Stadium, restaurant make money for city

Officials address concerns over changes at facilities

In response to inquiries, the director of the Yuma Parks and Recreation Department updated the council on the financial status of the Desert Sun Stadium and The Patio Restaurant and Bar at the Hills.

Both facilities are making the city money, Director Debbie Wendt told the city council during a June 6 work session.

Some council and citizens questioned whether Desert Sun Stadium is still viable because the semiprofessional club that paid to convert it into a soccer club is not returning for a third season.

However, Wendt pointed out, the stadium has not been dormant since the soccer club left. She provided the council with a comparison of revenues and usage between the years prior to the conversion and the years since.

From 2011 to 2014, prior to being converted to a soccer field, the stadium was used for 216 days, which netted the city $209,802 for the four years of activities.

From 2015 to date, after the conversion, the stadium has been used 226 days with $340,033 of total revenues collected for two-anda-half years of activities.

“Real” baseball first came to the stadium in the spring of 2011 with Babe Ruth youth leagues. The semi-professional Golden Baseball League followed with a summer season in 2011 before it folded. Consequently, 2011 was the last year that professional baseball was played at the stadium, Wendt said.

Babe Ruth baseball continued to be played at the stadium through 2014, with The Baseball Legends coming on board from 2012 to 2014.

Before being converted to a soccer field, the city collected $103,173 for 93 days of use in 2011; $43,219 for 52 days in 2012, when the GLB left; $37,846 for 44 days of use in 2013; and $25,566, the lowest yet, for 27 days used in 2014.

At this point, One Goal LLC paid $15,000 to convert the baseball stadium into

a soccer field and started the Frontera United soccer club. This move proved profitable for the city, which saw an uptick in revenues. In 2015, the city collected $78,822 for 103 days of use. In 2016, the city netted $149,245 for 93 days of use.

Although One Goal is not coming back, the organization has started a youth academy and will be using the stadium, Wendt said. However, she noted, her staff is still working with event organizers with the hopes of bringing professional soccer back to the stadium.

“There’s no shortage of interest. It’s just who has the financial backing,” said Dave Nash, the city’s public affairs coordinator.

In addition, with the new turf, the city hosted several special events at the stadium in 2016.

“We were able to grow and expand” with events like the Tunes and Tacos Festival, Wendt said.

In 2017, the city has so far collected $111,967 for 30 days of use.

“To me, it’s an absolute win-win,” Wendt said.

Because the stadium is still used in its present soccer configuration, the city has no plans to convert it back to baseball.

“However, we’ve said all along if a baseball franchise were to lease the stadium for baseball and there was no conflict with existing leases, we could convert it back. That franchise would have to cover the cost,” Nash said.

The city has also made a profit, although smaller, with The Patio Restaurant and Bar, which is located on the grounds of the city’s Desert Hills Golf Course. Chef Alex Trujillo assumed the golf course restaurant concession contract in October 2015.

The city receives 10 percent of gross revenues collected for all food and bar sales. From October 2015 to June 2016, the city netted $60,528 in revenues.

But once the restaurant got its liquor license, revenues collected by the city more than doubled. From July 2016 through April 2017, the city netted $126,795, for total revenues of $187,323 to date.

As per the contract, the city takes cares of the utilities, including electricity, water, sewer and trash, which totaled $136,889 for the entire period. That means the city made a profit of $50,434.

“It has been a great partnership. Win-win,” Wendt said. “New people have gone to the restaurant, as well as our golfers.”