Park Place : Parking Produces Millions of Dollars for Sports Organizations; but for Spectators, It Often Produces Headaches, Frustration

It has become a required nuisance, this business of paying for parking. Roll down the window, extend an arm, drop $3 here, $5 there.

But to sports organizations that provide parking, it can amount to millions of dollars in revenue--enough to pay a front office, buy a ballplayer, or in the case of new Angel pitcher Mark Langston, at least make the down payment.

Parking has become such a big business--an estimated $8-billion-plus industry nationwide--that consultants are hired just to study parking. Should they add more? Should the spaces be smaller? Should they charge more? How can they make more?

Parking fees at Angel games last season yielded $2.28 million before expenses and provided a profit of $1.8 million, which the Angels split with the city of Anaheim, which owns the facility.

Ram games produced $903,295 in parking revenue last year, of which the Rams and Anaheim each netted $377,000.

At Dodger Stadium, parking fees alone could have paid Fernando Valenzuela’s $1.85 million salary last season. The Dodgers, a private organization that owns the parking lot, would not provide precise financial information. But they pay about one-fourth of their total parking revenue to System Parking, Inc., which manages the lot. Still, the Dodgers clearly made more than the $1.8 million that the Angels split with Anaheim.

The Forum, also a privately held corporation, can park only 3,450 cars for a 16,000-seat arena, and pre-sells virtually the entire lot to Laker and King season-ticket holders. That’s why no matter how early you arrive at the Forum, the chances are you’ll be sent across the street to Hollywood Park, which can accommodate about 25,000 cars.

Some organizations make no money on parking. The State of California owns the parking at Exposition Park--the Coliseum and the Sports Arena--and nets about $1.5 million annually. The Raiders and Clippers receive none of that money.

The Clippers, however, did make an estimated $161,098 in parking fees during the 1984-85 season by overcharging customers, according to a state audit released in 1986.

The report said that the Clippers violated their lease agreement with the state by charging season-parking holders more than the state-regulated price. Subsequently, the Clippers were ordered to reimburse the overcharged funds, which they did with tickets to less desirable games.

An official of the California Museum of Science and Industry, which oversees the state-owned lots, said the Clippers no longer overcharge parking customers.

And then there’s the Rose Bowl, owned by the city of Pasadena, where a tradition of free parking has cost the city about $120,000 annually at UCLA football games alone, according to Rose Bowl officials. Seemingly, that tradition is changing.

“We estimate that there is potential for additional revenue if we had a fully paid parking program, but that revenue will not be realized unless we complete negotiations with UCLA,” said Greg Asbury, the Rose Bowl’s general manager.

UCLA has the right to approve or disapprove all parking fees, according to its contract with the Rose Bowl, which runs through 1996. Two seasons ago, in response to a request from the city, UCLA began selling football season-parking passes for all paved areas, about 5,100 spaces. All the revenue--$11,575 net per game--from those spaces goes to the city of Pasadena.

But UCLA opposes a fully paid parking program, which would include charging for the unpaved lots on the adjacent golf course, baseball diamonds and soccer fields that can accommodate 17,000-22,000 cars. UCLA cannot sell season parking for the unpaved areas, because when it rains, cars are not allowed to park on the grass.

“We are against paid parking, and we think parking on the unpaved areas should be free--it adds to the environment and ambience of our football games and we think it adds to our ability to sell season tickets,” said Steve Salm, UCLA’s business manager for athletics. “It is UCLA’s preference that parking on the unpaved areas remain free.”

City officials say the pay-for-parking issue has been around for years, despite a myriad of proposed obstacles such as traffic tie-ups, too many unpaved lots, and a strange street configuration around the Rose Bowl.

Unconvinced, Rose Bowl officials cordoned off a test area for a Mickey Thompson off-road event, called it preferred parking and charged $5 a car.

“The preferred parking filled up first,” said Connie Campbell, Rose Bowl coordinator. “What we learned from it is that people expected to pay a fee for parking. They paid because they thought they would get a better spot to park, and they did.”

But some people have even paid for parking when they didn’t have to.

“I have a friend who used to go down to the Rose Bowl before UCLA games, cordon off an area and charge for parking,” said Jack Woody, a Pasadena resident. “He’d come home with $400-$500 every time.”

