When the umpire shouts, "Play Ball," for the Aberdeen IronBirds' 2008 season opener on June 20, the City of Aberdeen will be just shy of the completion of another fiscal year and, in all probability, ready to take delivery on yet another boatload of red ink courtesy of Ripken Stadium.
Since it opened in 2002, the IronBirds home ballpark has become a financial millstone around the city government’s neck, which is unfortunate, because you'd be hard-pressed to find many people who don't view the stadium — and the baseball team — as a community asset.
Dating back to the planning for the stadium a decade ago, a series of missteps — most of them by the city — have led to today's fiscal morass. It costs more than $700,000 a year right off the bat to service the annual payments on the stadium's construction debt. While normal operating expenses incurred by the city are relatively low, Aberdeen has to depreciate the facility by socking money away each year to pay for major repairs. The amount of taxes collected on stadium admissions, mainly to the IronBirds games and occasional concerts, coupled with ground rents on surrounding land, including the new hotel, don't come near to meeting the total annual expenses. Last fiscal year, the separate city fund used to account for the stadium lost more than $500,000.
When the stadium fund loses money, other city revenues must be used to close the gap, leaving less money to pay for other city services. It's become a vicious cycle for city officials, who have been casting about in earnest for a life preserver, so far without much success.
When the stadium was built, there was an assumption the income from sales of other city-owned properties surrounding the stadium would be used to retire the long-term debt. Those sales haven't moved along the way the city hoped, although some day this projected revenue could still be forthcoming. The other major problem, from an operations standpoint, is the city's contract with Ripken Baseball, which gives the IronBirds' parent organization complete management control over the stadium. Such a deal seemed prudent at the time, because the city clearly had no expertise in running a stadium, but it's very one-sided in favor of Ripken Baseball.
Some city officials think if the stadium were better promoted for non-baseball events — it has become an increasingly popular place for wedding receptions and similar large affairs — the revenue stream coming back to the city would be more robust. Given the terms of the deal with Ripken Baseball, however, that's unlikely to bring the stadium fund into the black.
Last summer, some city council members began talking with members of the Ripken Stadium Board, a council appointed board that oversees the stadium, about the possibility of boosting revenue by charging for parking at stadium events. There has never been a parking charge for IronBirds games or other events. Ripken Baseball, which would have a say in any such charge, has been opposed to one. Logistically, a parking fee would probably be a nightmare, City Council President Ruth Elliott noted last week.
Another alternative would be to increase the price of a baseball ticket, say $1 or $2, as a de facto parking fee, with most, or all, of that money coming back to the city. Again, there are questions if such a charge could be imposed against the will of Ripken Baseball, which would certainly argue the need to keep its prices competitive.
There's also a possibility that passage of a hotel room tax bill currently being considered by the Maryland General Assembly could provide a new revenue stream the city could dedicate to the stadium fund. The bill would grant Aberdeen and other municipalities the authority to impose a tax of up to 2 percent on lodging. One city official said this tax could bring in $500,000 a year, enough to square the stadium accounts and, with new motel construction and BRAC on the way, possibly to have some money left over for a rainy day.
A similar room tax bill was defeated last year and, coming on the heels of the public relations debacle caused by last fall's special tax increase session, the prospects aren't very good any tax bills will pass this year, even if they are strictly local.
There's an outside chance that two or three years from now, the county may offer to step in and take the stadium off the city's hands, setting up a quasi-public revenue authority to operate it. A deal such as this would probably be timed around the negotiation of the next franchise operating agreement with Ripken Baseball. Most wiser heads think the city would be happy to pass that tar baby on to someone else. Regardless, the city can't keep losing money while awaiting that kind of bailout.
Aberdeen's leaders have a responsibility to city residents to put an end to the stadium's financial losing streak before another baseball season has come and gone. It remains to be seen if they will step up to the plate and actually do it
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