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Originally Posted by CherryCreek
It's true that Pepsi Center was built with private funds and it's certainly possible that any replacement would be built with private funds. But in pro sports, that's the exception and not the rule. If Kroenke would actually do that, then kudos to him (it was worth it in the lucrative LA market, not so sure the same logic applies to Denver).
The 30 year commitment was something I didn't' know about, good information. 30 years would be 2027 - so that might well be a potential timeline to be thinking about replacement (not that far off, given lead times).
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Soon as a read your comment I had to do a quick search as that 30 years didn't sound right; I was thinking 25 years. I found a fun piece by the DBJ that detailed the sale from Ascent to Kroenke's in July of 2000. Fun read and here are a few highlights:
https://www.bizjournals.com/denver/s...24/story4.html
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The documents are mostly full of guarantees the city extracted from the Kroenkes to keep the arrangement it hammered out over three grueling years with previous owner Ascent Entertainment Group Inc. of Denver. City officials especially want to make sure the Colorado Avalanche hockey team and the Denver Nuggets of the National Basketball Association stay in Denver for at least 25 years. A mainstay of that commitment is that the city controls the 50 acres of land in the downtown Central Platte Valley where the teams' home, the Pepsi Center, is located.
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That puts the ending date in 2022 - from the original Ascent commitment. KSE doesn't owned the ground; that's on a land lease.
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Ascent bought that land ... then deeded the ground to the city for 25 years and became a rent-paying tenant. The rent helps make up for the city's loss of seat tax revenues from McNichols Sports Arena, which the city owned and was torn down after the teams moved to the Pepsi Center.
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Here's a few more interesting details:
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Liberty Media is simply keeping the 6.5 percent of the Pepsi Center it bought from Ascent in 1997, according to deal documents. That year, the Englewood-based media company became something of a white knight for Ascent. Liberty coughed up $15 million for the $180 million Pepsi Center's construction and a piece of the venue, as well as to keep Avalanche captain Joe Sakic from being wooed away by the New York Rangers.
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To your points, it's entirely possible that KSE might want some infrastructure help plus I believe more intensive cleanup may be needed to accommodate any residential construction. So there's always a chance for a little back scratching.
I had previously read that in 2022 Kroenke has an option to buy the land for One American Dollar, probably for title purposes.