Maryland Baseball (Opening Day Partners) and The Charles County Commissioners reported Feb. 25, that revenue from events held at Regency Furniture Stadium have resulted in the payment of $241,515 in profits to the County for the period of May 2 through Dec. 31, 2008.
The County’s share of stadium revenue from naming rights, skyboxes, scoreboard advertising, events, and admission/amusement taxes, came in 45% over the original budgeted amount of $167,123 that was guaranteed by the team in the first year.
Several key factors worked bring about this result:
– 27 “for-profit” events were held at the stadium in the eight months following opening day (in addition to the regular season baseball games and not-for-profit events), which netted $66,990.
– In the fourth quarter alone, there were 20 additional events that resulted in a profit of over $9,000 and welcomed about 1,200 visitors to the stadium.
In addition to the County’s share of stadium profits, Maryland Baseball also made its scheduled payment of $894,000 in June to Charles County on bonds that were issued for the team’s share of the construction cost of the stadium.
Opening day for the 2009 season of the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs is April 23. More than 220,000 fans enjoyed the Blue Crabs’ first season at Regency Furniture Stadium in 2008.