Ready for a rebirth for stadium and arena finance?
WATCH ON-DEMAND HERE. Original broadcast date: 10 November 2022. Several new big-ticket sports facilities are near market. But revenue mix, available political support, and post-pandemic fundamentals are all challenging.
On the 10th November 2022, we hosted our webinar 'A Rebirth for Stadium & Arena Finance', intended to give you the state of the market for 2022.
Sporting and other entertainment events are back with a vengeance. With sports and music fans returning enthusiastically to large venues, developers and owners are dusting off the plans they had been making for new and upgraded facilities.
Projects near market include new stadiums for the Tennessee Titans and Buffalo Bills NFL teams, while cities continue to compete for big-draw sports teams with solid audiences.
But financial plans for new facilities may need some tweaking. While many of the health concerns associated with large gatherings have receded, economic and financial market conditions are in a state of flux. Do disposable income levels and lender risk tolerances support the new crop of stadium and arena financings?
With government subsidies less plentiful, US teams and owners, like their counterparts in Europe, have to lean more heavily on internal resources. Throughout the pandemic Proximo ran well-regarded webinars that kept the market updated on how credit market conditions were evolving in stadium and arena financing. Watch the latest in the series here:
Sponsored by Choate, Fitch Ratings and Truist, the key takeaways from this webinar are:
1. Scrutiny of public financing for sports facilities is still intense, though teams remain effective at pointing to the impact of large facilities on urban development and the ability of cities to host the largest events such as Superbowls.
2. Live music events are taking ever-greater importance in the revenue mix for stadiums and arenas, though lenders and analysts are still looking at appropriate ways to stress revenue predictions.
3. Interest rate costs are impacting the way teams view the affordability of projects.
4. Stadium developers retain some ability to switch between debt markets, though it is still easier to switch from banks to private placements than back again.
Thank you to our speakers:
Sean Monahan, partner, Choate (moderator)
Keegan McDonald, vice-president, business development, Oak View Group
Henry Flynn, director and sports sector head, Fitch Ratings
Joshua Glessing, vice-president, strategy, Haslam Sports Group
Peter Dorfman, managing director, sports and entertainment specialty group, Truist
