Facility operations planning for Yankees-Mets exhibition game

Negotiating a Facility Rental Agreement

As a facility operations manager, it is critical to first understand key legal issues in Stadium contracts. These contract could be ridden with pitfalls and liability characterized by shifting language, and other provisions, with serious legal consequences to the event sponsor. These facilities have provisions in their contract that specify terms of performance (rates, dates, space) and meant to protect the stadium as well as establish event sponsor's responsibility and liability.

It is a common procedure to sign a letter of intent with the facility and in this case, the Durham Bull's Stadium Facility Manager and General Counsel. The Letter of Intent must include all necessary contingency clauses that protect the New York Yankees, the Met's, Yankees and Major League Baseball's right to advance negotiations on mutual agreeable terms with the Durham Bull's Stadium Facility Manager and General Counsel by a certain deadline. However, this should be done after agreeing on the terms and conditions in the actual license.

One key area of negotiation is potential liability on both sides. A privately owned facility such as Durham Bull's Stadium should have much more latitude in the terms to which they can accept mutual indemnification clauses. It advisable for the New York Yankees, the Met's, Yankees and Major League Baseball's as the event sponsors and the Durham Bull's Stadium Facility Manager and General Counsel to agree on mutual indemnification. This is an agreement that both parties agree to defend and/or compensate the other party for asserted claims against, or liability damages incurred by, the other party due to the acts or omissions of the first party (Youngblood, 2010). It is also advised that discussions focus on insurance issues that require the attention of the event sponsors. These need to be negotiated into the facility license and include;

Property damage

Subrogation and waiver

Fire legal liability

Contractual liability

Non-owned automobiles

Adding the facility as an additional insured

Availability and affordability of insurance

In addition, it is common that private facilities such as Durham Bull's Stadium have contracts with certain service providers to be the exclusive provider of certain services. In this case the facility has a pre-arranged revenue-sharing arrangement with that exclusive provider. This is also a subject of negotiation as the event sponsors are most likely to have a third-party service provider that they have contracts with. The sponsors here should consider their right to use a service provider of choice and one that fits their needs. This should be negotiated into the license as use of outside service contractors. It is also preferable to negotiate a waiver of exclusivity since the sponsor comprising a conglomerate of three entities is bound to have a long-term contract with another preferred supplier or endorsers.