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Great America To Be Sold Again?


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This is a tiny bit off topic but it does apply to GA:

http://cbs5.com/politics/local_story_282194100.html

 

49ers May Buy Great America To Build New Stadium

Slideshow: 49ers Consider Santa Clara Stadium

Carmen Policy Tapped To Help Keep 49ers In SF

49ers Team Page

 

(AP) SANTA CLARA The San Francisco 49ers said Tuesday the team might be willing to buy the Great America theme park next to its proposed new stadium in Santa Clara to resolve a lingering parking dispute.

 

The announcement came as the amusement park's owners, Cedar Fair Entertainment Co. of Sandusky, Ohio, planned to formally oppose the current plan for the stadium.

 

Team spokeswoman Lisa Lang said Cedar Fair recently informed the team of its intentions and plans to send out a press release detailing its opposition on Wednesday.

 

A Cedar Fair spokeswoman did not immediately return a call for comment.

 

Lang said Cedar Fair has indicated it might be willing to sell Great America and appears to be trying to drive up the potential sale price of the theme park.

 

"It's a negotiating ploy on their part," Lang said. "We believe they ultimately want to sell this park. We're a football team. We don't operate theme parks. But if that's what it would take, and there's a reasonable price, then it's something we would consider."

 

The 49ers need more parking for its planned $854 million stadium, which the team hopes will open for the 2012 season, and has been negotiating with Cedar Fair to use parking spaces surrounding Great America.

 

The proposed stadium would sit on 20 acres across the street from the 49ers' longtime training complex in Santa Clara. The 49ers have abandoned their decade-long attempt to build a new stadium and massive business and residential development on Candlestick Point, the team's San Francisco home since 1971.

 

(© 2007 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. )

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I so agree about those 49ers. They have a perfectly fine stadium where they are now. Think of all the traffic problems it would cause if they move next to Great America & they would take up all the space for future coasters!!! Back to Tidal Wave-theres some great pictures over at greatamericaparks.com that brings back all the great memories of a great coaster that once stood that we all miss.

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Cedar Fair's offical press release on the matter is out. Here's the important park:

 

"When Cedar Fair concluded that an amusement park and the stadium as proposed could not successfully coexist, Cedar Fair offered the City and the 49ers the option of redeveloping the entire parcel. The next step will be for the citizens and the City of Santa Clara to decide: should the Great America site be used for a new 49ers’ stadium or should the park continue to operate? If the City and its citizens believe that the best use of this property is for a new stadium, then Cedar Fair is willing to consider selling the remainder of its lease and all of its interest and assets to the City or 49ers for fair market value."

 

The whole thing reads to me like they just wanted to get the word out there that they will sell.

 

http://www.cedarfair.com/ir/press_releases/index.cfm?current_root=15&mode=story&story_id=138

 

Mike

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I wonder when it will be GA's final season? I don't really care if GA goes or not. All the other Cedar Fair parks seem to have better rides & GA lacks thrilling ones & we haven't had any new gigantic ride for a long time. Including coasters. I think the loss of Greased Lightnin & Stealth was a major sign that GA wasn't doing too well. I have been going to GA since 1991 so it will just be a loss of tradition & all the past rides I miss that are no longer there. I've picked up a new tradition going to SFDK since 2004.

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Cedar Fair's offical press release on the matter is out. Here's the important park:

 

"When Cedar Fair concluded that an amusement park and the stadium as proposed could not successfully coexist, Cedar Fair offered the City and the 49ers the option of redeveloping the entire parcel. The next step will be for the citizens and the City of Santa Clara to decide: should the Great America site be used for a new 49ers’ stadium or should the park continue to operate? If the City and its citizens believe that the best use of this property is for a new stadium, then Cedar Fair is willing to consider selling the remainder of its lease and all of its interest and assets to the City or 49ers for fair market value."

 

The whole thing reads to me like they just wanted to get the word out there that they will sell.

 

http://www.cedarfair.com/ir/press_releases/index.cfm?current_root=15&mode=story&story_id=138

 

Mike

 

Posting only that section of the article is not very fair. The article says that they do not support the stadium project, but if the people in the area feel that a new stadium is more important, they will consider selling their lease. That one paragraph makes it sound like they will gladly sell and changes the tone that the article has if read alone. I suggest everyone that plans on commenting on this new development read the entire article.

