SPORTS; RECREATION (GENERAL); LEGISLATION;
SPORTS - STADIUM;
May 14, 2003 |
2003-R-0443 | |
RECEIPTS FOR EVENTS AT O’NEILL CENTER AND RENTSCHLER FIELD | ||
| ||
By: Judith Lohman, Chief Analyst | ||
You asked for a side-by-side comparison of a proposal set out in § 15 of Raised Bill 1160 for handling ticket and other receipts at the UConn Stadium at Rentschler Field with the procedure adopted by the General Assembly in 2002 for ticket receipts at Western Connecticut State University’s O’Neill Center (PA 02-140, § 1).
Both procedures involve exemptions from existing requirements for depositing certain revenue with the state treasurer and both allow venue managers to retain control of receipts for paying certain expenses. But the Rentschler Field proposal differs from the O’Neill Center procedure in several ways, including covering a wider range of revenues, allowing the revenues to be deposited in multiple accounts and transferred among those accounts, placing no limits on the time revenues may be held in the special accounts, and allowing revenues to be invested while they are held in the accounts. In addition, the special procedure for the O’Neill Center expires on June 30, 2006, while the Rentschler Field procedures would be permanent.
Table 1 shows a point-by-point comparison of the two procedures.
Table 1: Comparison of PA 02-140 (§1) and SB 1160 (§15)
O’Neill Center (PA 02-140, §1) |
Rentschler Field (SB 1160, §15) | |
Covered Receipts |
Ticket sale revenue |
Revenues from ticket sales, parking, catering, and concessions |
Exemption |
Exempts ticket sale revenue from requirement to deposit state funds over $ 500 with the treasurer within 24 hours of receipt |
Exempts stadium receipts from requirement that they be deposited with treasurer for the Stadium Facility Enterprise Fund |
Exempted money controlled by |
O’Neill Center contractor |
OPM secretary or stadium facility manager under agreement with OPM secretary |
Where money is deposited |
Contractor’s account |
• Box office account • Revenue account • Operating expense account |
Allocation of types of receipts |
No provision |
• Box office account: ticket receipts • Revenue account: daily collection of revenue from parking, catering, concessions, etc. |
Maximum holding period in account |
Up to 40 days after event |
• Box office account: until event occurs and is “reconciled” • Revenue and operating accounts: No time limit |
Operating Expense Account |
No provision |
OPM secretary may transfer money from revenue to operating account |
Contractor/ Manager duties or authority |
• Pay event expenses • Account for and pay share due university |
• Box office account: disburse receipts according to “standard industry practices” • Operating account: authorized to pay stadium operating expenses directly from operating account |
University/OPM requirements |
When the university receives its share of ticket receipts, it must deposit money with the treasurer according to regular state procedures |
If aggregate balance in the revenue and operating accounts at the end of the month exceeds projected stadium operating expenses for the next three months, OPM secretary must “promptly” transfer the excess to the Stadium Facility Enterprise Fund |
Investment Authority |
None |
OPM secretary may direct that funds in box office, revenue, and operating accounts be temporarily invested and that investment returns be treated as stadium operations revenues |
Sunset Date |
June 30, 2006 |
None |
JL: eh