Local government entities - the full extent of this agreement has not yet been divulged
DPW, DCE, IMPD, IFD real costs associated with events - IMPD already spent at least $500,000 in 2011 in preparations and the City already spent $600,000 to provide free Wi-Fi in the mile square
Income lost to taxpayers in City's Georgia Street giveaway to Indianapolis Downtown Inc., not to mention loss of that entire asset which just saw $12 m taxpayer renovation (bipartisan vote of Council, by the way)
Cost to Indy-Go for free bus service for visitors

CIB/NFL Agreement for Use of Indiana Convention Center

I have now been sent the signed agreement between the Capital Improvement Board and the National Football League for the use of the Indiana Convention Center and two surface parking lots abutting the south end of the ICC.  I have uploaded it to Google Docs - click here.

Like the agreement for the use of Lucas Oil Stadium, this agreement is lengthy, running 136 pages.  Unlike the LOS agreement, the ICC agreement sheds little light on the original bid by the 2012 Super Bowl Host Committee (now operating as Our2012SB, Inc.).  The original bid and subsequent Host Committee/NFL agreement is being deliberately held from public view, as are the cost to Indianapolis for Police and Fire services, snow removal preparations, and code enforcement/court enforcement activities during the Super Bowl season.

As you might guess, the ICC, with some exceptions for offices used by tenant organizations and CIB operations, is being provided to the NFL FREE OF CHARGE from 8 am January 18 through 5 pm February 11, 2012 (p 2 of the pdf).  There is one carve out in that the Sagamore Ballroom lease is up at 12:01 am February 11.  I believe the County Democratic Party Slating Convention is scheduled on that day.

NFL use of the two parking lots began at 12:01 am January 9 and will extend through 11:59 pm February 17, 2012.  They get the use of these parking lots "rent free for construction and preparatory activities for the NFL Events, conducting NFL Events and for dismantling of construction and equipment after the NFL Events" (p 2 of the pdf).  Revenues from the parking facilities will go entirely to the NFL (p 22 of the pdf).

There are expenses that will be the responsibility of the NFL incurred from their free use of the grounds of LOS and ICC.  I'll go into those in a future post.

Back to the use of Indy's Code Enforcement Officers to police infraction of NFL copyrights, we have this section of the ICC agreement (p 125 of the pdf):

4. Licensor [CIB] shall use its reasonable commercial efforts to prevent the unauthorized sale of such merchandise [Super Bowl and NFL-related merchandise and novelty items], including scorecards, line ups or newspaper inserts with line ups and roster, depth charts or similar items relating to the participating teams in the Super Bowl Game within the Licensed Premises.  In accordance with the terms of the Host Committee Agreement, the Host Committee shall use its reasonable efforts to request that the City enforce the prohibition during the NFL Events of all temporary vendor licensing authorized by local governmental authorities for the area within a one mile radius of the ICC property boundaries.

That is again reference to the Clean Zone, establishment of which was enabled through the Super Bowl Ordinance.  No accounting for the number of man hours our Code Enforcement Inspectors will be away from their usual jobs in our neighborhoods, nor the extra costs for 24-7 patrolling of the Clean Zone, nor the cost for having the Environmental Court Judge on call 24-7 to man the rocket docket to mete out on the spot justice, has been made available to Indianapolis taxpayers, who are on the hook for the expense.  There are other costs to our City that remain unreported to the community who will be required to cover the expenses.  That is not right.

CIB and NFL Sign Lucas Oil Stadium Agreement For Super Bowl Season

On December 30, 2011, the Capital Improvements Board and the National Football League signed off on their formal agreement regarding use of Lucas Oil Stadium for the 2012 Super Bowl. 

I was provided a copy of that agreement in response to an open records request of the CIB.  I have posted the agreement on google docs and it can be reviewed here.

This is a lengthy document and it is going to take me a lot longer to absorb its contents and portents.  What did catch my eye, though, was the light it manages to shed on the original bid by the 2012 Super Bowl Host Committee and the NFL.  The Host Committee was set up, I am firmly convinced, to act a shell to protect the deal from the prying eyes of the taxpaying public.  They have continued to operate as they see fit, while holding to themselves all of those pesky details, like how much the taxpayers have been put on the hook.  The Host Committee called the shots on the Super Bowl ordinance that will serve to protect the NFL copyrights, and to give one person sole power to waive a number of our zoning laws that otherwise require a public hearing on a variance petition.

The CIB/NFL agreement is, to my reading of it, not the entire agreement between the City or State with the NFL, but revolves exclusively around the LOS environment.  However, the agreement does capture some of the original NFL minimum specifications for bidding Host Committees, some of the original bid offered by the Indy Host Committee, and from time to time the document's wording  allude to other promises made, but not fully fleshed out in the CIB/NFL agreement.

