Eric
02-27-2006, 01:14 PM
http://msnbc.msn.com/images/MSNBC/msnbc_ban.gif MSNBC.com
Selling a stadium, piece by piece
Plan would put seats, lockers at Cowboys' home on the sales block
By Dave Moore
Dallas Business Journal
Updated: 7:00 p.m. ET Feb. 26, 2006
Texas Stadium's corpse is far from cold -- in fact, the Dallas Cowboys will likely be playing there until the 2009 season. But fans like Bob Bragalone are already dreaming of the possibilities of owning a piece of the Irving landmark.
"If you have a piece of the Titanic, those things sell for an ungodly amount of money," said Bragalone, a Dallas attorney who has offered his services to the city of Irving, which owns Texas Stadium, to identify parts of the stadium that collectors might want.
"A deck chair is still a piece of history. If you have a seat from where Lincoln was shot at Ford Theater, it witnessed history," Bragalone said. "I think that's how I see Texas Stadium as a fan -- that's how most collectors see it."
The city of Irving hopes other Cowboys fans see things the same way.
City of Irving Chief Financial Officer David Leininger had lunch with Bragalone to brainstorm what in the stadium might be of fan interest, as part of the city's efforts to lay the groundwork for when the stadium must be torn down or converted for a different use.
Leininger said that passage of a May 13 tax issue, which would generate $30 million to redevelop the land that the stadium now occupies, would speed the dismantling or transformation of the facility. Also, the Cowboys have an option to extend its current lease to 2011, if its plans for a new stadium in Arlington are delayed.
Leininger said because the city of Irving has signed a non-compete clause regarding the new stadium in Arlington, the stadium could be demolished or used for an entirely different purpose.
But inevitably, the stadium will officially close one day as a pro football venue. And Irving hopes to reap as much as possible when that happens.
Leininger said the city will likely compile a catalog of stadium memorabilia, and place the items on the Internet for sale.
"I've heard from a lot of people that they want to buy seats," Leininger said. "There are 65,000 seats available; 10,000 might be sold. If you get down to selling it by the chunk, I suppose this could go on forever."
Such sales could generate a healthy sum: Three seats from Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington, Minn., yielded 21 bids with a top offer of $256 recently on eBay.
Leininger estimates that sales of all stadium items could generate as much as $3 million for the city.
A Cowboys shrine Bragalone said what sets the Texas Stadium seats apart from other venues is that they're all originals; all were present for the Cowboys' five Super Bowl-winning seasons. All were in place when Emmitt Smith broke the all-time NFL rushing record in 2002. All were present when Billy Graham held his crusade in the stadium in 1971, before the stadium's field ever hosted a football game.
The second floor of Bragalone's house is a virtual Cowboys shrine, containing everything from a pair of Tom Landry's fedoras to a Cowboy Joe popcorn holder. (Cowboy Joe was a cartoon character of a uniformed football player riding a horse; his image was found on team merchandise in the late '60s and early '70s.)
Bragalone was inducted into the Visa Hall of Fans in Canton, Ohio, in 2003; he said if it weren't for the city of Irving, fans like him wouldn't have anything to collect from his "home away from home."
Bragalone believes the seats that will be snapped up first and that will set the highest price will be those with numbers of famous Cowboys -- such as 8 (Troy Aikman), 12 (Roger Staubach) and 20 (Mel Renfro).
He believes even the stadium roof could be cut up and sold in a package that would include a stadium seat and artificial turf. The roof, he said, also plays a large role in stadium lore. Many fans say the stadium was built with an open roof so that God could watch his team play.
A third of the stadium's home-team lockers are unchanged, Leininger said. And the team has tracked which players used particular lockers, so willing buyers will know which lockers held gear for the likes of Tony Dorsett, Randy White and Ed "Too Tall" Jones, Leininger said.
Bragalone said he's already got some items he's angling to purchase, or swap for his attorney services he's donating to the city of Irving.
"There are items I'd love to have as a collector that I'm not going to mention, because I don't want people to compete with me," Bragalone said.
The money would go toward any city costs incurred during the stadium's removal, auction or preparing the land for redevelopment, Leininger said. The balance of any sale proceeds could go toward the city's general fund, he said. A piece of the stadium could go to the city's museum.
"This is part of Irving's history, if the stadium were torn down," Leininger said. "I would suppose we'd want some of those seats."
