@Moxee

Thanks for the update Moxee!

A bit more to show that the City of Kent is NOT hiding their history regarding this deal. See the outstanding set of links (probably somewhat duplicative of ours):

http://www.ci.kent.wa.us/eventcenter/links.asp

#6

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@number6

Quote:

http://www.ci.kent.wa.us/eventcenter/links.asp

Interesting that they're now referring to it as the "Kent Events Center".

_________________

@all

Just in:

Quote:

Kent ends naming-rights talks with Amiga Inc. Puget Sound Business Journal (Seattle) - 10:33 AM PDT Tuesday, July 31, 2007 by Jeff Meisner

http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/stories/2007/07/30/daily5.html?jst=b_ln_hl

and the link posted earlier today:

Quote:

Amiga fails to deliver cash, loses naming rights to Kent arena By Jim Brunner Seattle Times staff reporter

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003813881_kentarena31m.html

#6

Last edited by number6 on 31-Jul-2007 at 07:29 PM.

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@all

Also just in from the City of Kent:

Quote:

City of Kent Ends Negotiations with Amiga, Inc. Naming Rights for Kent Events Center Available

http://www.ci.kent.wa.us/newsreleases/eventscenternaming.asp

#6

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@all

Today's news from the Seattle Thunderbirds:

http://www.seattlethunderbirds.com/news/news.php?id=446

No mention of the naming rights.

#6

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@all

Two articles from the local paper:

Quote:

Council OKs center

http://kentreporter.com/jumpstory.html?story=news1&pubdate=8/1/2007

Quote:

Score! Thunderbirds to have new home in Kent

http://kentreporter.com/jumpstory.html?story=news2&pubdate=8/1/2007

Note:The Kent Reporter does not publish every day, so article #1 may not be as up to date as other articles.
Article #2 is interesting in that some mention is made about how revenue is shared amongst those involved.

#6

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@thread

Just reviewing some of the quotes from our "reliable" sources, the newspapers.
Quote:

And Amiga, Inc., a multi-media technology company based in New York, will pay $10 million over 20 years for the naming rights to the events center, which is about twice what the city was expecting to get.

Taken from:
http://www.kentreporter.com/jumpstory.html?story=news2&pubdate=4/28/2007

If there were other bidders, as someone suggested, then I would have expected an announcement that the other bidders had been contacted.
Instead, we got an announcement that the City basically put up an ad:
Quote:

City of Kent Ends Negotiations with Amiga, Inc.Naming Rights for Kent Events Center Available

Err...ok. At what price? The price Amiga "agreed" on, or the new public price of 1/2 that, as mentioned by the Kent Reporter.

If so, who gets stuck for the 5 million difference?

(just something to ponder as this thread winds down)

#6

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@thread

Sunday, August 5, 2007

Quote:

Events center overruns delay safety projects

here


#6

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@number6

A final footnote to the whole sorry episode?

TrevorDick

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@number6

Quote:

Events center overruns delay safety projects

After this last weeks bridge mess in the US, maybe a rethink of this is in order?

===========================================================

Quote:

Last week, the city ended its ties with Amiga when the company failed to pay a $2.5 million down payment on a $10 million 20-year sponsorship deal. The city is looking for a new sponsor.

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"What's in a name? Not Amiga"

http://www.kentreporter.com/jumpstory.html?story=news2&pubdate=8/4/2007

Quote:

Finding a company willing to pay as much as Amiga had promised could be a challenge. “I don’t think we’ll get someone to pay that amount of money,” Clark said. “It will be difficult to find someone to pay $2 million all at once.”

Well, duh, considering that other companies are more likely to follow-up on their promises so they have to be more reasonable with what they promise...

@all

The Seattle Times
"Kent council questions pay raises approved by mayor"
By Karen Johnson
Times Southeast bureau
Local News: Sunday, October 28, 2007

Quote:

This is not the first time the council has asked Cooke's office to be more inclusive. In April, council members were upset when they found out at a public event that city administrators had struck a deal with Amiga to give the technology company naming rights to the Kent Events Center. When the company didn't pay the $10 million down payment by the deadline, city administrators ended the deal. "We were embarrassed about Amiga, but this is a little more personal," Raplee said.

Read it here...

I seem to remember some talk that the council knew about Amiga's history ahead of time. Now that seems quite unlikely from this. lol


(Mod's note: Just fixing a long link.)

Last edited by Yo on 06-Feb-2008 at 09:00 AM.
Last edited by fairlanefastback on 19-Nov-2007 at 09:21 PM.

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@all

T-birds ready for new home
Seattle Times
Sunday, January 27, 2008

http://tinyurl.com/289gau

Quote:

The T-birds will sell all advertising on signs in the building. "We've taken a less is more philosophy," Campbell said. "The city didn't want a NASCAR-type building with signs everywhere, so we've developed a plan to limit the number of advertisements to maximize the exposure."

My take on this is that no replacement firm for a naming rights deal is thought likely to happen. I'd be pretty annoyed if I were a tax payer in that city about now.

Last edited by fairlanefastback on 05-Feb-2008 at 12:36 AM.

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Amiga 1200

@fairlanefastback

Quote:

I'd be pretty annoyed if I were a tax payer in that city about now.

I think they are.

The city council in my town has more or less decided (they recently turned down a request for a referendum about the matter) to build a similar event-center in my town, with an estimated budget of 80 million USD, all paid with tax-money.
Given that the total budget last year for the municipality was approx 315 million USD, that is a large amount for an event center...

At least Kent tried to get private investors.

/personal rant/
And they want to build it 500 meters from where I live too, as if there wasn't a shortage of parking lots already in my neighbourhood

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@tomazkid

Sounds like its time to start saving up for a personal helicopter!

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@fairlanefastback

He don't say the arenaname!

I do:

TomazkidCenter

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@linnar

Quote:

linnar wrote: @fairlanefastback He don't say the arenaname! I do: TomazkidCenter

Wait.... so only children named Tomaz can attend? I don't know how well that would go over in the Pacific Northwest!

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@all

What was to be the "Amiga Center at Kent" is really starting to take shape, and Kent has setup a live webcam of the site:

http://www.ci.kent.wa.us/eventcenter/index.aspx?id=1398


And in recent news...
"T-Birds ready for Kent move"
http://www.tri-cityherald.com/1358/story/153516.html

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@fairlanefastback

I guess we'll never really know what that was all about. I did get one small piece on insight from a guy I was talking to about it on the SomethingAwful forums.

He said that he'd worked with a lot of the local governments in that area, and that the Kent local government are pretty cash strapped. Anyone waving around huge piles of cash and promising to invest in the city would've definitely been jumped on without anyone doing too much reseach into their past.

At least it seems to be working out for them in the end.

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@fairlanefastback

How much better the place would have looked with a large boing ball painted on top of the dome.

Instead.... in light of all the court cases, I'll just reference Jackson Brown's "Lawyers in Love". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekktp-r04rQ

Plaz