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For Whom Conseco Tolls

As lawmakers try to figure out a way to address the Capital Improvement Board funding shortfall, I have a suggestion to help them out, privatize Conseco Fieldhouse.

We already know that it costs $15 million a year to run the Fieldhouse, at least that’s what the Pacers and the Capital Improvement Board are telling us.  And since neither entity can afford to run the place, why not just bring in a third party.

Mayor Greg Ballard’s office has been looking for privatization opportunities for a while and this would be something that would definitely put their efforts on the map.  

If Indiana can get a few billion bucks for the Toll Road,  the city should easily be able to get a few million bucks for Conseco and have someone else pick up the operating costs.  

And for those of you who say a private company is already running Conseco and can’t afford to keep the doors open, then maybe it’s time to get another private company to take over.

Your thoughts.

Posted: 04|8|09 at 6:34 am by Abdul Hakim-Shabazz
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  • Haskell
    That has been suggested before in a letter to the editor of the Star maybe 2 months ago. A good idea that could work. Truth is I bet the Simon organization could make money off of it if they owned it.

    If you knew there was no taxpayer bail at the end of every tunnel it could be managed better.
  • There could be jealousy there. I lived in Cleveland in the 90s, and Art Modell went from being BMOC to watching the Indians and Cavs get new buildings. His frustration was so great that he took the Browns to Baltimore.
    .
    Cleveland learned all the wrong lessons from that, though. They built a new stadium and lured an expansion team. The city's downtown is no better now than it was five years prior to the building of Jacob's Field, but the City sure has a lot of debt on those three arenas.
    .
    It sure is hard to fix a problem made when people who aren't professional land managers get involved over their heads with a gigantic piece of real estate or two with people who are land managers for a living.
  • Taxpayer 834512
    E-N-U-F.
  • Think Again
    Nah, it's not that sinister, folks. The Simons are good people. They're just jealous of the Colts' deal. I get that.

    Here's the rub: they bought the team a long time ago, for a depressed price. They didn't have to, but they did, and I'm glad. They can claim they haven't made money all they want. Somehow, they kept the team. It was ego or moxie or profit motive or civic pride. I don't really care which.

    They're universally praised as one of professional sport's best ownership groups. Bully for them.

    The appreciated value of the team, even allowing for inflation and annual operating losses for the last 20 years, far exceeds any reasonable measure of reasonable profit. Plus, they got the benefits of ownership all those years.

    They're ahead of the game.

    No one has mentioned that they got a sweet deal to keep their HQ downtown. I supported that, even though it took out a small park, because they're industry leaders, a Fortune 500 company, and we need to keep those kinds of employers in Indy.

    But my cup doth not runneth over.

    E-N-U-F.
  • Jon G
    Sorry, but 'they' sure....
  • pascal
    It is classic bait and switch. While your attention is focused on the $15 millions you are missing the big picture. Three card monte is useful in property management as well.
  • Jon G
    Exactly TA, but sure think we are. Fools, that is.
  • The problem here is that Abdul and the rest of us are trying to think like smart people. The answer is simple. Let's just start thinking like politicians. Now the answer is plain.

    Implement a condom tax.

    What do people do all the time, especially in a bad economy when other escapes are too expensive? Well, you get the idea...

    A minimum tax on condoms could solve all the problems we have. We could even call it a "condominium" tax.

    Sheesh Abdul... where do you get this nonsensical ideas about the free market? ;)
  • The problem here is that Abdul and the rest of us are trying to think like smart people. The answer is simple. Let's just start thinking like politicians. Now the answer is plain.

    Implement a condom tax. What do people do all the time, especially in bad economy when other escapes are too expensive? Well, you get the idea...

    A minimum tax on condoms could solve all the problems we have. We could even call it a "condominium" tax.
  • Think Again
    The Simons are the best prop. managers in the world

    They're no fools, either.
  • Jon G
    Gary, I hven't thought about it from the perspective of the Simons being property manager experts. When you put it that way it sure seems like they are covering up something. Either they aren't as good at running a business as they claim or they are cheating the public. In light of the fact that they recently made a billion dollars leads me to believe the latter.
    -
    Something's rotten in Indianapolis.
  • Think Again
    Weasel, are you serious? It's bascially a 250,000-sf multi-level building. Do the math: electricity alone is pprob. $3-5 mil a year.

    Personnel is probably another $6-8 mil a year. Throw in the other nonsense and you're easily at $15 mil.
  • the_weasel
    Abdul,

    I think privatizing is an excellent ideasand shows that someone from the outside is looking at and thinking about that box from the outside looking in (like - think outside the box). Somehow I cannot comprehend how it would cost 15 million to operate that fieldhouse.
  • Dave
    The integrity of contract law is important, but subordinate to the primacy of governments' Constitutional contract with the people; which can't be abridged by representational malpractice excused as a "contract," if we are still a nation of laws. What is the remedy (existing in real time proportion to loss or damages & defined, not administratively obscured) for the damages or cost of such malpractice? Vision, cooperation & PR mindedness would go a long way toward getting this right in citizen centered (read customers) terms. A well known attorney (& now public official) once said to me, "It's not that people have problems- they do. It's what they do about them that makes the difference." The customer / citizen offensive, bureaucratized tone & posture of key CIB players, is that the problem isn't theirs but the peoples problem (hear skipping records?). At all levels, overfed government is cannibalizing the quality of life in America. When are we going to see a turnaround in government?
  • Gary Welsh
    In case you haven't read the current lease, it essentially privatizes the management and operation of the Fieldhouse. The CIB assumed the Simons, who operate one of the nation's biggest property management companies, would know how to operate the building efficiently, particularly since good management would increase its own bottom line. Instead, the Simons say they are losing millions every year. Of course that isn't true, but because nobody will force them to produce audited financial statements, we pretend a problem exists where the only real problem is greed. The IBJ called this several years ago right after the Colts inked their deal with the CIB when it reported that the Simons were miffed that the CIB gave Irsay a better deal than it gave to them and that they would seek a similar deal when their lease reached the 10-year anniversary date. The Simons decided to throw in the "we're losing millions" claim to make its demand seem palatable. It is a shakedown and nothing less. Either you give us $15 million more or we'll take our team to another city.
  • Jon G
    Isn't the problem the contracts with the Pacers? If you brought in a third party they would have to make money from the events in the fieldhouse and I thought the Pacers had that money in their pocket. How do you get around that?
  • George
    AMEN!! If the CIB can't make any money off of it, sell the rights to someone who can, just like the toll road!
  • John Howard
    The punny headline have hit a new low...
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