“March Madness….Driving You Crazy?”

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Has your heart stopped racing?. Does the punch in the gut you got in the final seconds feel better now?. Can you believe what just happened this weekend?
Are you emotionally spent as your go back to work today?

I don’t think we’ve seen this very often, but why should the NCAA postseason be any different than the regular season?

You remember November thru March don’t you. Six different teams were ranked number 1-in th nation at one time or another. There didn’t seem to be much different between any of the top teams. Nobody dominant, but everybody dangerous.

Oh of course there were some disappointments. Kentucky, its history of using one and done playes, didn’t get it done this year. LSU, with the NBA’s likely first pick, forward Ben Simmons, faltered, and never really came together when it counted most.

Very good was not quite good enough come tournament time. A darling like Gonzaga got dumped in the final seconds of its game. Duke was just never the Duke of decades gone by. Oregon was real good out here, but the PAC 12 is not equal to those guys back there.

No lead ever seems safe. Ask Virginia, heading home to Charlottesville. Kansas had it all, lost it all at the end. Ask Gonzaga and how it ended with Syracuse.

This all started the first day with a 2nd seed like Michigan State going home early. We had 12-lower seeds win against higher seeds the first weekend.

There are teams playing possessed right now, maybe playing over their head, but like the given years that George Mason or Butler got to the Final 4, Villanova, Oklahoma and Syracuse are not apologizing for playing next weekend.

Maybe the 1-and-done rule has caught up with college basketball. So many of the young stud players have left to go the NBA, that we are now left a bunch of really good young players, no superstars, and that raw talent of shooters and leapers, are spread all over the road map.

Hard to believe only 1-number one seed is left in the field, North Carolina. Villanova seems on a mission. Syracuse is playing with its Orange hair on fire. Take that NCAA sanctions.

How are your brackets?. Bet no one had all these guys getting thru to next weekends party in Houston.

Post season, just like regular season, just crazy. March madness driving you crazy?.

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Just Asking…questions about the Chargers Stadium proposal with JMI?

Chargers Contribution….It sounds flashy to say the Chargers are going to put up 350M of their money as part of the financing of the Stadium-Convention Center complex.

But you must read the ‘fine print’ if you can find it.

As a by product of the financing structure, the Chargers are going to get all the PSL ticket money, the Stadium naming rights fee, and the Signage within the stadium. That sounds like a tremendous haul of revenue, and that’s what new stadiums generate across the NFL.

The Bolts hope to sell 200M in PSLs to fans in San Diego, the personal seat licenses, that can range from 2500-per ticket to up to 10,000 per ticket depending on whether you are sitting at the 20-yard line or the 50-yard line. Where does the PSL money come from? You the fans, that’s where. That PSL, by the way, is stapled on top of of whatever the ticket prices will be by the time this stadium opens, and we know Chargers tickets are not cheap now, and won’t be cheap by then.

The stadium naming rights could be worth another 50M, much more than the city and team get right now from Qualcomm. That money goes to Team Spanos also.

And of course, the team will get concessions, and skybox money to boot, again, money that comes out of your pocket.

We know the NFL is gifting the team 100M as their donation for staying in San Diego. And the NFL G-4 fund will loan them 200M.

And of course, the hotel tax will help fund the Stadium Authority, as well as the Convention Center annex itself.

So I ask this, because it has to be asked.

If you the fans are going to pay 200M in PSL taxes on a one time purchase, and the team gets naming rights money from sponsors, and keeps all the revenue from signage, tell me again what amount Team Spanos is paying out of their pocket, for this new stadium?

This all seems to be hidden somewhere in the hoopla of 16.5% tourism taxes on hotel rooms. Is it really a Chargers contribution, or a fans contribution, something like double taxation. I’m still looking for it in the fine print.

Should I be inquiring? Is it unfair? Or do we know the past history of the owner so that we need to ask this question now?

Just a question worth asking once you read between the lines

Meetings, brainstorming sessions, think tank get togethers. They’ve had it all.

Exchanges with lawyers, governmental leaders, civic leaders. That has been part of it too.

So now the Chargers and JMI have put together a proposal plan to build a new NFL Stadium with a Convention Center annex, for 1.8B.

And now the really hard part begins, finding ways to make everyone sign off on the deal.