Before I launch into those items I see from the original bid, let me also note that this agreement does not tell us if these items have been eliminated from final agreements with the Host Committee, or if they are not pertinent to the CIB and LOS and survive in another form with another NFL agreement.  It is clear that some parts of the original bid are not included for reference in the appendix containing the bulk of the information about the original bid.  For instance, there is reference on page 64 of the pdf to a section of the bid documents entitled "Government Guarantees".  As you can imagine, I have scoured the entire 176 pages for that section.  It is not included.

So, here is a litany of items that caught my eye regarding what sorts of things the Host Committee offered. 

All ticket revenues go to the NFL, who also get to set ticket prices.  "All Super Bowl and Super Bowl-related event tickets will be exempt from sales, amusement, or entertainment taxes, and other surcharge obligations." (p 64)

The Host Committee may purchase 750 tickets, but cannot resell them for more than face value.

85% of all suites have been turned over to the NFL.  (p 67)  The NFL will have exclusive use of all club seats.  (p 64)

"Per the Host Committee Agreement, police and fire services will be provided at no expense to NFL or Licensor [the CIB].  Licensor and NFL acknowledge and agree that per the Host Committee Agreement neither party shall be responsible for the costs and expenses, if any, related to police and fire services for Super Bowl Events in accordance with the above-referenced Security Plan."  (p 13)

Parking is strikingly incomplete in this document.  There is reference in the original specifications for bidders that the NFL required at least 35,000 parking spaces within one mile of LOS, provided free of charge.  The Host Committee bid wording suggests that it will meet the requirements, but seem to say that all of the spaces will not be within the mile perimeter requested.  They also make the argument that due to the hotels being connected by enclosed corridor to LOS, about 14,000 "of the NFL's most important guests may not require parking."  (pp 55 & 60)

Page 68 of the pdf has a number of offerings by the Host Committee, including a "fully funded $25 million budget", hosting for the NFL a party for 3,000 members of the media, and "providing key cards branded with the Super Bowl logo for all downtown hotel properties and team hotels."

This is one of the sections of the bid that have been crossed out.  At a minimum that means it is not included as part of the CIB/NFL agreement - not that it has been removed from the Host Committee agreement with the NFL.

Page 158 of the pdf also has a couple of interesting allusions to the Host Committee Agreement.  In item 1 it says "In accordance with the terms of the Host Committee Agreement, the Host Committee shall make available to NFL at no charge up to 24,000 sq. ft. of storage space in tents outside the Stadium".  And, item 4 says "In accordance with the terms of the Host Committee Agreement, the Host Committee shall use its reasonable efforts to request the City enforce the prohibition during the Super Bowl Game and the Super Bowl Events of all temporary vendor licensing authorized by local governmental authorities for the area within one mile radius of the Stadium property boundaries."  That would be the Super Bowl ordinance provisions for Clean Zones and the anticipated 'rocket docket'.  The rocket docket will have a Superior Court Judge on call 24 hours a day to deal with those cited by the City's code enforcement and police officers for violating the Super Bowl ordinance.

There is much more in this agreement, but it will take time to digest and report on it all.  Meanwhile, have a look for yourself.  The public has been kept in the dark as to the costs to our tax coffers for all of this.  I'll just remind everyone that the 2012 budget required a $40 million cash infusion from the Consolidated Downtown TIF district in order to be balanced.  Word is that the hole will be even bigger for the 2013 budget, but all the slush funds will have been drained by then.  So, enjoy the party - its going to be one doozie of a hangover.

How Much Is the Superbowl Costing Indianapolis and Indiana Taxpayers?

Paul Ogden has a riveting blog entry today about the real cost to cities and states that host Super Bowls.  I highly recommend "Sports Economist Says Indianapolis is Big Loser Financially From Hosting Super Bowl" to all taxpayers of Indianapolis and, yes, even all of Indiana.

Meanwhile, Council President Ryan Vaughn - before the election - promised the Council that he would do his best to get the Ballard Administration to cough up information about how much cash the February Super Bowl is costing Indianapolis.  So far, nothing has come forward.  And considering how much water Vaughn is carrying for Ballard these days, it leaves this writer wondering why they will not tell the public what the price tag is.

Alert Reader, Jon, Delves Into Our2012SB, Inc., Contract

Alert reader Jon, has done a bang up job of delving into the contract between DPW and Our2012SB, Inc, which I exposed in my post the other day (see "Super Bowl Host Committee Got To Design Georgia Street - Taxpayers Get To Pay For It")  He has pulled some interesting items from this contract and made mention of those in the comments section of that blog post.  I think they deserve broader exposure, so I will cut and paste his findings below.  Here is the link to contract 8667 (in the log in screen, enter "public" in both boxes).  Contract 8667 is between DPW and Our2012SB, Inc., for $1.6 million, signed 2/22/11. Jon also brings up contract 8131, which is a contract between INDOT and DPW for the Georgia Street project, for $8 million of federal road construction money, signed 10/15/10.

