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Ice Palace surcharges audited By JOE HENDERSON of The Tampa Tribune
TAMPA - Auditors are checking to see if taxpayers have received all money owed to the city and county from ticket surcharges at the Ice Palace.Officials became concerned when the surcharge payment in March from the company that controls daily operation at the arena was less than it should have been. After being questioned by the Tampa Sports Authority, which owns the Ice Palace, SMG Management Group acknowledged its mistake and brought the payments up to date, records show.
SMG was hired by Tampa Bay Arena Ltd., a spinoff group of the Tampa Bay Lightning, to manage the Ice Palace. The Lightning and other tenants then lease the arena from the sports authority.
The city and county receive surcharges totaling 75 cents on each ticket sold for all Ice Palace events. The surcharges reimburse taxpayers for annual subsidies for the $154 million building, which opened in October. The county also receives 10 percent from luxury suite rentals.
Sports authority Executive Director Henry Saavedra first recommended the county's audit department look into reporting procedures after discovering the errors, which he called ``an honest mistake.''
``It's a new building. I think there are growing pains there,'' he said.
The audit isn't expected to be finished for at least a month.
Officials also want an answer whether teams and promoters at the Ice Palace should pay surcharges on complimentary tickets.
Records show 167,950 complimentary tickets have been issued for 100 events since the Ice Palace opened. SMG said 1.3 million people have attended events in the building.
Mike Merrill, the county's debt management director, said taxpayers should receive some payment from complimentary tickets.
Agreements signed by the city, county and sports authority when the Ice Palace financing was completed say tickets sold are subject to surcharges. It does not mention complimentary tickets. ``We agreed on that particular language,'' Lightning President Steve Oto said. ``The language is very clear.''
Giving free tickets is standard practice, Merrill said, to inflate a crowd. A promoter issued 7,642 complimentary tickets for a concert on Feb. 28 featuring singer Phil Collins. Total attendance for the concert was 14,426.
``In that concert, there was a large amount of international press coming and sales were slow. The promoter didn't want a small crowd with that much exposure,'' Merrill said.
But the county wants auditors to make sure the practice isn't being done to evade the surcharges.
``There has got to be a reasonable limit to giving out complimentary tickets,'' Merrill said. ``We're not sure what that is, exactly. To be perfectly honest, the [bond] agreement is not quite as detailed as it should be in this area.
``It clearly benefits the team to get people in the house. You get them chowing down on hot dogs and beer, but we're not getting anything for it.''
The Tampa Bay Storm of the Arena Football League issued 28,351 complimentary tickets in their first four games at the Ice Palace this season while reporting 13,404 as sold, according to county records.
Tim Marcum, the Storm's head coach and general manager, said the number ``sounds about right.'' But while acknowledging the Storm have serious attendance problems, he said the high number of complimentary tickets is misleading. The team lists tickets paid for by advertisers in sponsorship packages as complimentary.
The team also gives season-ticket holders extra tickets to pass out to their friends.
``We're trying all kinds of ways to stay in business,'' Marcum said. ``We've got to get new people interested.''
Marcum said the Storm also gave 2,000 tickets to the Greater Tampa YMCA for the Storm's June 21 game against New York. He said the team routinely donates tickets to charities.
The Lightning also give tickets to charities, Oto said.
The team drew 713,891 fans their first season at the Ice Palace, an average of 17,419 for 42 home games. That ranked fourth in the National Hockey League.
The Lightning gave away a high of 4,500 tickets for an Oct. 24 game with Ottawa, a traditionally low- drawing team.
The lowest complimentary ticket number was 306 on Dec. 31 for a game against the New York Rangers.
``We'll give tickets out on a particular night when we're playing an opponent that doesn't excite the fans,'' Oto said. ``It's not that unusual.''
End of Leg 3 (1 lineshort)
