The Mobile BayBears owe the city of Mobile roughly $150,000 in unpaid rent for their use of Hank Aaron Stadium, city officials confirmed during a recent Mobile City Council finance committee meeting, reigniting questions about the team’s long-running lease arrangement with the city.
According to the mayor’s chief of staff, the figure represents unpaid rent dating back to September 2013. The disclosure came as the finance committee considered a separate request from Mayor Sandy Stimpson to transfer nearly $500,000 in excess park funds toward stadium upgrades, including improved lighting, an updated audio system and new field rail padding ahead of the 2015 season, which was slated to open in mid-April. The committee voted to recommend the funding transfer, sending the measure to the full council for consideration.
City officials said they would like to see the BayBears’ contract with Mobile renegotiated as soon as possible to resolve the back-rent issue, calling it an important matter to settle. Under the team’s current agreement, negotiated in 2011 and running through 2022, the BayBears pay a sliding rent tied to gross revenues rather than the fixed annual fee used previously. That arrangement set expected payments at roughly $100,000 a year, split into four quarterly installments.
The 2011 deal also forgave an earlier debt of roughly $820,000 in back rent and interest that had accumulated after the team stopped making full rent payments in 2006 and made no payments at all starting in 2009. In exchange, the team agreed to replace a leaky roof over the stadium’s offices and concession areas. City officials said this week that while the team has reported the roof work is complete, no documentation has been submitted verifying it. The 2011 contract gives the organization until 2022 to finish any remaining roof repairs.
Hank Aaron Stadium, named for the baseball legend who grew up in Mobile, has been home to the BayBears since the mid-1990s and remains one of the city’s most visible sports venues. The renewed attention to the team’s finances comes as the city simultaneously moves forward with public investment in the stadium’s infrastructure, underscoring the balancing act Mobile officials face in supporting a beloved local franchise while protecting taxpayer interests.
The council was expected to take up the stadium funding transfer at a subsequent meeting, with the back-rent issue remaining a separate point of negotiation between the team and the city.