Eugene Emeralds, state officials say funding gap is closing on new stadium proposal

An influx of new money could help bring a proposed new stadium for the Eugene Emeralds closer to reality, team officials announced on Friday.

Allan Benavides, the team's general manager outlined a path to close the funding gap and get the stadium and multi-use facility built at the Lane County fairgrounds at a press conference held at PK Park.

State Senator James Manning, D-Eugene, told reporters the Legislature had pledged an additional $7.5 million to the project before the end of the session, bringing the state government's contribution to $15 million.

With that money, the funding plan the Emeralds have outlined now includes:

• $15 million from the Legislature.

• $1.5 million from the federal government, via a grant awarded to new seismically sound buildings.

• $15 million from Eugene, depending on whether the city's voters pass a proposed bond measure this May.

• $23.5 million from Emeralds' ownership, including prepaid rent and predicted sponsorships.

• $35 million from Lane County, depending on whether it follows through with plans to allocate 1.5 percentage points of its Transient Lodging and Car Rental Tax.

In total, these sources would add up to $90 million, nearly the $90.5 million projected cost to build the facility, not including the related reconstruction costs for the livestock facility at the fairgrounds. Benavides said the project team would try to find a way to place the facility so that it would not require that reconstruction, but acknowledged the additional work could require another $10 million.

State Legislature

Sen. Manning told reporters about the Legislature's increased allotment, emphasizing the potential non-baseball uses of the project.

"We can have a multi-use facility that will house and staff emergency planners, have a distribution network … and also present opportunities for businesses to participate and grow," he said. "This is an investment into the future."

Emeralds' ownership

$23.5 million is "what our ownership is willing to put into this project," Benavides told the Register-Guard.

That $23.5 million can be broken into three parts:

• $3.5 million for furniture, fixtures and equipment, "Basically, if you took the stadium and flipped it upside down, everything that falls to the ground is FFP," Benavides said.

• $10 million in committed pre-paid rent. Critics have objected to Elmore Sports Group committing rent instead of straight capital. Benavides said he believed it was still a good deal for the public sector. "Any property owner would take 20 years of prepaid rent upfront and that's what we're offering," he said.

• The last $10 million "is what ownership said we would put upfront, and that's being negotiated with the county," Benavides said. That $10 million would include future sponsorships and revenue, "that's how we make our money," he said.

Eugene Voters

The Eugene City Council voted on Feb. 21 to place a $15 million bond measure on the May ballot, but also scheduled a work session item for Wednesday, March 13, to revisit and possibly reconsider.

Councilor Matt Keating spoke at the press conference and said he would use his vote to keep the measure on the ballot.

"A multi-use facility benefits us all," he said, "a great place for graduation events, a great place for community concerts, a great place for bringing the neighborhood together. And in case of an emergency: Cascadia event, wildfire … having an emergency respite center in the heart of our community here in Eugene is paramount."

Councilors more critical of the facility have raised the concern that given the city's projected deficit and what they see as missing details about the project, this bond may compete with a future tax or levy more critical for running the city.

"Not long from now we're going to be asking our community for more money to fund city services," Councilor Jennifer Yeh said. "It might be a fee. It might be a tax, but we are going to be asking taxpayers for more money and we need them to believe that when we ask them for their money it's for something that matters, something that's viable, and something that has a plan for success."

Steven Hunnicutt, a Eugene resident in favor of the project, compared the bond measure to a financial investment and said councilors shouldn't let fear of a future deficit stop them from letting the public vote on the proposal.

"No City of Eugene General Fund is going towards the Stadium," he told the Register-Guard. "If one lives their lives based on the future, they will forget to live in the present."

Lane County

County officials have not formally allocated construction costs to the project, but in September 2022 commissioners voted to increase transient lodging and car rental taxes from 8% and 10% to 10% and 12%, and in presentations on the facility, county staff have been projecting 1.5 percentage point allotments from both taxes, which would be about $35 million.

County commissioners have placed a discussion about the facility on their agenda for Tuesday, March 12. City councilors have said they want commissioners to formally commit the funding before councilors send out a bond, while commissioners have said it's more appropriate to wait until they know exactly how large the funding gap will be.

On Thursday the Lane County Fair Board, the county advisory board responsible for running the county fair, sent a letter to county commissioners urging them to vote against the facility on the grounds that it could hurt the fair, logging conference and other events held at the fairgrounds.

"The proposal ... removes the current Livestock Building and eliminates availability of the Northwest corner of the property, which is used for parking and 4H camping," the Fair Board wrote. "There has been virtually no formal analysis of how this might impact the Lane County Fair or other programs at the Lane Events Center throughout the year."

Benavides told reporters Friday he had not seen the letter, but that he thinks the facility would enhance other fairgrounds events.

"When the fair happens, they're going to be able to utilize the stadium for the concerts so they're not on the parking lot," he said. "They're going to be able to put vendors on the concourse. They're going to be able to use the restrooms and the concourse and the concession stand. It'll be a definite benefit to almost every event that happens there."

The livestock building

Demolishing and rebuilding the fairgrounds livestock building, as is the current plan, adds approximately $10 million to the project beyond the $90 million Emeralds' leadership outlined.

Benavides told reporters it was still on the table to place the facility in a way that doesn't require this. "The stadium could move east a little bit where it wouldn't affect the livestock. So there's still a discussion as to where that goes," he said.

Benavides said that if the livestock arena has to be rebuilt, the project team would find the $10 million for it. He doesn't know where they would get the money, but "I didn't know where we were going to get $90 (million)" he said.

Alan Torres covers local government for the Register-Guard. He can be reached over email at atorres@registerguard.com or on X @alanfryetorres.

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This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: How state and local backing could fund a new Eugene Emeralds stadium