Omaha's new stadium generated a net operating profit of $5.6 million in its first official fiscal year, according to a new financial report, and was more than able to cover the ballpark's contributions to its debt payments.
"The stadium is paying its way as we said it was going to," said Roger Dixon, president and CEO of the Metropolitan Entertainment and Convention Authority, which runs TD Ameritrade Park.
The MECA report, which will go before the City Council on Tuesday, provides the first look at the finances of the $131 million project, built to replace Rosenblatt Stadium and secure the College World Series' long-term future in Omaha.
Dixon said the stadium was able to support not only the debt payments, but also its operational expenses and pay its reserve fund as outlined in the financial agreements for the College World Series.
The stadium's revenue is just one stream used to pay the annual debt. Others include a higher hotel tax, higher rental car tax and keno funds.
While the operations showed a profit, the MECA report showed a financial loss for the stadium of $803,000 for the 2010-11 fiscal year after making its CWS payouts. But MECA officials stressed that was a paper loss that was the product of when certain revenue streams, such as naming rights, could be factored into the annual financial numbers.
Dixon said no entity is paying to cover that loss.
The annual financial report cuts off at June 30, which accounts for the two-week CWS but takes in only the first three months that the stadium was open.
That cutoff doesn't account for a number of TD Ameritrade Park events that came later in the 2011 calendar year — a college home run derby, an international baseball exhibition game between the U.S. and Japan, five nights of the Red Sky Music Festival and four Omaha Nighthawks professional football games.
Dixon said MECA will be looking to book more events at TD Ameritrade Park. But he said the key will be getting "the right events" that do well financially, not just any event.
When asked about the possibility of independent league baseball team playing at the stadium, Dixon said, that "just because it has a team as a tenant, that doesn't mean the facility is making money."
Dixon said other communities subsidize the cost of an independent league team. But he said "that hasn't been the approach that Omaha has taken with TD Ameritrade Park."
MECA's financial report also showed a profit at CenturyLink Center Omaha and a loss for the Civic Auditorium.
CenturyLink Center had a nearly $1.3 million profit for 2010-11 — a figure that, while it continued the facility's run of profitable years, was the lowest figure since its opening year.
Officials attributed that to a drop in large conventions and the lack of an NCAA event for the first time in the last six years.
The Civic showed a net loss of $126,709 — a figure that the City of Omaha paid MECA to cover.
The Civic is set to lose two major tenants — the Omaha Lancers hockey and Omaha Beef indoor football — to the new Ralston arena.
MECA's financial report says the Civic's profitability will continue to decline once those tenants are gone.
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