Sports Commission Fumbles its Money

WASHINGTON -- A victim of their own success?

The D.C. Sports and Entertainment Commission needs $2.5 million dollars, and it needs it now, says the head of the commission and the District's independent CFO, Natwar Gandhi.

When the Washington Redskins played at RFK Stadium, the commission was rolling in cash from the rent it collected at the stadium.

The DCSEC is one of those government agencies that eats what it kills. They fund their operations from money they raise off of rent collected at RFK and the D.C. Armory.

When the Skins left D.C., the gravy train for the commission was over. Luckily, it was sitting on a pile of cash -- nearly $20 million.

That surplus didn't last forever.

Enter the Nationals to the rescue.

When the Sports Commission -- under the guidance of Mark Touhey and Bill Hall -- landed the Nats, the team started paying $5.3 million per year to the commission to rent RFK.

Remember the commission keeps what it earns, so those dollars never made it to the general fund, they stayed with the commission. The sports commission's annual budget is about $8 million per year.

But now that the team is moving to the new ballpark next year, the rent money will go toward paying off the $611 million cost of building the new stadium -- not to the sports commission. The rent also goes down considerably. The first year at the new ballpark, the Nats will pay $3.5 million per year. The money will gradually increase each year.

Now, the commission is facing a $2.5 million deficit for the current fiscal year.

At a breakfast meeting with Mayor Adrian Fenty and the City Council, which WTOP was the only news organization to attend Greg O'Dell, the CEO of the Commission, told councilmembers most of the commission's $3.5 million payroll goes to cover the 50 employees who manage RFK.

O'Dell conceded the Commission did not plan well for the inevitability of the Nats leaving RFK.

O'Dell said the commission "has no reserve funds." Ghandi called the problem a "structural imbalance" and told the mayor and councilmembers, "There's no choice but to subsidize the commission."

Councilmember David Catania was livid at hearing the news.

"People over there should be walking the plank," Catania said. He went on to accuse the commission of having a "padded payroll" and suggested the commission be dissolved.

"Maybe we don't need the sports commission," Catania said.

Mayor Fenty quickly replied, "That option's being discussed." He went on to say, "it's a problem that's been ignored."

In an interview after the meeting, Fenty said, "There's plenty of blame to go around. Everybody has known. I knew when I was on the Council. I know as mayor. It's one of those things that wasn't taken care of like it should have, so now it's time to fix the systemic problem."

Councilmember Jack Evans thinks the commission serves an important function."We need the sports commission, every big city has a sports commission," Evans says.

Vice Chair of the Commission Bill Hall says the $2.5 million would be money well spent "as an investment in maintaining RFK and improving the Armory and making D.C. attractive for more sporting and entertainment events."

In fact, that's O'Dell's long term plan.

O'Dell said he plans on hiring an outside firm to help develop a marketing strategy to bring new events to RFK and the Armory, but added, "it's a 3-year plan."

As for the Armory, which last big event was playing host to evacuees from Hurricane Katrina, the commission did pour millions in to improvements in the past few years, including a state-of-the-art basketball floor.

But O'Dell says they can't have events there in the summer because, "there's no air conditioning."

And what about the money from D.C. United you ask?

The soccer team, that's looking for a new home itself, pays only $18,000 per game to rent RFK.

O'Dell says that doesn't cover the cost of upkeep at the stadium. The commission has a payroll of about $3.5 million a year, most of which goes to the 50 commission employees who manage RFK.

(Copyright 2007 by WTOP. All Rights Reserved.)