There’s no doubt there is a mixed reaction in this community to passing anything with the word “tax’ attached to it. But understand, this is not a tax on residents of San Diego. The financing of this mega project will come thru a Tourism Tax on hotel rooms used by visitors here.

That becomes project one, convincing the voters of San Diego to invest in their city, expand the convention center, and build a much needed football stadium, that can be used for so many other events.

The second challenge will be to convince the population that a ‘yes’ vote will be not to give Dean Spanos, a rich man, a new stadium, it will be to put him in a new facility that he will play chunk of money for.

Solving all the acrimony of Spanos’ profiteering style in the past will be hard to overcome, but realize this, he will be investing 350M of his own limited wealth, plus using another 300M gift money from the NFL. Spanos will also be on the hook for cost-overruns and for 15M in maintenance fees yearly for the 30-year lease they must sign.

The mayor of the city and the leader of the county, now both have to be convinced this deal is good for the city, even if it is in the tight confines of the East Village. If they buy into this, the city owns the stadium, an authority runs it.

The team gets tremendous revenue streams, including stadium naming rights, sky box money, PSL’s etc, but it will be upon them to create those revenues, not someone else.

Now the tough part, the anger likely to come from the hotel people downtown, and those in outlying areas. As part of this deal, JMI will build a 44-story hotel adjacents to the stadium and center. It goes in direct competition then with the Hyatt and Hilton and all the others around there.

Add to that the hit hotels in Mission Valley, in Hotel Circle, will take, from a new development downtown. Who stays in their hotels, if the shiny, flashy new shiny place to be is downtown?

Because of state law, some obstacles are likely being removed. Using an initiative removes any environmental holdup. And the on-going argument about the 66% vote vs 50-plus-1 seems to be moot with an appellate court decision in Upland, ruling a simple majority is the law to be observed.

State officials warn communities cannot ram thru votes with the thought of doing projects with a 50-plus-1 vote until the state Supreme Court hears the next appeal, maybe in mid-summer.

The most surprising facet is the change of heart of the Spanos family. This investment opens great opportunities for them. Paying 350M is much better than the 550M-territorial fee had they gone to LA. They also know, they don’t have the leverage they used to have, forr sharing a stadium with the Rams as a tenant, would make them feel like a second class citizen.

So the idea is in place. Now the deal to bring all the power-brokers together to get the signatures to get this on the ballot.

Seattle did it with Quest Field for the Seahawks and Safeco Field for the Mariners. Phoenix and Maricopla County built and renovated all those Cactus League spring training facilities, plus got stadiums built for the Cardinals, a hockey arena and the new home for the Phoenix Suns.

Alot of that was done with Tourism taxes on hotels and car rentals.

If done there, why not here. Time for San Diego to grow up, become a great city, and solve the stadium and convention center issues.

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Sometime in the next 48-hours, the coalition that involves the Chargers and JMI will step up and announce their blueprint plan for the NFL Stadium-Convention Center Annex they want to build on the sol-called Tailgate Park-Wonder Bread-MTS land sight adjacent to Petco Park.

The estimated cost will be about 1.8B.  They will present language that will ask the Hotel Industry downtown, in Mission Valley, and in the city, to take their TOT-room tax from 10.5% up to 16.5%.  That money will be directed into the city coffers with the intent to turn it around and build the stadium.

The JMI-talking points include a 70,000-seat Stadium, big enough to not only host the Chargers and future Super Bowls, but also the NCAA National Championship game, a basketball Final Four amongst other huge events.

The package will include a sub-level parking garage for 1,040-cars.  It will involve a 225,000-square foot exhibition hall beneath the stadium field.  There will be an attached ballroom for big civic events, a tailgate park, and rooftop park, and a state of the art cover overhang.

There are so many questions that need to be answered before the JMI-Chargers group goes out on the street corners to try to gain 65,000-signatures to put this package on the November ballot.

What have government officials told them about needing a 50-plus-1 vote or a 66% vote?.

Will Kevin Faulconer and Ron Roberts change their stance, and offer a City-Count share of 350M to help fund the project?.

Will Corey Briggs withdraw his Convention Center initiative and promise not to use suits to stop the JMI proposal?

Will the NFL contribution of 300M be part of the funding?

Will Dean Spanos increase and add his families 350M into the funding?

Will the hoteliers go along with this, understanding a new hotel to be built as part of the JMI project, will compete for room bookings with them.

Will the hotel leaders in Mission Valley-Hotel Circle fight this?

