Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Cedar Fair's 49ers Press Release




Cedar Fair has put out their press release giving the reasons why they are opposed to the new stadium for the 49ers to be built in Great America's parking lot.

They boiled the situation down to three things: Limited parking, traffic congestion, and limits on the future expansion of the park.

But then they say:

"When Cedar Fair concluded that an amusement park and the stadium as proposed could not successfully coexist, Cedar Fair offered the City and the 49ers the option of redeveloping the entire parcel. The next step will be for the citizens and the City of Santa Clara to decide: should the Great America site be used for a new 49ers’ stadium or should the park continue to operate? If the City and its citizens believe that the best use of this property is for a new stadium, then Cedar Fair is willing to consider selling the remainder of its lease and all of its interest and assets to the City or 49ers for fair market value."

Whoa - wait a minute. They're ready to just give up and sell off Great America so it can be bulldozed?

Wow. They must be so frickin' scared of the debt they took on to get those Paramount Parks. They're totally on a quest to pay that off asap.

After Geauga Lake I cannot say I'm surprise - but again disappointed by the company.

This does read like a "well you can have it this way or that way" with a catch - no more Great America - however, the company wins either way. They either get a fat check and get rid of the park, or they continue to operate it. The park is (probably) profitable so that would have been the plan anyway.

I do think the press release is just their coy way of saying "make an offer."

I guess I should start thinking about a "what rides go where" list for Great America like I did Geauga Lake.


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Remember the city leases the land to CF. It is out of there control either way. The City can say we will stop the lease agreement and take the land over, in which CF can take them to court. We do not know what the terms are of the lease. So what CF is saying is this if you want the stadium then you close the park give us money and you are the bad guys not us. They are passing the Buck.

Also the Citizens of the city have the right to voice there opinions and if the city officials want to here people complain for or agenst the Stadium let then complain to the city.

CF yes has a lot of debt but it is very manageable there not trying to close the park to pay the debt. I would be very surprise. Every Quarter they are showing a nice profit and therefore they are not use to the debt which DK mention in a press release but they can manage it. They only have to pay 19M a year which is peanuts to a company estimating making 900M.

Anonymous said...

Great America should invest into a giant 12' barreling wavepool like the one being built at the waveyard in Mesa Arizona. This would eliminate overcrowding in the smaller pools leaving kids, parents, lifegaurds and less experienced swimmers better able to prevent accidental drownings. Plus it would be a regional as well as an international destination.