CCO EDITORIAL: IT IS TIME TO CONDUCT A “FORENSIC AUDIT” OF THE FORD CENTER
DECEMBER 30, 2023
Following six years of hand-wringing, extravagant impact claims, and efforts to influence the public, Evansville opened the Ford Center in November of 2011 with a concert by Tri-State favorite Bob Seger. The first concert was a sellout and the facility proved itself to have good acoustics and comfortable seats. The then City Council members filed in smiling and waving to occupy the first row of the seating at the long concert.
The Ford Center construction was managed by John Kish, who should have gotten a standing ovation for bringing the project to fruition on time and within the original budget of $128.5 million. Most projects of this type go over budget by tens of millions of dollars and Kish will be forever remembered for being an impeccable steward of the Evansville taxpayer’s money.  We also give five cheers for the outstanding job that members of our local trades did building the Ford Center. With minor opposition Evansville mover and shakers decided to move forward with construction without having a public vote.
One former citizen who didn’t support a stadium launched a campaign called “Sewers Before Stadium†to try to force a prioritization of a projected billion-dollar-plus Water And Sewer mandated by the EPA to no avail. The Ford Center is now completed, and some positive progress has been made with the all-important projected billion-dollar-plus Water and Sewer project throughout Evansville. The reality is that 12 years after the Ford Center’s grand opening, other less-than-important projects were prioritized over the fundamental needs of Evansville such as paving and repairing potholes on many of our city streets, repairs and renovations of our city parks, getting aggressive in correcting blight throughout Evansville, bringing housing stock to livable standards, making positive changes to public safety, and most importantly balancing the 2024 City budget to name a few priorities facing the new Mayor-elect Stephanie Terry and the newly elected members of City Council..
Years ago the City of Evansville commissioned a group called Chema to do a financial projection for the Ford Center and they concluded that it would pay for itself from day one and start to earn profits in year three. These projections never have been achieved. Quite the opposite, the Ford Center has reportedly lost the City of Evansville many millions of dollars in cash flow for every year it has been operating. In fact, over the years other city departments’ budgets have sacrifice due to the unexpected recurring financial shortfalls at the Ford Center.
In defense of Mayor Winnecke from day one his administration inherited the 6 million dollar annual interest payment associated with a $128.5 million arena construction bond debt. Coupled with the annual 6 million dollar arena bond payment his administration was also forced to figure out a profitable marketing plan to generate enough income to pay the bills. After attempting to do so for the last 12 years it turned out to be an impossible task.
The early years of athletics were anticipated to be lucrative with dollars flowing to the City of Evansville from rents north of $10,000 per game from the University of Evansville Aces, and the Evansville Icemen hockey team. After only a few years, the Evansville Icemen decided to leave for the greener grass of Jacksonville, Florida where they reportedly found phenomenal success. The Lady Aces unfortunately never had the kind of crowds needed to pay the kind of rent that the Ford Center Center required and left for the safety of Carson Center on the University of Evansville campus. The UE men’s basketball team has struggled with attendance and with winning as the Purple Aces fans had become accustomed to at Robert’s Stadium where they won 5 NCAA championships and routinely drew crowds of over 10,000 per game. The Evansville Thunderbolts have also been disappointing in attendance because of their up-and-down seasons over the years.  We were told by confidential sources that it would be in the best interest of the citizens to do a Public Records Request on who is paying for all of the expenses of the Evansville Thunderbolt Hockey team.
We have also been told that there is a strong possibility that the rental income coming to the Ford Center from UE men’s basketball and the Evansville Thunderbolts and Guns And Hoses fundraising event may be receiving a big reduction on their home game rental charges which doesn’t improve the Ford Center lack of profitability.
 The Ohio Valley Conference has held its annual basketball tournament at the Ford Center for several years. In years when the Murray State Racers have a big local following, their games drew large crowds but the other games struggle to get 1,000 basketball fans in seats. The impact of athletics has not been close to the expectations set forth by the OHIO VALLEY Conference promoters and the cash flow results reflect that.
The largest crowds ever at Ford Center are the two trips to the Tri-State made by former President Donald Trump during his campaigns that drew over-capacity crowds that spilled into the street. It is not publicized as to whether the Trump campaign paid a fee or not. Also, over the years several rock and county concerts drew-capacity crowds.
We wonder how on earth can a major facility that was touted as the savior of downtown Evansville lose money and come up short on economic impact, without the people in power not realizing it. We expect that the answer will likely never come from the current Mayor, City Controller, and or City Council members.
The Ford Center, as nice as it may be, has seemingly never been anything but a financial drain on the people of Evansville. The most recent approval of Evansville City Council Financial ordinance G-2023-17 which grants the City of Evansville Redevelopment Authority (not to be confused with the Commission of the same name) the approval of a $9 million dollars in “LEASE /RENTAL REVENUE BONDS by a 6-2 vote  (Missy Mosby and Ron Beane voting against the proposal with Jonathan Weaver being absent) bonds to update the Ford Center and knowing that the current Ford Center annual income can not support an additional $9 million dollar bond debt payment.
The collateral for the $9 million dollar projected costs to update the FORD CENTER interior and exterior signage and concession areas are leasing and renaming rights of 29 streets throughout Evansville by using a little-known “LEASE/RENTAL REVENUE” bonds. It’s important to point out that members of the Evansville City Council unwisely approved this transaction during a recent meeting with little discussion and without asking for the details of the costs of the improvements at the Ford Center, the interest rate of the bonds, and the length of repayment of this bond. This important information was not disclosed in the loan document given to City Council members at the time they voted.
It is time for transparency to be demanded on behalf of the taxpayers of Evansville concerning the financial operations of the Ford Center. The Evansville taxpayers, not the politicians) who pays the tab at the Ford Center deserves to know how the cash flows from one government entity to another in the game of many Cards Monte played in Evansville to generate an honorable profit.
The only way this is likely to happen is for the new financially responsible Mayor and a responsible City Council to order a Forensic Audit to be conducted on the financial transactions between the entities created to perpetuate this currently unsustainable financial project. Whatever may be found, we are convinced that the taxpayers of Evansville/Vanderburgh County will be stuck with this financially underperforming Ford Center until our newly elected official comes up with a workable plan to make it more financially sustainable!
We ask Mayor Terry to do the right thing by asking the newly elected city Council officials to hire an out-of-state private auditing firm to do a Forensic Audit of the Ford Center.  We would like to stress that we feel a Forensic Audit would be appropriate due diligence on behalf of the taxpayers of Evansville and will help to find a new direction for running the Ford Center toward being financially profitable.
