REVENUE FROM CORPORATE SPONSORS
COKE AND PEPSI HELP FUND SPORTS ARENAS
Most of the money that will pay for the field house comes from the sale of ice time at $175/hour.  Four groups have signed seven-year contracts for ice time, including Holy Family Catholic High School, Chaska-Victoria Hockey, Minne-tonka Hockey, and Waconia Hockey has an out after five years should they want to build their own arena at that time.
Another significant source of revenue for the field house is advertising dollars.  Victoria has been talking to the same per-son, Jody Vlatkovich, who acquired such revenue for Pagel Arena at Minnetonka.
Mr. Vlatkovich attended the February 14th city council meeting in Victoria.  He said he was with the Tonka Bay Group, "a group that specializes in corporate adver-tising fundraising for sports facilities."  He said that to date he has $104,000 in advertising revenue for the City of Vic-toria and "we haven't even started yet."
Dasher board advertising and panel advertising were cited as revenue pro-ducers for the Victoria Field House, with $240,000 expected upfront.  "I think we'll arriver closer to $300,000," he said.
"That's upfront advertising commit-ments," said Mr. Vlatkovich.  "A dasher board, for example, is a three-year com-mitment, and we get all the money up-front.  We keep in contact with them and then look for contract renewals.  At the Pagel Arena in Minnetonka, we came in at just under $500,000."  That half-million included $200,000 for naming rights purchased by the Pagel family.
"Beverage companies are really the ones that want to get into these arenas," he said, "to reach the young generation, their target group.  At Pagel we got $60,000 up front from a beverage com-pany plus $9,000 a year for eight years.  Pieces of equipment are also donated by the advertisers.  At Pagel we got a $65,000 upfront piece that basically paid for the Zanboni."
"We've got a group of advertisers that want to be in every arena we do," he said.  "Right now a lot of the advertisers are looking for more.  They're targeting a lot of these field house projects."
In response to questions, Mr. Vlatko-vich said the advertising revenue goes into "a holding account."
Asked Mayor Mary, "What's your goal for a dollar amount before we make the financial commitment?"
"We should be nearing $200,000 by that time," he said. 
He said that the Buffalo Arena got $160,000 from Pepsi.  Coke is the compe-titor.  "I think we'll approach both com-panies, and I think they'll be very aggres-sive out here because Victoria's project will be open to the whole park.  Then we renegotiate contracts after three and five-year commitments."
Mr. Vlatkovich identified three types of advertising revenue: 
*Corporate Foundations such as General Mills gave $25,000 to Pagel.
*Community Retailers become a plus for cities like Chaska, Waconia, and Chanhassen because Victoria residents need places to shop.
*Larger Businesses, such as TCF, USBank, and Wells Fargo, make a lot of revenue from ATM machines.
In addition to the sale of ice time and dasher boards, there is a possibility of selling dry land time during the summer months.  Mike Ayres said that $20,000 in dry land time has been sold at Pagel.  "This hasn't been mission critical for us yet," he said.  "We're concentrating on opening the field house."
Said Councilmember Dave Lindgren, "We're trying to do what we think is good for the town."

RESPONDING TO QUESTIONS ON FEBRUARY 7TH
FROM VICTORIA RESIDENTS IN THE AUDIENCE
One resident stated there is a lack of demand for ice in Ramsey County and, in fact, ice time is being sold at half price.
Stated Mike Ayres, who is a hockey parent and member of the Minnetonka Youth Hockey Association, "I'd love to have Ramsey's capacity in this market.  We have sold every hour of ice that we can at Pagel, plus we're buying every hour that we can elsewhere."
Another resident asked how Victoria would force a hockey association to pay up if it decided to break its seven-year contract to buy Victoria ice at $175/hour.
Stated Mike, "We have legal two-page documents from those organizations.  They are legally binding contracts for seven years, except Waconia has an out at five years.  They are good faith, seven-year, legal commitments."
A representative of Waconia hockey responded that they have 200 kids coming up the ranks and buying ice is a huge is-sue for them.  They need ice.
A resident asked about adequate space for parking at Diethelm Park and problems with residential neighbors.  Re-plied Mike, "We've had no complaints in Minnetonka, and in Victoria your houses are a lot further from the field house."
Chuck Fryeberg, architect with RSP, said that Diethelm Park will have four parking lots, and that "there is not a bigger demand for parking for hockey than for soccer in the summer."
Mayor Mary referred to Victoria's Comprehensive Plan.  "The master park plan has an ice facility on it, and a com-plete layout for soccer," she said.  "Our parking lots were based on park needs."
Another resident said, "I don't think anyone's against the ice arena, but the question is its affordability."
Said Mayor Mary, "We are project-ing that in ten years, Victoria will be a community of 10,000 residents.  The Lions will use this facility for their Pan-cake Breakfasts and Summer Tourna-ments, the Chamber for their Business Expo and Touch of Bavaria.  Right now we focus on baseball, softball, and soccer, but it's important to meet all of the needs."
"The city has been positioning itself," she continued.  "As new developments come in, they're helping to pay for these new facilities."  There are development fees as well as subdivision costs that are paid to the city's Parks and Rec Fund.
Said Councilmember Richard Tieden, "One hundred new homes to the commu-nity each year means 100 kids and 200 adults new to the community each year.  We've thought about the grander concept of being able to serve all the needs of the community."
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