Thanks Jon.  Great work.

Did some quick browsing on contract 8667 among the interesting things I found; most of the initial design work was planned in February and March of 2010 but the contract 8667 have a start date of 03/2011. I don't read construction contracts on a regular basis so I don't know if this is unusual or not.


The project grew from 4 million to over 10 million in less then six months, pages 66-67. The initial 4 million was from federal highway dollars, wonder where the other 6+ million will come from. There is some mention of steam heated sidewalks and that alone is 1+ million dollars.

Somewhere in attachment D the total "Optional" cost is over 13 million dollars; part of those costs, bicycle racks $13,882.50, ornamental rails $85,000.00, rain gardens $16,056.00, trees (8")$150,000.00, trees (6") $60,000.00, trees (4") $20,000.00 and radiant heat items, intersections $243,000.00, on Georgia Street $791,610.00 and vault for radiant heat $120,000.00.
No wonder they don't want anyone to see what is really going on!

and

Contract #8131, 10/18/2010, for 10 million for Georgia St. Project, 8 million fed and 2 million local. Is this contract also part of the SB update? I can't tell there aren't a lot of spefifics in the document.

The Cash Flows At The CIB

Its like we have our very own soap opera.  Instead of who is sleeping with whom, we have the always entertaining exhibition of the Capital Improvement Board being dirt poor one day, flush with cash the next, only to fall into abject need soon after.

Gary Welsh over at Advance Indiana (see "Georgia Street Project Includes Heated Street and Sidewalks") and Paul Ogden at Ogden On Politics (see "CIB To Spend $8 Million on Super Bowl") have both taken up WTHR's Mary Milz report that the CIB has an additional $8 million to contribute to the super bowl effort.  I began leaving comments on their blogs, but I have too much to say.  Figured I'd say it here.

Milz reports that the CIB will contribute about $8 million to the superbowl effort -- $4 million to help pay for Indianapolis' Department of Public Safety costs and another $4.2 million for more private security and other gameday expenses, which the CIB says the NFL will repay.  Some excerpts from Milz' report:

On Monday, the board approved a plan to cover private security as well as some of the other operational costs including staffing and utilities. Also included in that $8 million appropriation is $4 million for the city's Department of Public Safety. A spokesperson for Public Safety Director Frank Straub said it's earmarked to cover overtime for police and firefighters during the Super Bowl, noting 150 officers would be positioned inside the stadium alone.

and

Lathrop said the NFL has agreed to reimburse the CIB roughly $4.2 for specific gameday expenses including private security. She said the CIB hopes to recoup the remaining $4 million from the extra tax revenue generated during the Super Bowl.


Right now they're looking at a net loss of roughly $800,000. Lathrop said the goal of the CIB wasn't to make money off the Super Bowl but to help the city facilitate an event expected to generate millions in economic impact.

She said the lease between the CIB and NFL for the use of LOS and the Convention Center will cover the reimbursements. She said it's expected to be finalized very soon.

Here are my thoughts in no particular order -

1) Mayor Greg Ballard is facing reelection and cannot afford, politically, to cover the costs of IMPD and IFD overtime due to the superbowl - while cutting all departments except the Department of Code Enforcement. 

2) Last year the Mayor, through the MDC, gifted the CIB $8 million a year that is really destined for the Pacers, but which began with a December payment of $4 million that amounted to a surplus over what was "needed" for the Pacers.  The CIB now re-purposes that gift and returns it to Mayor Ballard for superbowl expenses that the public was told would not be.

3) The CIB knows full well that it will be back to begging for more tax increases next spring.  So, as a foreshadowing, it says that they will incur a "net loss of roughly $800,000".  The CIB bailout passed by the Indiana Legislature a couple of years ago, still has two tax rates that are scheduled to come up for consideration during a couple month window in the spring of 2012.  The City-Council can vote to raise the car rental tax and the admissions tax during that window.  If it fails to act, the option dies.  So, the CIB cannot go full tilt boogey with their flamoyant lifestyle at this time, lest they lose the sympathy of the Council next spring when they will again claim that hard times  have once again descended upon them - through no fault of their own, mind you.

4) Nobody will release the terms of the agreement between the City and the NFL for hosting the superbowl next year.  The City appears to be using the Host Committee (officially known as Our 2012 SB, Inc.) as a shell to protect the City from disclosure of the deal to the public.  The state has agreed to turn over to the NFL all of its parking garages and their profits, as well as the State's tax profits from the superbowl.  HB1125, passed in 2008, grants an exemption covering all state and local taxes, including the 6% admissions tax,  to the NFL and the NCAA when Indianapolis is the host city for a Super Bowl or Men's or Women's Final Four event.  It isn't a stretch, nor does it invoke a vast conspiracy theory, to conjecture that the City also agreed to such things.  It is a bit more than curious that the CIB's Ann Lathrop says that the $4 million 'gift' is just about the same as the $4 million the CIB expects to profit from increased taxes during the superbowl.  This can easily be the slight of hand employed to turn over all tax proceeds to the NFL - by paying for one of the NFL's legitimate costs.  If that is not true, the City can prove it by releasing the terms of the deal with the NFL.