© 2006 Dallas Business Journal
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/11586906/ (http://msnbc.msn.com/id/11586906/)
Selling a stadium, piece by piece
Plan would put seats, lockers at Cowboys' home on the sales block
By Dave Moore
Dallas Business Journal
Updated: 7:00 p.m. ET Feb. 26, 2006
Texas Stadium's corpse is far from cold -- in fact, the Dallas Cowboys will likely be playing there until the 2009 season. But fans like Bob Bragalone are already dreaming of the possibilities of owning a piece of the Irving landmark.
"If you have a piece of the Titanic, those things sell for an ungodly amount of money," said Bragalone, a Dallas attorney who has offered his services to the city of Irving, which owns Texas Stadium, to identify parts of the stadium that collectors might want.
"A deck chair is still a piece of history. If you have a seat from where Lincoln was shot at Ford Theater, it witnessed history," Bragalone said. "I think that's how I see Texas Stadium as a fan -- that's how most collectors see it."
The city of Irving hopes other Cowboys fans see things the same way.
City of Irving Chief Financial Officer David Leininger had lunch with Bragalone to brainstorm what in the stadium might be of fan interest, as part of the city's efforts to lay the groundwork for when the stadium must be torn down or converted for a different use.
Leininger said that passage of a May 13 tax issue, which would generate $30 million to redevelop the land that the stadium now occupies, would speed the dismantling or transformation of the facility. Also, the Cowboys have an option to extend its current lease to 2011, if its plans for a new stadium in Arlington are delayed.
Leininger said because the city of Irving has signed a non-compete clause regarding the new stadium in Arlington, the stadium could be demolished or used for an entirely different purpose.
But inevitably, the stadium will officially close one day as a pro football venue. And Irving hopes to reap as much as possible when that happens.
Leininger said the city will likely compile a catalog of stadium memorabilia, and place the items on the Internet for sale.
"I've heard from a lot of people that they want to buy seats," Leininger said. "There are 65,000 seats available; 10,000 might be sold. If you get down to selling it by the chunk, I suppose this could go on forever."
Such sales could generate a healthy sum: Three seats from Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington, Minn., yielded 21 bids with a top offer of $256 recently on eBay.
Leininger estimates that sales of all stadium items could generate as much as $3 million for the city.
A Cowboys shrine Bragalone said what sets the Texas Stadium seats apart from other venues is that they're all originals; all were present for the Cowboys' five Super Bowl-winning seasons. All were in place when Emmitt Smith broke the all-time NFL rushing record in 2002. All were present when Billy Graham held his crusade in the stadium in 1971, before the stadium's field ever hosted a football game.
The second floor of Bragalone's house is a virtual Cowboys shrine, containing everything from a pair of Tom Landry's fedoras to a Cowboy Joe popcorn holder. (Cowboy Joe was a cartoon character of a uniformed football player riding a horse; his image was found on team merchandise in the late '60s and early '70s.)
Bragalone was inducted into the Visa Hall of Fans in Canton, Ohio, in 2003; he said if it weren't for the city of Irving, fans like him wouldn't have anything to collect from his "home away from home."
Bragalone believes the seats that will be snapped up first and that will set the highest price will be those with numbers of famous Cowboys -- such as 8 (Troy Aikman), 12 (Roger Staubach) and 20 (Mel Renfro).
He believes even the stadium roof could be cut up and sold in a package that would include a stadium seat and artificial turf. The roof, he said, also plays a large role in stadium lore. Many fans say the stadium was built with an open roof so that God could watch his team play.
A third of the stadium's home-team lockers are unchanged, Leininger said. And the team has tracked which players used particular lockers, so willing buyers will know which lockers held gear for the likes of Tony Dorsett, Randy White and Ed "Too Tall" Jones, Leininger said.
Bragalone said he's already got some items he's angling to purchase, or swap for his attorney services he's donating to the city of Irving.
"There are items I'd love to have as a collector that I'm not going to mention, because I don't want people to compete with me," Bragalone said.
The money would go toward any city costs incurred during the stadium's removal, auction or preparing the land for redevelopment, Leininger said. The balance of any sale proceeds could go toward the city's general fund, he said. A piece of the stadium could go to the city's museum.
"This is part of Irving's history, if the stadium were torn down," Leininger said. "I would suppose we'd want some of those seats."
© 2006 Dallas Business Journal
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/11586906/ (http://msnbc.msn.com/id/11586906/)