Dear Fan and Supporter of Ellis Park,

As a fan and supporter of Ellis Park, you will normally not receive an email of this nature, but today we felt it necessary to make an exception.

As you may or may not know, the Owner and President of Ellis Park is also the Owner and President of the professional hockey team in Evansville known as the Evansville IceMen. While the 2 organizations operate as separate companies, in some ways the success of one company helps with the success of the other (in terms of job creation, events and giveaways we can offer to supplement the horse race season and/or the hockey season, ticket prices, etc.).

By the time you receive this email, you may have already heard or read about the Evansville Redevelopment Commission meeting that took place yesterday, August 2, 2011, where both Evansville Arena Project Director, John Kish and Owner & President of the Evansville IceMen, Ron Geary provided statements on the current status of the License Agreement negotiations for the use of the new Evansville Arena for the IceMen’s home hockey games this upcoming season which begins this fall. Mr. Geary felt he needed to attend this Commission meeting and speak out because of the extreme importance of finalizing the agreement as soon as possible and because the current negotiations are a stalemate. Ron was seeking assistance from the Commission to provide an independent look at the deal, and to move the negotiations to a reasonable conclusion.

Although there is a clear difference of opinion on why the negotiations have continued longer than either party had planned on and would have liked, we, the Evansville IceMen, are optimistic and hopeful to bring IceMen hockey to our current and future fans and to the new Downtown Evansville Arena for the upcoming 2011-2012 CHL Season. (And we hope you will consider attending one of the 33 home games this season to watch the fun and excitement of a professional hockey game).

Although negotiations yesterday were described as being at a “stalemate”, this does not mean we intend to discontinue discussions. We have been, and will continue to take a proactive approach to seek an agreement as soon as possible to the pending License Agreement between the City of Evansville, VenuWorks and our Organization.

As mentioned above, we normally do not ask for such assistance from our loyal Ellis Park fans, but we are respectfully asking for you to help us in this process and show your support for the Evansville IceMen by calling one or more of the following members of the Evansville Redevelopment Commission as soon as possible and expressing your support for the team. We cannot tell you enough how invaluable this support will be to the IceMen, and how much it is appreciated by our entire organization. Thank you!!!!!!!!!

Evansville Redevelopment Commission
President
Bob Goldman – P: (812) 423-9631

Vice President
Greg Elpers – P: 800-880-7800

Secretary
Jody Phillips – (812) 423-7729

Members
Sara Miller – P: (812) 464-1568
Jay Carter – P: (812) 468-5382

Executive Director for Department of Metropolitan Development
Thomas Barnett – P: (812) 436-7823

Sincerely,
Gregory A. Hardt, CFO
Ellis Park Race Course, Inc.

Take That: August 7, 2011

IN RESPONSE TO: Roberts Stadium May be a good home for the Evansville Icemen

“With regard to this idea, the Icemen at Roberts, has anyone taken into account the comparative costs of police personnel required for a downtown event and police personnel needed at a Roberts event?
Is it true there has been a recent estimate by city officials that 23 – 25 police officers will be needed in the downtown area for each Arena event? Is it true the estimate was accompanied by the anticipation that the cost of such deployment will be paid by the city?” Veracity

“This kind of thinking is exactly why the current administration was/is so dead set on having Roberts torn down……competition!” blanger

“Boy would that steam the good ol’ boys. I expect they would do everything in their power to keep this from happening.” Bowhunter72

“I think having the IceMen at Robert’s is a great idea.” USA106

IN RESPONSE TO: Keep the IceMen agreement simple Mr. Kish

“This make way too much sense to ever be considered seriously by Gish and the ERC.” Buzzard

“Yeah sounds way to simple for this to ever happen. It’s either Mr. Kish’s way or no way. Mr. Kish is asking for way more money than the $7,000 that is needed. I wonder what this is going to do to the Shriners and the circus?” Bryan Stephens

“Any reader who doesn’t think Evansville is a hockey town, or becoming one very quickly, has not been paying attention. More sporting goods stores carry equipment, high schools have organized teams and the IceMen filled Swonder.” Rwtrax

“To play the devil’s advocate: Why should they pay the city, immediately, $2 per ticket? Look at the Hotel incentive package… If we are to be anywhere near comparable, shouldn’t the Icemen pay the $2 per ticket 10 years out, but phase it in slowly starting at $.01 per. Plus shouldn’t they get > $X00K in a forgivable loan package?” Eville Taxpayer

“I want to thank the City County Observer. You guys get your facts straight. Not like the Courier and Press. All the lies that were in Friday article. If the press would dig a little deeper into the matters. Kish has been a good friend to the Simon Mall Family over the years. The Simon Mall Family wanted to put a USHL team into the new arena back during the bidding process. It wouldn’t suprise me that Kish is getting some money from the Simon Mall Family to ruin the deal with the IceMen and then move the USHL Indiana Ice into the new downtown arena. Ask questions People of Evansville Kish is doing this to make his money with the Junior Hockey team.” Hockeysavior

Concessions and other events could sweeten the pot

Today the City County Observer received a message asking us to consider what it would take to get Roberts Stadium into the kind of shape needed to make it a good home for the Evansville Icemen. The IceMen as has been widely reported draw between 1,000 and 1,500 fans to the Swonder Ice Arena and play about 38 games per year. It has also been widely reported that the IceMen are having serious difficulty in negotiating an agreement with the City of Evansville that will enable them to survive financially in the early growth years. So, would Roberts Stadium be an attractive alternative?