Gary Welsh said it all, when he said : "How stupid do they think people are?"

Meanwhile, the soap opera continues.

Our2012SB, Inc., Tax Returns

What I hope to accomplish with my posts on Super Bowl 2012 is to get the City of Indianapolis to divulge all that it has committed to do for that event, what they have committed to spend on that event, and what laws they have agreed to suspend, bend, or overrule through the Superbowl ordinance that just passed.  The public has an inherent right to know what their elected officials have contracted for - even if it is accomplished through shell companies.  Then, with full disclosure, the public can decide if it is worth it or not.

Last week I noted that there is a contract between Our 2012 SB, Inc, also known as the Indianapolis 2012 Super Bowl Host Committee and the City of Indianapolis' Department of Public Works (see "Super Bowl Host Committee Got To Design Georgia Street - Taxpayers Get To Pay For It").  The contract calls on DPW to expend $1.6 million to pay for the design work that originally was part of a contract between design firms and Our 2012 SB, Inc.  The contracts call the project the "Super Bowl Village/Georgia Street" project.  One of the more interesting, some might say frivolous, design changes noted in the initial round of contracts, subsequently taken over by DPW to pay, was to heat Georgia Street.  Yes, the street and sidewalks will be heated from underneath with forced steam pipes.  The cost estimate was another $1 million.  Now, just how useful will that be beyond the Superbowl???  Come on.  This clearly is a case of what sorts of things you spend money on, when you are spending someone else's money.  Its just like the retractable roof on Lucas Oil Stadium, that rarely is retracted when the sun shines, but I hear, often leaks when it rains.

This brings me to the oft repeated promise that the superbowl would not cost taxpayers any  money.  The Host Committee would raise $25 million in private donations.  Well, so far we have $600,000 of the City's budget allocated to creating free WiFi for superbowl visitors to the mile square - posted in the budget two years ago.  We found out a week ago that IMPD spent $500,000 on superbowl expenses in the first 7 months of this year alone.  We found the DPW contract for $1.6 million.  The "Super Bowl Village/Georgia Street" project will cost taxpayers some $12 million.  How much of that amount is specifically for the super bowl is not readily available. [edited to add: Mayor Ballard's 2012 budget calls for a one time $4 million donation to the City from the CIB to pay for IMPD efforts during the super bowl.  This has not yet been approved]

One way to find more information would be to review the tax returns for the Host Committee.  If you are not familiar, http://www.guidestar.org/ is a website that catalogues all tax returns for non-profits.  One thing leading to another, I finally found the tax returns under the corporate name Our 2012 SB, Inc.  From the tax returns I found that the former name was Indianapolis 2011, Inc.  This was the Host Committee's formal name when it first attempted to land the superbowl, during the Peterson administration.

guidestar.org has 3 tax returns, covering the calendar years 2007, 2008, and 2009.  The 2007 return was filed under the old corporate name.

In 2007, Indianapolis 2011, Inc., took in $400,772 and spent $377,184, apparently on the superbowl bid presentation.  They reported no paid staff.  The Board of Directors was co-chaired by Mitch Daniels, Bart Peterson, Jim Irsay, and Tony George.

In 2008, Our 2012 SB, Inc, took in $4,436,907 and spent $3,896,082.  Towards the end of the year they hired a President/CEO, Allison Melangton.  They paid her $57,622.00 salary plus benefits for those unspecified months of employment.

'Bid materials & expenses' accounted for $303,266.  If anyone is interested in the articles of incorporation, they are included in the second half of this tax return.

In 2009, Our 2012 SB, Inc, took in $5,216,249 and spent $4,284,206. Melangton was paid $232,822.00 in salary plus benefits for the entire calendar year. 

So, from 2007 through 2009, the Host Committee took in just over $10 million of the promised $25 million.

What we have on our hands is government officials using an intermediate company to keep pertinent documents from the public.  Whether this was one of the initial reasons for setting up the Host Committee or a lucky accident, I cannot say.  But, given that getting information from the Ballard administration regarding promise made to the NFL is like pulling teeth, I have to conclude they like it this way.

Super Bowl Host Committee Got To Design Georgia Street - Taxpayers Get To Pay For It

One thing leads to another.  I will spare you the bread crumbs leading me to this contract, but suffice it to say, it took over a month to get to this point.

