Business View Magazine | May 2020

73 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE MAY 2020 ROCKET MORTGAGE F I ELDHOUSE BVM: Were you open during renovation? Komoroski: “We shut down for two consecutive summers, in 2018 and 2019, and had two phases of internal work done. It was a 20-month project. We continued with external work while the building was operating during the primary sports and entertainment season from fall to the spring, which included completing both the Cavaliers and Monsters regular seasons. We believe the now finished project sets a new benchmark for renovations of facilities of this nature. The facility had ingress and egress issues. We had among the least amount of square footage for comparable arenas in our league and we now have among the most. We had issues with cramped and tight concourses. We had no gathering spaces and wayfinding issues. There was a myriad of operational and structural concerns and we were disconnected to our city, right in the heart of downtown. The only way you knew there was an event going on was if you saw people going in or out of the building because the only glass was for office space. And we had a façade that was less than inspirational. the City of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County. If Gateway were not to exist, the title of the arena would fall to the county and the title for Progressive Field would fall to the city. But it’s a public-owned facility; we manage it, we largely maintain the upkeep, and all the activities associated with it. We have 485 full-time team members as part of our overall entity and over 2000 part-time members. “As it relates to mid to small markets, in our league the equivalent of that would be the NHL, we have the most public-friendly leases. We basically pay for all the repair and maintenance, all the operations, major capital repairs up to $500,000 and, in conjunction with the Indians, also pay our landlord’s costs. Gateway have staff, property taxes, common area space they maintain, and between us and the Indians, we’ll split those obligations 50-50. That is unique on a national basis because we actually fund our landlord’s expenses, which are significant – about $4 million a year.”