Will the ritzy hotel leaders in places like LaJolla and Torrey Pines go against this because more competition for bookings happens?

Will JMI lead owner John Moores want a trade off-acquiring property at the Qualcomm sight for his part in helping downtown?

Where will the MTS sight move and how quickly can that happen?

Have behind the deals and options already been made to acquire the critical 11-parcels of non-city land needed for the project?

Will the Padres put up a fight in that a Chargers Stadium would directly compete with them for non-baseball events held now at Petco?

This is about politics and profits.  The economic well-being of the cities future.  A city and county trying to grow.  A baseball owner who always makes a profit in any venture.  An football owner whose reputation is ‘give it to me free’ because I am in the NFL.   And always, the political antagonists, ready to file lawsuits on anything-everything.  Add in the self-interests of hotel power brokers and their wants and needs.

For San Diego, 1-for all, all for 1, doesn’t really fit.  Especially when history tells us about alot of moving parts, and tons of hidden agendas, when people try to get things done.  The next 48-hours will clarify some things.  Then the public sales pitch to gather signatures, and then the November vote.

Waiting to hear and see the proposal.  Waiting to hear the reaction and see where the opposition comes from next.,

“Viva Havana”

I don’t know if baseball will ever-ever become the favorite past time of sports fans in America.  The NFL has seen to that.

But baseball is still very popular, and never more so than what we will see this morning (10:30am) PST from Havana, as the Tampa Bay Rays play an exhibition game against the Cuban national team.

MLB officials will be there.  President Obama will be there.  The Castro regime will be there.  And baseball fans across the US and the Carribbean will be there in spirit, watching, if not in person.

The Cold War with Russia and Cuba is long ago.  We have new enemies now creating global tensions.  But the 90-miles of Gulf Coast waters seemed like a solar system distance after Russia and Fidel Castro took over the island in 1959.

Baseball was beloved in Cuba.  The 1930s thru the 1950s saw a tremendous pathway of Cuban stars to the states, from Minnie Minoso, to Camilo Pascaul, Pedro Ramos to Tony Oliva, Luis Tiant and others.. .  Baseball in Cuba gave us great leaders in Bobby Maduro and Nap Reyes, names only old timers would recognize, but names who influenced many coming from Cuba to the US.

The Havana Sugar Kings were a legendary minor league team in the International League.  The Cuban winter leagues saw great teams in Cienfuegos, Santa Clara, and many other Cubsn cities, where major legue players wintered abroad, played ball, and played blackjack in the casinos.

When Castro took over in 1959, it was as if time ceased. There would be no Cuba, as we knew it as young baseball fans, for 40-years.  Time ceased in Cuba too economically.  A thrid world country, no facilities like running water and electricity grids in parts of cities.  You can see Edsels and DeSotos still on the streets of Havana.  Poverty is rampant.

Slowly a trickle, then a tidal wave of baseball players started to defect.  Rene Achoa, a Cardinals pitcher, was one of the first.  then Livan and Orlando “El Duque”Hernandez.  Since then, we all know the names, Puig, Aroldis Chapman, Jose Abreau and the next one to come, Lazarito.  Yes Cuba has its WBC team.  It has its own so-called major league Serie Nacionale, but its athletic programs are full of corruption, military interference and intimidation still.

If you talk to players of Cuban descent, Yonder Alonso in partcular, Americanized now after coming as a child, they can relate the hardships in Cuba, relayed to them by parents.  Escapes thru sugar cane fields, boarding planes in the middle of the night, taking rafts, stealing boats, fearing for your life.

I am sure in Little Havana, part of the city of Miami, there will be some joy of Cuban citizenry, but there will be some resentment too, for lost family members, persecution, prosecution, and the deathly ill-fated, oft-forgotten Bay of Pigs Invasion.  Our only modern day references of Cuba stretch from the Cuban Missle Crisis to Guantanamo.

Maybe today becomes more than just a game on the Grapefruit Circuit schedule for Tampa Bay.  Maybe President Obama can open trade relations, and start a free flow of goods and services to Havana, and a flow of players and visitors from the island stateside and back.

Once upon a time, Cuba was special.

The antangonistic Raul Castro-Obama press conference took on nasty dimensions.  Solving decades of oppression cannot be easily forgiven.

Maybe baseball can be the catalyst to fix all the ills that have plagued the island country since the Castro win over Batista.

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