Contained in the City's contract database is one between the Department of Public Works and Our 2012 SB, Inc, for $1,561,200.  It is contact 8667 if you would like to read it.  It is 146 pages long.  I have read only the beginning of it, but wanted to share it with you.

The gist is that INDOT selected a designer for Georgia Street (Crawford Murphy & Tilley).  The Designer entered into a consulting agreement with the Host Committee (aka Our 2012 SB, Inc) to design the Street and assume responsibility for paying for the design.  On February 22, 2011, DPW agreed to reimburse Our 2012 SB, Inc., for the cost of that design.

Our 2012 SB, Inc., is a 501 (c)(6) not for profit corporation whose purpose is described as

a mutual benefit corporation organized to promote the common business interests, growth and opportunity, and the general economic welfare for businesses in and around Indianapolis, Indiana (the "City"), by attracting and hosting a professional football championship game in the City.

Our 2012SB, Inc, submitted a successful bid for the National Football League's Super Bowl XLVI, a profession football championship to be held in Indianapolis in 2012.

Under the supervision of the National Football League, Our 2012SB will centralize the planning and the execution of the 2012 Super Bowl to ensure coordination of all efforts and community resources.  Our 2012 SB will serve as an extension to the National Football League in the local community, as the City's ambassador to the incoming Super Bowl fans, guests, and corporations, and as a manager of local resources such as City services, event venues, accommodations, and thousands of volunteers.

The Public's Right To Know - Dragging The Superbowl Expenditures Out Into The Open

It is my contention that the public has an inherent right to know how much the Superbowl is costing us, and how the City's deal with the NFL is affecting our laws.  I now see the beginning of bipartisan movement within the Council to pull at least the costs out of the Ballard administration.  While more is needed, I'll give one big HOORAY ! to the Council for getting the ball rolling.

There were two proposals considered on Monday night that, together, illuminated the fact that its not just those of us accustomed to the cheap seats who do not know what is going on, but also the Council whose statutory role is to hold the purse strings.

First up was Prop 171 which both changed how previously appropriated Public Safety dollars could be spent and added new money to that budget.  Fellow blogger Gary Welsh has posted about the lack of toilet paper and other essentials in Public Safety offices (see "Life in Straubville" and "More On Life In Straubville"). 

The overall reasoning offered to the Council for the need to shuffle funds between categories of types of expenditures was this -  The usual pattern of expenditures for supplies is about $1.5 m a year.  Public Safety was allowed to ask for only about $800 k for supplies in last year's budget and "challenged to find operational efficiencies" with the understanding that they would then go back to the Council and shuffle those savings into the supplies category.  In addition, there is money in the federal law enforcement fund that has never been appropriated.

Now, I did attend those budget hearings and it was never disclosed aloud that such an agreement was working.  I don't know what the Councillors were told. 

They seem to have found "operational efficiencies" in personnel costs, as that is the only category from which money is being shuffled.  But, supplies is not the only category getting the newly allocated funds.  The category that includes outside contracts is actually getting more money from the combination of "operational efficiencies" and the federal law enforcement fund.  While $731,650 is now going into supplies, just over $2 million is going into the category of "Other Services and Charges", which includes professional contracts and outside consulting contracts and the like.  No explanation was given at the Council meeting for the need for beefing up that category.

During the explanation of all of this, it also came out, that the Department of Public Safety has already spent over $500,000 this year on expenses for the Superbowl.  During last year's budget hearings, absolutely no mention was made of the need for money for the Superbowl and it seems to have been news to the Councillors that the total was already so high.

The vote on Prop 171 was 20 yeas and 7 nays.  The yeas were Democrats Brown, Evans, B. Mahern, D. Mahern, Minton-McNeill, Oliver, joining Republicans Cain, Cardwell, Cockrum, Day, Freeman, Hunter, Malone, McHenry, McQuillen, Pfisterer, Rivera, Sandlin, Vaughn, and lone Libertarian Coleman.  The nays were Democrats Gray, Lewis, Manfield, Moriarty, Nytes, Sanders along with Republican Lutz.  Councillor Bateman was listed as "not voting" and Councillor Scales was absent all evening.

This leads to Proposal 188, the Superbowl Ordinance, and its discussion.  An amendment was offered by Councillor Brian Mahern to get an accounting of the City's costs for each civic event each year by May 1.  There was a gentleman's agreement that Council President, Ryan Vaughn, would ask that the accounting for actual and expected Superbowl expenditures be provided to the Council by November 1, 2011.  I think I heard that it would be offered at a public meeting.

The Mahern amendment was offered with the bipartisan support of the sponsor of the Superbowl Ordinance, Councillor Angel Rivera.

