Red Bull Park - Buyout

The opening of Red Bull Park was officially delayed last week, due to as many as six feet of concrete foundations under the site where the new home of RBNY is to be built. This caused the Park's open to be delayed to April or May 2009. If you have followed the construction cam at all for the new park, you could see this coming.

From the ashes of the delay announcement came some very interesting tidbits you may not know.

Let's start with Red Bull's possible purchase of AEG's remaining stake in Red Bull Park.

- In a midweek Michael Lewis article about the delay of Red Bull Park, the mayor of Harrison Ray McDonough revealed that Red Bull have been in talks with Anschutz Entertainment Group to buyout the remaining part of Red Bull Park.

""Red Bull wants to control their own destiny," he said."I'm very optimistic. Red Bull wants to have it."McDonough, however, said he was "not at liberty" to divulge the details of the negotiations."

the article goes on...

"The stadium's design and its capacity (25,000) will not change and the Red Bulls will allow concerts to be held at the stadium, according to one source familiar with the Red Bulls' plans.

That was one reason why the town and Hudson County supported the stadium in the first place was so they could hold other events at the stadium -- such as high school soccer and football games and concerts besides 16-20 dates for pro soccer to bring in revenue, sources said."

These quotes from the mayor proved to me that what I was hearing about the buyout was correct and that it would eventually go through if Red Bull had its way.

But then came these quotes from Red Bull Managing Director Mark de Grandpre in the press release about the new training facility...

""De Grandpre said the delay has nothing to do with the rumors that Red Bull is negotiating with Anschutz Entertainment Group, which was the former owner of the MetroStars, to be the sole owner of the stadium, which reportedly will cost $100 million. "

"The Austrian energy drink company bought the MetroStars from AEG for $100 million in March 2006 and renamed the team."We're moving on as planned with AEG," de Grandpre said. "Just like we've done since Day One."

At first read this seems like it dispels the rumor of the buyout, but read it again and consider the situation.

De Grandpre, at no point in this statement, denies the rumor that Red Bull is working on a buyout of AEG's stake. He simply says that the delays in RBP are not due to a possible buyout. The, "We are moving on as planned with AEG" part, simply says that construction is continuing with AEG on board. Well, of course they are not going to suspend all construction activity on the site until the buyout is complete, that would be stupid.

De Grandpre simply makes it known that the delays are due to the foundations on the construction site itself and not some financial buyout situation.

This is true.

It is also true that a buyout is in the works.

I'll side with the mayor of Harrison, even though that would not be siding against De Grandpre as he said nothing to dispel the rumor.

These things take time. They are dealing with millions and millions of dollars. Red Bull knows what it wants and I deffinatley expect them to get it.

Buyout or not, we can count on concerts and other events being held at Red Bull Park, as well as a possible expansion in the future. But they want to settle the stadium first, and if it is really a hit and they sign a huge DP, the stadium has the ability to be expanded.

I'll have a second Red Bull Park post with more interesting details from a fan and marketing perspective being leaked from a meeting with leaders of the ESC and the front office.