TSA chief to rethink usage of luxury box
The Tampa Sports Authority chairman says the luxury suite tickets could be better used for the benefit of the community.
By BILL VARIAN
Published February 19, 2005
TAMPA - A top official with the Tampa Sports Authority became the first Friday to say his agency should do a better job with how it doles out free tickets and food for a luxury suite it controls at Raymond James Stadium.
"I acknowledge it's a problem and we need to deal with it," said Sports Authority chairman David Mechanik. "No one has ever raised the issue. I've thought about it and felt uncomfortable at times with it. I guess I should have asked about it."
However, Mechanik said criticism over the does not warrant a proposal from Hillsborough County Commissioner Brian Blair to do away with the agency. Such a move would not save taxpayers any money and could potentially make them more liable, he said.
He said the agency shouldn't be held responsible for losing money, since terms of the agreements that govern how it runs the stadium were largely negotiated by the county.
"I don't think there's any perfect form of government and the TSA isn't perfect either," Mechanik said. "If things need to be fixed, then I think we need to fix them."
Mechanik was speaking at the Tiger Bay Club of Tampa on Friday in an address clearly timed in response to the proposal from Blair, who was not at the meeting. That proposal came after a series of stories in the St. Petersburg Times starting in December showed how members of the Sports Authority use a luxury suite provided by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The story showed that members have claimed dozens of tickets to the suite through the years, each valued last season at $457. Some public officials who are not on the board get invited frequently.
While the suite itself doesn't cost the agency money, those who sit in it frequently rack up bills that approach and sometimes top $1,000, drinking premium liquor and eating fine foods.
Mechanik's comments, and questions from club members, initially addressed what he considers misconceptions about the wisdom of doing away with his agency. Then two club members - former Hillsborough Commissioner Jan Platt and commercial real estate broker Will Bissett - cut to the heart of the matter by asking what the agency is doing about the luxury suite.
"That's how all this started," Platt said. "Nobody's talking about the real issue."
As a former chairman of the Tampa-Hillsborough Expressway Authority in the mid 1980s, Bissett said he wouldn't allow board members to get free tolls.
He had seen other government agencies get hit with bad public relations bouts because of disclosures about the perks of board members, undermining their work. He said he didn't want his own agency falling victim as it was considering a controversial project now called the Veterans Expressway.
Now that the Tampa Sports Authority is taking its own hit, Bissett asked its chairman Friday what that board is doing to better disclose its perks in the interest of transparency.
"I think this maybe is time for full disclosure," Bissett said. "That would go a long way toward eliminating this."
Mechanik said the newspaper had done a pretty good job with the disclosure part. So he's concentrating on the fix.
As has been reported, Mechanik has asked the staff at the Sports Authority to review how other governments that run stadiums and get free luxury suites in return handle ticket giving.
He said he envisions people who use the box being asked to contribute to the cost of food in the future.
He said he's not sure how best to give the tickets away, but said clearly it can be done better.
"I'm not going to totally defend our practice," Mechanik said. "We could do a better job in using those tickets for the benefit of the community."
Bill Varian can be reached at 813 226-3387 or varian@sptimes.com