The vote on the Superbowl Ordinance, Prop 188, was 22 yeas and 5 nays.  The yea votes were cast by Republicans Cain, Cockrum, Day, Hunter, Malone, McHenry, McQuillen, Pfisterer, Rivera, Vaughn, along with Democrats Brown, Evans, Gray, Lewis, B. Mahern, D. Mahern, Mansfield, Minton-McNeill, Moriarty, Nytes, Oliver and Sanders.  The nay votes came from Republicans Cardwell, Freeman, Lutz, Sandlin joined by Libertarian Coleman.  Councillor Bateman was listed as "not voting" and Councillor Scales was absent all evening.


So, through all of this, we, the Citizens of Indianapolis, will be getting some advance knowledge on how much money has been spent and how much more is expected to be spent on the Superbowl by the City/County.  It may be worth it or not, but at least we will have the information upon which we can come to our conclusions.
 
We still do not have similar information regarding which of our laws will be avoided by the passage of the Superbowl Ordinance, and unfortunately, no real push evident on the part of the Council to get just such an accounting.  I'll continue to write on this blog about the effect of the illusive agreement between the City and the NFL, as I firmly believe that it is an inherent right of the public to know exactly what has been promised the NFL in return for their naming our City as the host of the 2012 Superbowl.
 
For now, though, it is a good sign that the Councillors are waking up to the fact that this Superbowl will actually have scarce City and County government dollars spent on it.  They are the fiscal body for the City and County and they are asserting that role - which is very good to see indeed.

Superbowl Ordinance Back At Council Committee Tonight

The first item on the City-County Council Rules committee agenda for tonight is Prop 188, the Superbowl Ordinance.  The meeting starts at 6 pm in room 260 of the City-County Building.

Prop 188 hands over almost all of the detail and certainly all of the authority for decisions to the Department of Code Enforcement.  More specifically, it hands over the promulgation of specific regulations to the approval of that agency's Board, and the licensing and more decisions to the Department's License Administrator.

The ordinance defines 'special event zones' and 'clean zones', but leaves the approval of same in the hands of the License Administrator, with no public input possible.  Licenses for vending and other activity within the clean zone also requires the approval of the event sponsor.

The License Administrator would also have the sole power, again without any public input, to approve signage that is currently illegal inside Marion County.  This is "including but not limited to inflatables, cold air balloons, banners, pennants, flags, building wraps, A-frame signs, T-frame signs, projected image signs, electronic variable message signs, and light emitting diode signs. Mobile advertising signs shall not be  permitted under this provision."

From the beginning (see "Superbowl Ordinance Before City-County Council")  I have tried to obtain the details of what is actually going to be the end result should this ordinance pass.  I have been rebuffed by the Administration that claims to be 'transparant'. 

I first requested of DCE, what regulations it was considering proposing to its Board, should Prop 188 be enacted.  I was told, "As a matter of process, we cannot develop or propose regulation unless an ordinance is in place".  I then asked them for a copy of all correspondence between DCE and any member of the Indianapolis 2012 Super Bowl Host Committee, as it was apparent that the NFL and the Host committee and the City had some sort of agreements in place - if only to land the 2012 Super Bowl.  Monday I obtained 702 pages of emails - more on them below. 

At the same time, I requested of City Legal, a copy of any agreement between the City and the NFL regarding Super Bowl 2012.  I was told the City "did not locate any documents responsive to your request".  I then asked for any agreement between the City of Indianapolis and any organization regarding Super Bowl 2012.  I was told that my request lacked enough specificity to be fulfilled, according to State Law requirements. 

Nobody is divulging exactly what is being agreed to through this ordinance.  The public and the Councillors are being asked to buy a pig in a poke.

Back to the 702 pages of emails that I did receive.  Most were mundane - setting up meeting dates, etc.  Here are some of the piece that I could glean from the messages:

1) the superbowl ordinance is based on what the City or the Indianapolis 2012 Super Bowl Host Committee (ISC),I do not know which, proposed to the NFL as part of its bid package to land the 2012 Super Bowl for Indianapolis.  In an email dated September 18, 2010, Adam Collins (the author of the ordianance and DCE's license administrator) introduced himself to Michele Raines (VP, Event Operations & Government Relations, ISC) saying:

By way of introduction, I have been tasked to head the City's efforts to revise our current special events ordinance to accommodate changes required for the upcoming Super Bowl and other civic sponsored major events.  To ensure that we are tackling all the areas that the City has agreed to in the Super Bowl bid, I was hoping you had a copy of the executive summary that you could send to me electronically.

the response from Raines:

Adam - it's nice to meet you and I look forward to working with you.  Attached are the bid specs for the Clean Zone ordinance from the NFL that we have committed to meet.

There was an attachment which was not provide to me in the 702 pages.  I subsequently requested a copy of it.

2) the public has been the last to be enlightened about what is in the ordinance - and I would also say that we are still very much in the dark as to what details will emerge AFTER prop 188 passes.