With respect to the price to play it seems as though the City of Evansville is really looking to find a way to collect about $11,000 per game when the agreement for the Evansville Aces and the fixed fee offer that they made to the IceMen. The cost to the IceMen to be the home team for the Arena will therefore gravitate to a number of about $418,000 per year. If the owner of the IceMen Ron Geary wishes to see his investment payoff in 10 years then on rental fees alone he would be justified in spending $4.2 Million to get Roberts into hockey ready condition.

The Icemen would have two other income streams. The first would be the concessions for IceMen games and the second would be renting Roberts Stadium out for other venues that are more appropriate for Roberts than they are for the new downtown Arena. At an income stream of $5 per person per game on hockey alone the IceMen could count on $665,000 per year coming in from concessions. Let’s assume that the profits from concessions will cover the cost to operate a refurbished Roberts Stadium. If one event per month were held at Roberts that did not compete with the Arena at a rate of $5,000 per event plus concessions then another $100,000 could be harvested from such events.

This may just work and it may be the best financial move possible for the IceMen. Of course in the spirit of fairness the City of Evansville that will save $1.5 Million in demolition fees could easily make a $1 Million investment in Roberts refurbishment and grant 10 year tax abatement as they have been doing for every downtown project of any kind.

Of course this is a preliminary idea and would need to undergo a rigorous due diligence study but since John Kish has been adamant that the new Arena will not be hurt by the IceMen’s departure we think that Mr. Geary may be well served to consider Roberts Stadium for $1 as an attractive alternative to dealing with the City of Evansville for the next 20 years. Maybe the Weinzapfel Administration will see this possible Win-Win situation through the eyes of an entrepreneur as opposed to the eyes of government.

The City of Evansville through its Mr. Everything John Kish has now co-opted the cover of the Courier and Press to take its deal to the people of Evansville. There are a couple of things that are very clear that the City of Evansville needs to not be stuck with the unenviable task of having to do a public mea culpa in the first year of operation if the taxpayers of Evansville are asked to subsidize the operation of the Arena.

Let’s recap what is needed to satisfy the pro-forma that is published on the Arena Website. The City of Evansville projects that there will be 3,500 people at each of the 38 hockey games in the new Arena. The city furthermore projects a ticket price of $12 per ticket. Recently the city has come forward with what they really need which is $7,000 per game for rent.

The math works out very easy. At the official projection of the City of Evansville’s pro-forma they will need $2 per ticket to get their $7,000. The City County Observer respectfully supports exactly that revenue sharing for the agreement between the city and the IceMen. The only other issue to discuss is the sharing of the concessions profit. As the IceMen are the main reason that human beings will be in the Arena for these 38 games it is reasonable and even customary that the team share in the concession profits.

The City County Observer respectfully suggests the following contract between the City of Evansville and the IceMen.

1. The City of Evansville will receive $2 for every ticket sold to an IceMen game. There is no minimum or maximum to the revenue that the City of Evansville shall receive.
2. The City of Evansville and the Evansville IceMen shall share the profits or losses associated with the concessions equally after all expenses have been accounted for.

This is our humble and simple suggestion. This arrangement holds the City of Evansville accountable for the projections of 3,500 attendees per hockey game that they sold to the people of Evansville during the sales pitches of 2007. We believe that the source of this projection is Mr. Tom Chema who was hired by the City of Evansville to make the numbers work and reach the conclusion that an arena was needed. If the projections turn out to be garbage it is the Weinzapfel Administration that paid for the garbage and it should be the City of Evansville that bears the risk for its validity.

Our recommendation creates a true partnership that will allow the Evansville Icemen to mitigate the risks associated with stepping up to the challenge of the new and more expensive Arena while creating a situation for the People’s Arena to overachieve as the team builds a bigger fan base. Please consider this and remember the old adage of KISS (Keep it Simple Stupid).

The recommendation of the City County Observer meets all of the needs for everyone unless of course the City of Evansville and its surrogates have bought another PIG IN A POKE. In that case the city gets their pig.

Monday, August 8, 2011
Regular Board Meeting 5:30 P.M.
Board Room, New Administration Building, 951 Walnut Street

2.03 Good News (Vice President Duckworth)
2.04 Public Comment Cards

3. Consent Items (Dr. David Smith)
3.01 Consideration of Minutes of the July 25, 2011 Board meeting
3.02 Consideration of Allowance of Payments
3.03 Consideration to purchase items from Extracurricular Accounts
3.04 Consideration to declare several excess items resulting from administration office moves
3.05 Consideration to approve the driver for bus route C60
3.06 Consideration to petition to Indiana State Board of Education for Funds from the School Technology Advancement Account
3.07 Consideration to approve the change orders for the new North campus

4. Consideration of Personnel Recommendations (Pat Tuley))
4.01 Personnel Recommendations (Smith)

5. Public Comment
5.01 Public Comment

6. Continued Business (Dr. David Smith)
6.01 Continued Business

7. Adjournment

The Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation now has a new online service to aid parents in determining bus transportation information for their EVSC students.

For family members with regular school transportation needs, who still have questions following the Connect-ED message sent last Friday night, and postcard sent earlier this week, specific information is available on the EVSC’s new service “eLink.”

eLink can be found on the EVSC homepage at www.evscschools.com.

This service will show a bus number, bus stop and bus transportation times for students who attend a school within the district in which they live. It excludes special circumstances such as special education students, which are individually arranged, and CHOICE transfers. If a student has special circumstances they should call 435-1BUS (2287)

To use the service you must know the grade level of the student, house number and complete street address.