Corpus Christi Caller Times Caller.com - Indoor football would be part of new arena talks

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Friday, July 2, 1999

Indoor football would be part of new arena talks

By Bart Wright
Caller-Times Sports Editor

Open-ended discussions on the financing possibilities for a multi-purpose arena in Corpus Christi could begin at any time and include any and all interested parties, according to Western Professional Hockey League president Rick Kozuback.
   One part of those discussions would be offering the owners of the IceRays a franchise in the Indoor Professional Football League.
   "It would definitely be our intention to bring an indoor football league team to town," Kozuback said Thursday. "We are in the business of making buildings profitable and we would want to give (IceRays) owners the chance to control the market in terms of ticket pricing and promotions and all the rest.
   "That way, the IceRays ownership would have another eight regular season football dates, plus playoffs to work cross-promotions with the hockey team or at the very least keep ticket pricing in line with both sports," Kozuback said. "Our first priority would be to protect the IceRays owners."
   The IPFL now has a team in Austin, with owners of the WPHL franchise in that city controlling the team. The league has plans to expand to Shreveport next year and include that city's WPHL team owners, Kozuback said.
   All of the speculation is dependent on a new facility, which Kozuback is eager to discuss.
   "We're here, we're interested in starting a conversation," said Kozuback, who oversees International Coliseum Corporation, a sister company to the WPHL that builds an operates sports and entertainment facilities. "We don't have the kind of agenda that tends to scare people when it comes to mentioning things like arenas. People usually associate that with sales taxes, property taxes, and those sorts of things.
   "If a city is prepared to give us some property and extend some tax abatements, as it would with an oil refinery or any other sort of major business, we're ready to do a feasibility study and move ahead," Kozuback said. "We have money to invest and we don't intend for this to be a tax issue. We're talking about a public-private partnership where any cash is securitized from the revenue streams we create out of the building."
   A dome home
   ICC's prototype facility is a concrete domed structure that includes front-facing windows and can be used for basketball, rodeo and hockey in addition to concerts and various trade shows.
   The first such facility is expected to break ground in Hidalgo in September for the opening of the WPHL season in October of 2000.
   The City of Hidalgo is a partner in the construction, using money from its general fund.
   No new taxes are being used in Hidalgo's participation, said Kozuback.
   Hidalgo city manager Joe Vera and mayor John David Franz didn't return phone calls Thursday.
   Rick Dames, an owner of four radio stations (KKPN, KBET, KCCG and KTKY), in Corpus Christi, is anxiously awaiting groundbreaking in Hidalgo. Dames will own the expansion franchise that will play in the new building.
   "What I can tell you about the building is that it has been a process that evolved from the time they started talking about it," Dames said. "I know it started out looking like Madison Square Garden, and as they looked more and more closely at the costs it has changed quite a bit.
   "But it looks great," Dames said. "They have, I think, about 20 luxury boxes plugged in, and the last designs I saw looked very good. I'm just the guy who owns the hockey team, I don't own the building."
   Private responsibility
   Kozuback said ICC intends to "construct, operate and manage the facility."
   "We will be responsible for managing the facilities and all those things, being the promoter and securing tenants," Kozuback said. "It would be a for-profit business, that's what it's set up to do. When you look around, you find there aren't a lot of cities - or taxpayers, for that matter - that are interested in the idea that part of the elected officials' duties is to be a promoter.
   "That's best left to the private sector," Kozuback said, "with the risk on our side, not on the back of the city."
   Kozuback said his business profile for such facilities is based on 98 event-days during a calendar year.
   "Hockey gives us right about 40 and that pencils out to 65 percent of the revenue we need to make it successful," he said. "Indoor football gives us another 8-to-10 and in Corpus Christi, with Division I basketball, we could probably count on at least another 15-20 dates.
   "When you add in rodeo, you are basically at a break-even point before you ever sign a concert," Kozuback said.



Sports Editor Bart Wright can be contacted at 886-3745 or by e-mail at wrightb@caller.com

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