For several months, the draft ordinance that Collins was working on was called the 'Clean Zone ordinanance' in emails.

The initial draft ordinance was ready in mid-December, 2010.  By early January, 2011, the ISC was reviewing it.  On January 28, 2011, a review and comments on it were returned to Collins from Scott Bearby, Managing Director of Legal Affairs/Associate General Counsel for the NCAA.

On June 13, 2011, there was an inquiry to Collins from the ISC's Andrew Arnold, Director of Event Operations, as to whether he might share the draft with the NFL's Clean Zone attorney.  The response was:

I see no issues with it, so long as he agrees that we're in the top 1% of ordinances relative to the Clean Zone in the country.

Personally, I think that the City needs to create ordinances that hold the residents' interests above all others.

On June 22, 2011, there was a meeting with the Indiana Sports Corp. to inform them of the ordinance and solicit their support before the Council.

Also on June 22, Collins requested help in arranging a briefing for Mark Wolf from BRVA and Susan Vogt from Riley Area/MAMA and to solicit their support at the Council.

Prop 188 was introduced at the June 27 meeting of the full Council.

On June 30 there was a meeting with residents of the Babe Denny neighborhood that abuts the south side of Lucas Oil Stadium, where an 'events ordinance' was noted fairly in passing.  It was mentioned that this ordinance had been introduced to the Council as Prop 188.

3) meetings with neighbors deliberately held back information

There was a meeting with residents of the Babe Denny neighborhood earlier, as well, on January 26.  In an email conversation that started two days earlier between Arnold (ISC), Collins (DCE), and Rick Powers (Director, DCE) -- Arnold asked Powers if he wanted to discuss potential parking ordinance changes with the neighborhood.  Powers asked Collins if his work was far enough along to do so.  Collins said "So long as we emphasize the fact that our concept is preliminary, we could begin to provide information.  Andy [Arnold], I'm assuming this means that you didn't have any significant issues with the parking portion of the ordinance?"

The response from Arnold was:

That's correct...however, after further discussion with Mel [Raines] today, we think that we should hold off on discussing this detail for now, and save it for a future meeting that when we can discuss in further detail, along with most of the other details.  If I remember correctly, we initially added this to the agenda as a way to flush out potential issues/concerns with the changes.

I think our general course for tomorrow should be to briefly mention parking in the overall Super Bowl planning overview, saying that we know everyone has some interest in the topic.  Inform them that we will be gathering additional info while in North Texas, and share that we will continue to address in ongoing meetings with them. If attendees have specific questions during the Q&A period, try to avoid too much detail until a future meeting.

Our goal is to work very hard to keep the meeting positive, and we're afraid that introducing something that everyone may not agree with could turn the meeting negative quickly, I hope that this makes sense and that you both agree.

This also gives us time to discuss the draft ordinance as a committee on Friday, before presenting anything to anyone publically.

Please let me know if you have additional questions.

Thanks.

AA

Parking is the number one issue with the residents of Babe Denny.  The neighbors were handled, not dealt with as adults who had a right to information.

4) there are, indeed, specifics being considered that are not called out in Prop 188, but would be implemented should it pass into law.

A number of links to news items were circulated regarding the Dallas Super Bowl.  Of note is one from the the Fort Worth Star Telegram ("Super Bowl kept Arlington staffers busy")

From cracking down on counterfeit NFL merchandise sales to addressing illegal parking and advertising, Super Bowl weekend kept Arlington's code compliance officers busy.

Code officers, along with health inspectors, logged more than 320 inspections at neighborhoods and businesses around Cowboys Stadium on Feb. 4-6, city records show.

Much of the activity focused on making sure private businesses and churches were legally operating their entrepreneurial parking lots, though code officers also addressed issues such as junked cars, abandoned shopping carts and illegally operating pedicabs and pulled up at least 80 so-called bandit signs along street medians.

We know from a presentation that Collins made on July 16, 2011, to the Marion County Alliance of Neighborhood Associations, that there are plans for a 'rocket docket' during the weeks of Super Bowl festivities, where a Judge will be available at all times to shut down violators nabbed by Code Enforcement Officers.  Who, exactly will be paying for these services that will be provided to protect the NFL's commercial license agreements?

Minutes of the December 9, 2010, meeting of the ISC Restaurant Super Service Commitee provided as part of the 702 pages illuminate some additional expectations.  The NFL will be the deciding factor if vendor food carts will be allowed.  A requirement of a special placard for display in restaurant windows to indicate state inspection complete will likely be built into the superbowl ordinance.  Permanent restaurants should expand their seating by 20%.  They should use their sidewalk cafes to prepare food and beverage outside of their restaurants.  They should seek encroachment permits to serve food and beverage on the sidewalk.  The city should clarify laws to allow the public to walk around with an 'open beverage' [I think they are referring to alcohol and not Sprite].  The city should also work on a legal manner through which businesses will be able to serve these beverages to the public for walking around with.

