Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Arkansas Sports War Memorial strikes secret deal with AT&T UPDATE
Posted by Max Brantley on Wed, Jun 23, 2010 at 3:23 PM
- SOLD: To AT&T in secret deal.
The War Memorial Stadium Commission — a publicly appointed state board — today announced it had sold naming rights to the football field in the stadium — a publicly owned facility — to AT&T.
The Commission declined to say how much it had sold the rights for. Gary Smith, chairman of the stadium commission, said he was confident from an appraisal by outsiders that the Commission got a good deal. He said AT&T insisted on secrecy of the amount it paid for competitive reasons. Smith said the Commission's attorney, from the attorney general's office, had defended secrecy of the arrangement for competitive interests of both the stadium and AT&T.
The state is relying on a Freedom of Information Act clause that provides an exemption on files, which, "if disclosed, would give advantage to competitors or bidders." The bidding is over. There are no competitors for this important privilege for use of a public enterprise for a private endeavor. It's wrong. It's unaccountable. It stinks. The exception exists to insure fair bidding, not to close information for all time.
But matters of Hogdom have always been held to a special privileged standard.
AT&T will get to put its name in block letters on both 20-yard lines. It will supplant the Bank of America sign outside the stadium. It will get other valuable considerations in a five-year deal. You, an owner of this stadium, will get the advertising. You just don't get to know what you were paid for it.
Consider this a Freedom of Information request for the contract, Stadium Commission. Shame on each of you, and the a.g.'s office, for going along. Other commissioners are Brenda Scisson, Donnie Cook, Jim Hill, Charlie Holt, Nancy Monroe, Kevin Crass and Dorance Damron.
UPDATE: Attorney General Dustin McDaniel said his office's advice was not something in which he had had a hand and, at first blush, was not inclined to support the notion that the price paid for the advertising benefit should "forever" be secret. He said it appeared to be a policy decision that he didn't support, but he would inquire further before saying something definitive.
Note: There is not a dime's worth of functional difference in the Commission's argument for secrecy here and an argument by, say, the University of Arkansas, that it never had to disclose the successful bidder for a dormitory construction project because to do so would harm the contractor's competitive advantage and the university's interests in future contracts. This is stupid bidnessman-deference-to-bidnessman. It is not how you conduct the public's business.
UPDATE II: I now have this formal statement from Attorney General McDaniel, on the side of the public's right to know:
My office advised the War Memorial Stadium Commission to include a provision in its contract with AT&T that the contract may be public, pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act. From a policy standpoint, I believe the people of Arkansas have a strong interest in knowing the terms of this contract, and I believe it should be revealed to the public. I have not talked to the commissioners about their justification for withholding details in this matter, but as a general rule I do not support conducting the public's business in secret.Of course, the Commission is my client and my office will represent it in court with regard to any decision it makes about releasing information to the public.
NEWS RELEASE
LITTLE ROCK, ARK., June 23, 2010 — The War Memorial Stadium Commission announced today that it had reached a sponsorship agreement with AT&T to name the playing surface “AT&T Field.” The new name and on-field emblems were revealed today during a news conference hosted by the commission at War Memorial Stadium.
War Memorial Stadium, constructed in 1948 to honor Arkansans who gave their lives in service of the country in World Wars I and II, retains its name and continues to be a tribute to all Arkansans who paid the ultimate sacrifice for their country.
“As members of the War Memorial Stadium Commission, our goal is to honor our veterans and our citizens by providing a first-class venue for sports, concerts and other events,” said Stadium Commission Chairman Gary Smith. “This partnership with AT&T — one of the world’s most respected and recognized brands — will enable us to attain that standard of excellence for years to come.”
“AT&T is honored for the opportunity to have our name on the field in War Memorial Stadium,” said AT&T Arkansas State President Ed Drilling. “This is a place where I and many of our employees and their families have cheered on our favorite sports teams and entertainers since childhood, and to be able to be a partner in its future is a genuine source of pride. We know many more memories will be made on that field for years to come.”
While a sponsorship of stadiums and facilities is becoming more common across the nation, this is the first time the field at War Memorial Stadium has been separately named. Under the agreement between the commission and AT&T, the field will be known at AT&T Field for at least five years; in addition to on-field emblems, new AT&T signage will be installed inside the stadium this summer.
With funding from the state, sponsorships, contributions and operations revenue, the War Memorial Stadium Commission has been able to make many renovations and improvements in recent years. Those have included new field turf, a new press and club seating facility, new digital video scoreboards, a new digital sound system, and upgrades to the interior concourses, lighting and stadium exterior.
