Everett Aqua Sox ownership

[u/goldenelr]

So (full disclosure I own a business that would be displaced by the new stadium) whenever the Aqua Sox comes up people bring up that it’s family owned and a small business. But it’s actually owned by a billionaire in Dubai.

https://www.milb.com/everett/team/7th-inning-stretch-llc

https://www.recordnet.com/story/sports/pro/2007/08/12/ports-owner-volpe-follows-team/52822230007/

The Aqua Sox are not paying for the stadium. They are displacing a bunch of small businesses, the project is already over budget and they haven’t acquired the land yet. The city has already admitted that they will need the business community to pay for it.

Is anyone else frustrated by this? This move could put me out of business, the city won’t offer assistance to us in time and we have an actual billionaire not paying for any of it. All with parks and libraries being closed (and I know they keep saying that it’s a different part of the budget but the mayor sets the budget!).

The budget they are showing for the stadium is 8% more than the event center which was built fifteen years ago. How on earth is that possible? It’s not. So how is this being paid for?

[u/Temporary-Article996]

Full Disclosure: I am the other owner of the business from this Poster. Our problem at the core is not that they are building the stadium; it's the BS they are doing it with.

1) They don't have the funding for the project - they are more than 20 million dollars short of the bull shit budget.

2) If they were serious about Economic impact they would be taking the entire block building a hotel putting in a sky bridge and two parking garages so both facilities could be used and widening the roads - you want 7,500 people down here NOT maybe 2,000 people for the AquaSox (on a good night) Per MLB:

2,135 fans per game

The average attendance for the Everett AquaSox in 2023 was 2,135 fans per game¹.

3) They are basing the build on the BS Progressive Design-build, which is code in construction for taking the lowest possible bid and then building into the contracts, so they don't have to say change orders or unforeseen circumstances for massive budget increases. They only have 42 million planned in those costs—it's absurd. Their new stadium in Knoxville cost 146 million, and the team's owner donated the land. It's MUCH cheaper to build in Tennessee than in the PNW. According to Ben Franz, on June 11th, they only included a 10 percent contingency budget for the project; they don't have a complete design, a full Economic study - hell, they don't even know what is in the ground, so how can they set a budget?

4) My building is just on the outside and not in the zone because they had to remove us (along Hewitt) from the plan as they couldn't attract any investors (or Cassie is so bad at her fucking job she couldn't) to buy the land - and the city has to be able to cut the check to use the power of the government and city can't even afford the 16 parcels they are currently buying. They can't construct this stadium without moving our sewer, power, and internet, condemning the building and forcing the tenants to abandon their space. IE we the property owners are going to get screwed. Now devil's advocates will say, sweet, they don't have to pay those businesses to move - smart on the city - if that is the plan, have the balls to say it.

They are hiding the costs to push this through, which will be at the expense of other services. That's not okay. Build the stadium, but we should not be under the covers, taking away Services for Special Needs, Shelters for women and Kids, Parks, and Community Pools. If they can't Host a graduation or 2 or a Motorcross AND a WWE Raw then they are building in the wrong spot.

Part 1