Edmonon Aviators lease agreement with the City

[DoyleG]

Managed to get a copy of a lease agreement signed on 25 June, 04. From public document obtained through the Office of the City Clerk.

quote:

1.1.4 "Attendance Fee" means:

1.1.4.1 for Baseline Attendance in the first year of the Term, the sum of Twenty Five Cents ($0.25) for each spectator in attendance at a Game, such sum to be inclusive of all applicable Sales Taxes;

1.1.4.2 for Baseline Attendance in the second year of the Term, the sum of Thirty Cents ($0.30) for each spectator in attendance at a game, such sum to be inclusive of all applicable Sales Taxes; and

1.1.4.3 for Baseline Attendance in the third year of the Term, the sum of Thirty Five Cents ($0.35) for each Spectator in attendance at a Game, such sum to be inclusive of all applicable Sales Taxes;

Quote stating baseline attendance

quote:

1.1.5 "Baseline Attendance" shall mean 200,000 Spectators per Soccer Season, or such other number as may be mutually agreed by the City and the Licensee;

Use of the facility in Section 4

quote:

4.15 This Agreement does not preclude the City from renting the Facility to other persons or organizations for uses other than the playing of professional or amateur soccer during a Soccer Season. Not withstanding the foregoing, the Licensee and the City acknowledge the respective needs of the City, the Licensee and other user groups of the Facility and the parties shall use their best efforts the accommodate these respective needs. On the basis of this acknowledgement, the Licensee shall make every effort to ensure that all Scheduled Home games do no conflict with the renting by the City of the Stadium for any other events to other persons or organizations.

4.16 The City reserves the right to move the Licensee's Games to Clarke Park if the City feels that Playing Field is damaged or would be damaged from a single or double header Game. The city will give the Licensee a minimum of five days notice to move to Clarke Park until the Playing Field sufficiently recovers. In the event of a move to Clarke Park pursuant to this Article 4.16, the Licensee may, at its sole cost, rent temporary seating or set-up equipment.

4.17 Upon five days written notice, either party may request that a Game or series of Games be moved to Clarke Park, and if both parties mutually agree then such Game or Games shall be moved shall be moved to Clarke Park, the Licensee will remain responsible for the Licensee Fees and incremental costs in accordance with this Agreement.

4.19 The city reserves the right to book Clarke Park on the same day or evening as any Game.

Ticket Sales in Section 5

quote:

5.4 If the Licensee is approved to use a ticket distributor other than Ticketmaster, the Licensee shall not use any of Ticketmaster's equipment with the Facility without the written consent of Ticketmaster.

5.5 If the Licensee is approved to use a ticket distributor other than Ticketmaster, the Licensee must remove all air station of that distributor used to scan their tickets within twenty four hours following every game.

5.6 The Licensee shall at its sole cost, print and distribute Tickets for the Games.

5.7 The Licensee shall be entitled to distribute not more than Five Thousand (5,000) Complimentary Tickets for each Game Day, which Tickets, if used, shall be used by the Licensee for providing free admissions to the Games and shall include whatever Tickets are allocated to the participants.

5.8 The Licensee shall provide the City with, prior to the commencement of the Term, Twenty (20) Complimentary Tickets in locations to be selected by agreement between the City and the Licensee. Additional Complimentary Tickets may be distributed by the Licensee upon receipt of written consent by the Director. Requests for additional Complimentary Tickets shall not be unreasonably withheld.

Alteration in attendance fee as stated in Section 6

quote:

6.3.1 the rates identified in Article 1.1.4 shall apply to the Baseline Attendance;

6.3.2 the Attendance Fee will decrease by five (5%) percent for every twenty five thousand attendees over the Baseline Attendance

6.3.3 the Attendance Fee will increase by five (5%) percent for every twenty five thousand attendees below the Baseline Attendance

6.6 Provide the City with a true and accurate Gate Attendance Report for all of the Games itemizing:

6.6.1 the actual attendance;

6.6.2 the Ticket price and prices;

6.6.3 the number of Tickets sold;

6.6.4 the total Ticket receipts from such sales; and

6.6.5 the total Attendance Fee collected.

Services in Section 7

quote:

7.2 Without limiting the generality of Article 7.1, the Licensee shall be responsible for all incremental costs, including, but not limited to, field conversion, pre-game set up, game day costs, post game field conversion, and tear down, police service, field security, Druid's Rugby Football Club security, ticket takers and ushers, maintenance (prior, during and post-event), on plumbing and electrical trades costs, utilities and the VIP parking lot.

7.4 For the purpose of hosting the Games, and the subject to the terms and conditions of this Agreement the city shall, at the sole cost of the Licensee, provide technical staff for the operation of the Scoreboard and Stadium sound system for the Games. Any monies due and owning by the Licensee to the City for the providing by the city of the said technical staff shall become due from the Licensee to the city and shall be payable within thrty (30) days of invoice by the City.

Quote stating scoreboard

quote:

"Scoreboard" means the Sony LED Video Jumbotron, the Matrix Display board, the Production Control Centre and the Sound System with Centre Suspended Speaker Cluster and Surrounding Speaker system; all of which being located at the Stadium;

Food services in Section 9

quote:

9.1 The City shall provide for the general public, all services for the sale of Concessions during the Games, at its discretion and shall retain all revenues there from.

Telecast, Broadcast and Film Rights in Section 11

quote:

11.1 The City reserves the right to approve the grant of telecast, broadcast or film rights for any or all activities conducted within the Facility and associated with the Games.