Upcoming events to be hosted by War Memorial include University of Arkansas Razorback football games against Louisiana-Monroe on Sept. 11 and Louisiana State University on Nov. 27, and the Delta Classic featuring the University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff and Grambling State University on Oct. 30, plus numerous high school football games and state playoffs.
“As one of 257,625 veterans in Arkansas, we have proudly witnessed the rejuvenation of War Memorial Stadium, and we appreciate the commitment of the state, the commissioners and supporters to modernize and upgrade this historic facility,” said David Fletcher, Director of the Arkansas Department of Veterans Affairs.
In conjunction with today’s announcement of the War Memorial Stadium sponsorship, AT&T also said the company is creating a new scholarship program to honor Congressional Medal of Honor recipients from Arkansas. Details on the program and eligibility requirements will be announced in time to award the first scholarship for the 2011-12 academic year.
“AT&T will work with the War Memorial Stadium Commission, the Arkansas Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Arkansas Community Foundation to pay tribute to these Arkansas heroes by helping state students achieve their dream of a higher education,” Drilling said.
AT&T is a provider of wireless service statewide, provides local phone service through more than 100 exchanges, and has about 2,600 employees statewide. The company has invested $450 million in its Arkansas networks in the past three years. AT&T operates nearly 30 AT&T-owned retail locations in Arkansas, while AT&T
products and services are also available at a number of other authorized dealers and national retail locations in the state.
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Comments (27)
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Footsie Britt, rests in peace a few miles away just shaking his head back and forth. Is nothing sacred? At what point will start putting advertisements on the back of veteran's tombstones in the state cemeteries.
Well done Commissioners!! Thank goodness the folks in charge of War Memorial Golf Course aren't in charge of the Stadium. WMS seems to be making improvements every year. Fantastic!!
Isn't Kevin Crass one of former gubernator Mike Buckabee's attrorneys? If so, the stadium Commission has probably already pulverized every computer hard drive under Crass' direction. Let the public be damned!
AT&T is laying off workers in Arkansas to cut expenses! Now they are throwing millions at the naming rights of a sports stadium. AT&T executives are a sad bunch of rich white boys.
Memo to Gary Smith, Brenda Scisson, Donnie Cook, Jim Hill, Charlie Holt, Nancy Monroe, Kevin Crass and Dorance Damron:
Thank you, guys and gals, for all the work you have done to improve War Memorial Stadium which, until a few years ago, was in a pathetic state of decline.
The new field turf, new press and club seating facility, new digital video scoreboards, new digital sound system, and the upgrades to the interior concourses, lighting, and stadium exterior are splendid improvements and are greatly appreciated by those of us who attend events at the stadium!
PS: Another 10,000 seats would be a dream come true. Little Rock would then be in a position (at least facility-wise) to offer post-season bowl games on par with those now held in Shreveport, Nashville, and Memphis. Doesn’t hurt to think bigger!
Let's hope the money AT&T gives WMS will be spent to improve the bathrooms! And, maybe to provide a bigger payout for visiting teams so that we can attract an opponent that isn't a cupcake.
mouthinfreely, I’m thinking the revenue from 10,000 additional seats would help with upgrading those cupcake opponents. The bathrooms, btw, have been greatly improved. If you’re a guy, you no doubt remember those huge circled urinals with 50 guys standing there unrolled and facing one another while bleeding their johnsons in concert. Yikes! Ya had to look at the ceiling the entire time to keep from seeing that awful sight. Thankfully, those barbaric things are gone.
AT&T didn't want the amount disclosed for the reason above: they are simultaneously laying off people. Shame on the Commission for going along with AT&T's PR demands. They added a layer of good-old-boy politics and backroom dealing to an otherwise nice project.
It really does illustrate how this city does the bidding of big biz without regard for the citizens, from using our tax dollars to lobby against health care reform, to hiding public stadium financials from the public, to making a huge mess of the Cantrell/430 intersection because that's where the developer wanted to put stoplights. The list goes ON and ON.
According to the press release, AT&T gets an emblem on the field and some signage - I'm sure whatever price AT&T paid is sufficient enough. Really. AND they're setting up a scholarship.
All you folks who've enjoyed a game or concert at War Memorial should say thank you to AT&T for making a contribution. The company was not forced to give the Commission money. I'm no expert on pricing naming rights, but my guess is that the PR value of having a name on the field isn't that high. Whether AT&T paid $1m or $5m really makes no difference to me or my guess to many folks. I for one am glad the company wants to be associated with Little Rock, War Memorial, Razorbacks, Catholic High, UAPB. I get the need to know, I just hope the readers of this blog won't overlook the gift in what seems to be a never ending quest to identify a bad guy. I hope every company in AR will make a contribution to the Stadium Commission or the War Memorial Park Conservancy. State and city need all the help they can get in these tough economic times.
