by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
After a three-plus hour meeting Tuesday morning, the City and the Jacksonville Suns are inching closer to an agreement that would assure the Suns play baseball in the new $34 million ball park.
For the past several months, everything from ticket sales to concessions to billboard revenues were bones of contention. Although neither side offered to discuss the few items still being debated, both City officials and Suns owner and general manager Peter Bragan Jr., expressed optimism. In fact, Chief Administrative Officer Sam Mousa used “cordial” and “productive” to describe the three-hour negotiating session that included Mayor John Delaney and attorneys from both sides.
“It went well,” said Mousa. “We pretty much ironed out a lot of things. We’ll get it in writing and see if it’s exactly what we verbally agreed to.”
Bragan agreed with Mousa’s assessment.
“I’m quite happy and we’re close,” said Bragan, declining to comment on the remaining differences.
Mousa said the deal is now squarely in the City’s court. Within the next week, City attorneys will draft what Mousa called a “memo of understanding,” which will be sent to the Suns and their Atlanta-based attorney, Steve Labovitz.
“The memo of understanding is an outline of the major points of the discussion,” said Mousa, adding he doesn’t expect the Suns to agree to or sign the first draft anytime soon. Mousa said there will probably minor adjustments in wording before ink is put to paper.
“We’ll have a handshake agreement then draft a lease agreement. One party is responsible for the draft and that’s us,” said Mousa. “We will put together what we think was said and get it to them in the next week or so. I would term today’s meeting very cordial and very productive. We think we’re there. We’ll write it out, have both parties review it and go from there.”
While Bragan is happy to see negotiations coming to an end, he also acknowledged that both sides have caved in on demands, opening the door for an agreement. Without that willingness, the City would still be talking about other events for the new park and the Suns would still be exploring venue options for the 2003 Southern League season.
“I don’t think either side can say they are completely happy,” said Bragan. “Both sides have given a little and taken a little. We were apart on some things and some of it depends on how it gets worded.”
Bragan said he expects the City to propose a similar lease to years past — a 20-year lease with 10 years guaranteed and two five-year options. Bragan also said, outside of being unsure where his team will play next year, his biggest headache has been uncertainty regarding season ticket and advertising sales, including radio, TV and billboards along the outfield walls.
“We need to get busy. Everything’s been on hold because of the uniqueness of the situation,” said Bragan, adding it’s been hard to sell outfield advertising because it’s impossible to show the client what the product will look like. “Now, we have to say, it’s going to look like this. Some want to wait and see while others have said to just give them something nice. We have not started selling tickets, either, until we get our ducks in a row.”
Casual observers of the situation have been the Southern League, Major League Baseball and the Suns’ parent club, the Los Angeles Dodgers.
“Our farm director, Bill Bavasi, has told me to keep him in touch with what’s going on,” said Bragan. “He’s very concerned and the Dodgers are staying on top of this.”