11.2 The Licensee is responsible for all television costs pertaining to the Games.

Souvenir and Novelty Sales in Section 12

quote:

12.1 The Licensee shall be the sole distributor of the Licensee's souvenir and novelty products sold to Spectators at Scheduled Home Games or activities under the jurisdiction of the Licensee and shall be entitled to retain the revenues from such sales. The Licensee shall be responsible for all the costs related to the sale of it's sovenirs or products. The City reserves the right to approve the Licensee's products which are sold in the Stadium.

12.2 The City shall be the sole distributor of the City's souvenir and novelty products sold to Spectatrs at any Special Event or activities under the jurisdiction of the City and shall be entitled to retain the revenues from such sales.

Program Sales in Section 13

quote:

13.1 the Licensee shall have the exclusive right to sell it's magazine programs during Scheduled Home games only, and further, to retain all revenue derived therefrom.

13.2 The Licensee shall be responsible for all costs related to the sale of it's magazine programs.

[Daniel]

Wow, did anyone at the club read this before signing???

The baseline attendance sets an average gate of 14,286 people. At 25¢ a head, that's $3,571.50 per game (or $50,000 per season!). I'm not gonna bother calculating what they actually were expected to pay with the low attendance.

On top of that, they left the stadium in power of all their game dates with no damage fee to play at Clarke.

Wow, who WERE these people?

[Guest HamiltonSteelers]

Was this a case of getting the team, then getting a lease agreement to sign? I cannot imagine any club dumb enough to agree to this. I imagne the city held the club for ransom by the sounds of it.

[Luis_Rancagua]

It appears, through this latest information, that the ownership group of the Aviators must have been a gang of complete dumb/morons. The group could have opted for the Clarke Stadium deal, something that Rick Titus' group were opting for when bidding for the Edmonton A-League franchise rights. This is perhaps the biggest blunder in the history of Canadian soccer management. I just hope that others learn from this horrendous mistake.

[River City]

Rick Titus....come back, it's not too late...

[Calgary Boomer]

quote:Originally posted by Luis_Rancagua

It appears, through this latest information, that the ownership group of the Aviators must have been a gang of complete dumb/morons. The group could have opted for the Clarke Stadium deal, something that Rick Titus' group were opting for when bidding for the Edmonton A-League franchise rights. This is perhaps the biggest blunder in the history of Canadian soccer management. I just hope that others learn from this horrendous mistake.

What's this now? Rick Spearheaded a group to bid for a franchise? Anyone know who else was behind this?

Also, what's the official capacity of Clarke Stadium now? I haven't been to Edmonton for a while, but what's there? Is there a running track? The pitch looked nice from the few highlights I've seen.

[Luis_Rancagua]

quote:Originally posted by Calgary Boomer

What's this now? Rick Spearheaded a group to bid for a franchise? Anyone know who else was behind this?

Also, what's the official capacity of Clarke Stadium now? I haven't been to Edmonton for a while, but what's there? Is there a running track? The pitch looked nice from the few highlights I've seen.

When Edmonton was bidding for the A-League franchise rigths, there were 2 groups involved: The owners who won the right (eventually fukced-up) and then there was Rick Titus' group who actually were not given the time-or-day by the A-League. During the initial stages of the negotiation, the Titus group presented a plan that would have made the team play at Clark Stadium. Unfortunately, the A-League ignored the Titus proposal, and instead awarded the franchise right to those bunch of idiots who eventually left a mess by having the team play at Commonwealth. Eveventually, we all know what happened in the end.

I do think that the A-League here made a big mistake, and the Titus group should have been the candidates awarded the bid. The Titus' plan was more realistic, especially for the A-League.

As per the attendance at Clarke Stadium, it may hold about 5-6 thousand seats.

[Daniel]

quote:Originally posted by Luis_Rancagua

As per the attendance at Clarke Stadium, it may hold about 5-6 thousand seats.

I think it's more around 1,500, which is why the team didn't play there in the first place..

[Mr.Impact]

Yeah thats right Rick Titus and all of his $30,000/year A-League salary inspires a ton of confidence. I cant believe the league for ignoring Ricks' pitch, which must have been something like" Aw cmon Guys......................please make me run the franchise, I promise I'll do good" ""Sorry Rick you cant run a club on good intentions alone""..."Aw cmon...pretty please." oh ok then.

[DoyleG]

The problem is that the city has a SOP when it comes to teams that aren't from the traditional realm (Oilers and Eskimos). The city did push a similar deal on the indoor Drillers when Pocklington was forced out as the owner of the club. The city also apparently tried to force a huge rent charge to the CrackerCats before they relented. the supposed six figure rent that was planned for the baseball team turned into a $10,000/year rent plus single ticket and parking surcharges.

As for the bids for the club, it was reported that Rick Titus had gotten an investor from Denver (probley due to his time with the Rapids) who was never identified to the public. They weren't planning on using Clarke, which was too small to being with, but to use 3,000 capacity Foote Field. The problem was that the grounds they would've played on was Astroturf and it wouldn't have worked beyond the first year. Add to that the limited parking and transit options.

To further add to Clarke, the city was looking to charge the USL $5,500 to $8,000 rent for each game they played at Clarke when the league took over the club.

Clarke is soon to be fitted with a FieldTurf surface with permanent lines. This is more for giving the Esks a playing field.

The money that is being spent would've been better spent in improving the facilities at Clarke.