All you folks who've enjoyed a game or concert at War Memorial should say thank you to AT&T for making a contribution. - killingmesoftly
Sure...but make it public. After-all, WMS wasn't funded by private enterprise but rather public $$$. So, what that means skippy, is that we the people deserve to know just what kinda deal AT&T cut. You must realize that it was our tax dollars that created the venue for AT&T to benefit by placing their Corporate Name on there for every Bubba and Bubbette to see to, thus spurring them to subscribe (and thus enrich AT&T) with their hard earned (or State funded) dollars.
There's an awful lot of public business the public doesn't care about. There's an awful lot of it -- most of it -- that is probably to the public's benefit, whether they care or not. It doesn't mean it should be done in secret.
There's an awful lot of public business the public doesn't care about. - Max
Agreed. Very thankful to have the Times as a ray of Sunshine to keep those of us so busy in day to day life a breast of these issues.
All we are saying is give peace a chance. Seriously, all I'm saying is we owe a thank you to all the folks who give to the stadium, zoo, park, baseball field, public university, local school, after school program....... Too often we forget the basics. Thanks to all of you who give. Philanthropy rocks!
I hope your FOI request is successful.
AT&T should be improving their wireline and wireless service in Arkansas, not wasting money on football stadiums, buying phone companies in India, etc.
IRR - I beg to differ. I bet you are still pissed off about that fine scoreboard that Regions Bank put up.
We need to FOI the Parks and Tourism and see how much money they are wasting on ads here.
Does Max have the balls to tell us?
The Parks and Tourism expenditures here -- and in media all over Arkansas -- are a matter of readily accessible public record. I don't think anybody would fight you should you request that information. Nor would I argue that it should be private to protect my competitive interests. No balls required. The point is, the stadium commission so far is requiring a citizen to file a lawsuit to get the same sort of information.
The money isnt the issue. This is obscene to take a memorial for veterans and crassly add a name to it. And how long will AT&T actually be around? Remember, this isnt your daddy's AT&T, it is a relatively tiny company again, ready to be bought by china or warren buffett or the next lottery winner. the stadium was built and paid for a long time ago and its ongoing costs are paid for by the state and by ticketholders. who the f*** needed AT&T to come along and slap its name on the side for a few bucks?
Radical Centrist said:
"AT&T should be improving their wireline and wireless service in Arkansas, not wasting money on football stadiums, buying phone companies in India, etc."
AMEN.
While AT&T buys naming rights to WMS, (and a few years ago to the Cotton Bowl, and Texas Tech's stadium), the company continues to hold onto dark fiber all over rural Arkansas and refuses to upgrade much of their landline service area to allow rural DSL. One County Seat in Arkansas in a AT&T landline service area still has no residential DSL service. Drew, Northern Bradley, Southern Desha, NE Lincoln County, and rural Southern Jefferson County--all served by the former "MA BELL" continue to be the victim of AT&T dithering as upgrading of residential DSL is concerned. It was only a few months ago that Pine Bluff finally got 3G service. The rural telcos (such as ArkWest, and CenturyLink) seem to be much more progressive in bridging the digital divide in Arkansas. Before AT&T and the other wireless carriers get a blood lust for the remaining UHF TV frequencies (remember channels 52-69 were eliminated last year and 70-83 were sacrificed at the altar of cellular service in the 1980's), those same firms that also offer landline local POTS and DSL should first extend availability of DSL service.
AT&T is one of those same companies that are hell bent on forcing local TV broadcasters off the airwaves completely or relegating them to less-than desirable VHF frequencies for the current DTV system. All of this for a blood-lust of UHF frequencies for future 4G/5G wireless service. As quaint as OTA TV is to some of y'all, its an supplement to cable/satellite or an alternative for some in Arkansas that live between two markets where the viewer--NOT Nielson or the FCC-- can choose which city he or she can watch local news from. And as anyone knows, the Little Rock TV market is notoriously backward for its preemption policies, and non-introduction of HDTV local newscasts.
As for bowl games, there are far too many as it is. If anything the increase in bowl games is a beard for the Old Guard in college football to oppose a playoff system which many fans want and would be an improvement over the BCS. The traditional bowl games on New Years Day are meaningless these days.
Sanford, you needed them to. Your state does not have the money. Names have been "slapped" on memorials forever. If folks don't support this particular memorial, it will become a memory itself.
Don't be criticizing Fortune 500 companies. Large corporations are the most important citizens of this country.
I think the deal is with ATT arkansas, not ATT the original. But its a secret, we dont know.
What other memorials have had their name sold?
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