All in all, I did get some details of what is actually intended to be accomplished with the passage of Prop 188.  But, the entire story should be shared with the public before that proposal is passed into law and it is too late for public input.  This ordinance should fit our City and our residents.  We should be its focus, and not the NFL.

Council Rules Committee Meeting Postponed to August 10 - And the Superbowl Ordinance With It

The City-County Council Rules and Public Policy Committee meeting, regularly scheduled for this Tuesday, July 26, has been rescheduled to Tuesday, August 10, at 5:30 pm in Room 260 of the City-County Building.  This also means that the Committee's review of the Superbowl Ordinance (Prop 188) is also rescheduled to that date.

Superbowl 2012 - What Are They Trying To Hide?

The Superbowl Ordinance, Proposal 188, 2011, now before the City-County Council's Rules and Public Policy Committee, leaves a lot of blanks.  These blanks are in the form of specific regulations and unilateral decisions to be made by folks in the Department of Code Enforcement. 

To better understand the full implication of Prop 188, I requested a list of those regulations being considered by DCE under this proposal.  They responded that they "cannot develop or propose regulation unless there is an ordinance in place".  Come on.  The City of Indianapolis, and DCE specifically, are undoubtedly aware of exactly what features the NFL wants in place in this ordinance.  Like the Clean Zone, for instance.

So... I requested a copy of all correspondence between DCE and any representative of the 2012 Superbowl Committee.  And, I asked City Legal for a copy of any agreement between the City and the NFL regarding Superbowl 2012.  The former is still in process, but just last night I received a reply to the latter request.

They could not find any documents that fit my request :

The City of Indianapolis has undertaken a search of its public records and did not locate any records responsive to your request.

There IS NO agreement between the City of Indianapolis and the NFL regarding Superbowl 2012 !

Let me get this straight -- the NFL unilaterally decided to lock in the location of the 2012 Superbowl, without written agreement on certain items, for instance:

Who will pay for police presence during the 2 week event?
Will the City provide, through its code enforcement and police force, the manpower to patrol and cite any vendors selling competing merchandise?
Will the City provide, through its code enforcement and police force, the manpower to patrol and cite any vendors using trademarked terms owned by the NFL - like the word 'superbowl'?
Will the City allow types of signage that are illegal inside Marion County without a variance?
Will the City allow the creation of 'clean zones' wherein the NFL will have final say as to who gets a vendor's license and for what purpose?
Will the City close specific streets to vehicular traffic to widen the NFL village to suit the purposes of the NFL?

The list goes on.  There is a detailed agreement, for sure.  The NFL wasn't born yesterday.  Likely the City has used the 2012 Superbowl Committee to run legal interference so that John and Jane Q. Public only gets the information that Mayor Ballard and the NFL wants them to have.

So... I changed my request.  As of last night, I have requested a copy of any agreement between the City of Indianapolis and any organization regarding the 2012 Superbowl.

When the City makes getting clear information in a timely manner difficult, you are forced to wonder - What are they trying  to hide?

Superbowl Ordinance Before City-County Council

The Indianapolis-Marion County City-County Council is now considering changes to our ordinances to accommodate the wishes of the NFL concerning Superbowl 2012.  These are contained in a rather lengthy Prop 188.  An entirely new section of law is being included (Chapter 986 - begins on page 7 of the pdf) that should receive much public scrutiny.

Prop 188 goes before the Rules committee this Tuesday, July 5, in room 260 of the City-County Building.  The meeting begins at 5:30 pm, and Prop 157, which proposes restrictions on towing companies, is also on the agenda.

Of particular interest to all should be the definition of a 'Clean Zone' -

Clean zone means a geographically defined area within a special event zone during a civic sponsored special event that no temporary advertising, signage, or structures shall be erected or transient merchant, vendor, or otherwise licensed activity may take place without the person or entity performing such activity first having received approval from the event sponsor and a limited duration license from the bureau of license and permit services.

So, a bar that has the fortune to be near Lucas Oil Stadium may not post a 'Welcome Football Fans' banner without having the specific okay of the NFL - for instance.
 
Also note that a special event that attracts more than 2,500 people will have to pay a special event fee of $268, if it will not require fire department personnel or equipment - and a whopping $368 if it does require fire department personnel or equipment.  Now, how is that for paying for the services you use?
 
I only learned of this proposed ordinance last night, so I am still pouring through it.  With the hearing coming so soon and on top of a holiday weekend, to boot, it seems important that as many public eyes get a good look at this proposal as soon as possible.  This is our City.  Let's make sure that, for once, the Tzars of the sports world do not have sole dominion over our laws and do not wreck havoc upon our finances.