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Some important notes -- an excerpt from the San Jose Mercury News article:

 

But whether the team could actually buy the park is not clear, because of a provision in the city's lease with Great America that says only a company with proven experience operating theme parks can run the park. Any changes to the lease must be approved by both Cedar Fair and the Santa Clara City Council.

 

"Any sale requires the city's approval and is contingent on having a class 'A' theme park operator . . . with proven financial ability to operate it," Deputy City Manager Carol McCarthy said.

 

Also, city leaders approved guidelines this year, based on feedback from residents, promising that if Cedar Fair opposed the proposed stadium, the deal wouldn't happen.

 

"It remains in the city's interest to ensure the theme park is here and operating for all the reasons we bought the park to preserve it in the first place," McCarthy said.

 

The park's lease with Santa Clara, which runs through 2039, requires the park to pay the city at least $5.3 million annually in rent, and an additional $117,000 for the right to use 8,100 parking spaces on city land.

 

More than two decades ago, Santa Clara borrowed $130 million to buy Great America, and the land it sits on, to block a plan by developers to turn it into office buildings. Last year, the city paid off the debt and the rent is now "a significant help to our general fund as we recover from the economic downturn in recent years."

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I wonder when it will be GA's final season? I don't really care if GA goes or not. All the other Cedar Fair parks seem to have better rides & GA lacks thrilling ones & we haven't had any new gigantic ride for a long time. Including coasters. I think the loss of Greased Lightnin & Stealth was a major sign that GA wasn't doing too well. I have been going to GA since 1991 so it will just be a loss of tradition & all the past rides I miss that are no longer there. I've picked up a new tradition going to SFDK since 2004.

 

Given that Top Gun is the last "good" coaster in the park, I'm not surprised they are thinking of selling it. But getting rid of a park to make way for a football stadium? Bad idea.

 

Unless Cedar Fair gets some serious money ($500 Million or more) for this park, it won't be worth the loss if sold. This could really help their debt situation.

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If we get a "Pave America" result out of this, then who will SFDK have to compete with? I really hope that both the citizens of Santa Clara and the city it's self will realize that they will be losing a major family attraction, not saying that football games aren't family oriented...but the theme park is much more kid friendly. Not to mention, it may bring some problems down there due to team fan rivalry. Let's just hope that CF and the city both put their foot down and keep the park that's been entertaining families.

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Yeah Cedar Fair could really show whos boss & turn things around for the park by starting off with a big huge coaster for 09 if they will care about the park. They should have given us a coaster for next year if they really cared. But will they at least give GA a decent coaster before its too late? I don't want to remember GA as the worst park in the chain. I could see Cedar Fair turn GA into a great park like it once was.

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Yeah Cedar Fair could really show whos boss & turn things around for the park by starting off with a big huge coaster for 09 if they will care about the park. They should have given us a coaster for next year if they really cared. But will they at least give GA a decent coaster before its too late? I don't want to remember GA as the worst park in the chain. I could see Cedar Fair turn GA into a great park like it once was.

 

I don't think Great America is the worst park in the chain. It has some crappy coasters yes, and Paramount made some pretty dumb moves, but it looks like a pretty park.

 

I really don't see much good in Great America's future if the 49ers buy the park or if the stadium goes through.

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If the stadium goes through, but the 49ers dont buy the park, perhaps if they put it in that overflow lot, then Great America could possibly go on to be a successful park. But if the 49ers do buy the park, Great America is screwed. A football team is not meant to run an amusement park. What on earth would they do with it?

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Cedar Fair's press release on the subject seems to have an odd contradiction...

 

They are saying they are vehemently opposed to the new stadium, but if the price was right, they may be more accepting to shut down. I think CF needs to become a bit more honest with which parks they are committed to at this point.

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More than two decades ago, Santa Clara borrowed $130 million to buy Great America, and the land it sits on, to block a plan by developers to turn it into office buildings. Last year, the city paid off the debt and the rent is now "a significant help to our general fund as we recover from the economic downturn in recent years."

 

ok..so im really confused. WHO exactly owns the park? the city? or Cedar Fair?

 

And if the city owned it, and they purchased the park to stop office buildings, cant they stop the stadium being put in?

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ahhh! Cedar fair better not sell this park. I am so tire of seeing so many parks not surviving and others being sold, and then ruined...It seems as if other good parks may be in danger.

No more shopping malls, no stadiums, no parking lot, and no housing development!!!

*breathes*

I just get so mad easily. I just hope this parks survive

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