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Economy

Defunct Fleet Football Still Owes San Diego Money

The San Diego Fleet logo is shown on a door of the team’s headquarters office in San Diego, April 2, 2019.
Matt Hoffman
The San Diego Fleet logo is shown on a door of the team’s headquarters office in San Diego, April 2, 2019.

Before the Alliance of American Football suspended league operations, the San Diego Fleet played four games at SDCCU Stadium this year.

The stadium is owned by the city of San Diego and according to an agreement to play there, the city charged $100,078 in estimated expenditures plus $25,000 in rent per game.

According to a city spokesman, the city has not received any of the estimated $400,312 in game-day related costs and has not yet been paid rent for two games.

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Ticket sales were supposed to go to the team, but the city has withheld that money to cover operating and rent costs. According to numbers provided by the city of San Diego, the Fleet brought in $340,135 in ticket sales revenue over four games. A spokesman says it is a common practice to keep ticket revenues to cover costs incurred by tenants.

RELATED: San Diego Fleet, Alliance Of American Football To Suspend Operations

In addition to paying the city $100,078 in estimated expenditures per game — plus rent — the Fleet also incurred an estimated $85,236 per game to cover things such as traffic control, security and medical services.

With estimated expenses of $210,314 per game at SDCCU Stadium, numbers show the Fleet never pulled in enough ticket revenue to cover game costs.

The Fleet still had one home game this year. In a statement, the team said: "We hope to be able to share information from the AAF about ticket refunds in the future."

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Between ticket sales, parking and concessions revenue, the city said it will still make a profit from Fleet football. The city said Ticketmaster commissions still need to be added as well as team meal commissions.

KPBS reached out to the Alliance of American Football to see if it was planning to pay the city but have not heard back.

City Of San Diego Still Owed Money For Fleet Football Games Played At SDCCU Stadium
Defunct Fleet Football Still Owes San Diego Money
This week the Fleet football team had its inaugural season cut short and the team still owes rent and other money to the city of San Diego. You can hear this story and other local news every morning by subscribing to San Diego News Matters, KPBS’ daily news podcast. Subscribe via iTunes, Google Play or your favorite podcatcher.