City rolls in Biscuits' dough

The Biscuits made their quarterly rent payment today and counted out more than $274,000 to the city.

The $274,055.87 payment pushed the team's rent total for fiscal year 2007 to $727,365.33. In four years, the Biscuits have paid more than $2.9 million in rent.

The team totaled more than $5.9 million in revenue in the areas it shares with the city as rent, virtually matching its total from fiscal year 2006. The two years differed by less than $40,000.

Areas of revenue interest for fiscal year 2007 ...
Concessions $1,398,522.68
Tickets $1,311,996 (lowest in team's four years, $80,000 less than '05)
Sponsorships $1,200,735 (highest in team's four years)
Group tickets $540,962.50
Retail $491,466.23

The Biscuits totaled 311,872 in announced regular-season attendance this year, 8,800 more than in 2005. They drew almost 323,000 their inaugural year and almost 314,000 in 2006.

The rent is based on a percentage of sales at Riverwalk Stadium. In most areas, the city gets 10 percent after sales tax. In areas without sales tax, the team gets 33 percent. The city gets 100 percent of parking.

The team still exceeds projections used by the city when it approved stadium construction in December 2002. Fourth-year predictions called for 220,000 in attendance and $498,484.90 in total rent.