Anaheim and Dodger stadiums can accommodate 16,000 cars each. The Dodgers sell 6,000 season parking passes at $400 each, the Angels sell 2,750 season-parking passes, also at $400 each, and the Rams sell 3,000 season-parking passes at $110 each.

The Dodgers charge $3 a game for parking, the Angels $4 and the Rams $5. Spokesmen for the Angels and Rams say there is rarely a parking sellout in baseball, but that parking at Ram games is virtually sold out every game.

Yet industry experts caution that the parking business isn’t always a money maker, especially if the facility is used no more than 30 times a year. They also cite huge costs for developing parking, from $6,500 to $39,000 a space, depending on the worth of the land and the type of structure, which makes it difficult to make money.

“So many people think it’s like a slot machine, but it’s not,” said Stanley Long, president of the Parking Assn. of California.

“Somebody wrote (The Times) that people should be advised to open up parking lots because all you have to do is get a lot and stop people at the gate and have them pay. Well, there’s more to it than that. Most of the operators are union, and there’s insurance. Generally the average profit is around 6%. It’s not the gold mine a lot of people think it is.”

Paying to park at sports events, however, is not what bothers most Southern Californians. It’s the hassle that goes along with finding a place to park, and then sometimes, not finding one at all.

In that respect, Coliseum events are the worst. There are only 5,000 parking spaces in Exposition Park to accommodate a stadium that seats 92,000. Since the Coliseum averages 75,000 fans an event, the parking facility turns away about 20,000 cars. Last year, there was not enough parking for 20 of 31 Coliseum events.

“I can remember going to a Rams’ game at the Coliseum with some friends a long time ago,” said Bill Hurrell, a transportation consultant for Wilbur Smith Associates in San Francisco.

“We had tickets and the game was sold out, but we couldn’t find a place to park. The people I was with had a real nice car and were afraid to leave it in the area where they could find parking, so we just left. Sounds crazy, but that’s what happened.”

The situation hasn’t changed much.

“People are coming to a venue anticipating to park and the spaces are filled three hours before the start of the game,” said Rick Ullman, general manager of Five Star Parking, which oversees the Exposition Park lots.

USC, across the street from Exposition Park, also sells parking for Coliseum events at $6 a car. However, the number of spaces available per event varies greatly, from 400 to 4,000, depending on what else is happening at USC. There is also parking across the street from USC at the Shrine Auditorium, and in private lots around the Coliseum, which charge anywhere from $5 to $20 to park.

“For USC football games, we can anticipate most all our student and faculty permit holders will attend, so we have to save space for them first,” said Roy Heidicker, USC events manager.

“We also have to hold space for about 2,750 USC season football parking pass holders. So we monitor the situation and open up as many spaces as we can to the general public. For a UCLA-USC game, if we have 500 spaces to sell that would be a high estimate.”

Last month’s game between UCLA at USC provided a good example of the congestion motorists can encounter. One group arrived at the Coliseum two hours before the game and circled for more than an hour, looking for a place to park.

Finally, about 45 minutes before kickoff, the group drove right by a sign on the USC campus that said “USC season parking and permit only” and approached a parking booth. The driver explained her plight and the attendant told her they could park, but it would cost them $6.

“Shoot, at that point I would have paid $20,” she said.

Sundays are normally quiet on campus, so USC can provide parking for 3,000 to 4,000 cars for Raider games. The state recently signed a letter of intent with USC to build a 450-car parking lot on the northwest corner of Exposition Boulevard and Vermont Avenue.

For Sports Arena events, about half of the 5,000 spaces cannot be seen from the Arena. The Clippers reserve Lot 6, about 1,600 spaces, for season parking and sell single-game parking in Lots 5 and 5A, where 1,000 cars can be accommodated. In sellout parking situations, about eight times a year, the Sports Arena opens Lot 1, about one block away.

A proposal by Five Star Parking to build a 1,500-car parking lot adjacent to the sports arena is under consideration by the state.

But things could be worse, judging from problems in other parts of the country. Yankee Stadium, located in New York’s Bronx, doesn’t really even have a parking lot. The lots outside the stadium are owned by the city of New York and accommodate only 6,900 cars--not near enough for a 57,000-seat stadium.

“We’ve got the worst parking situation in baseball, except for maybe Fenway Park (in Boston),” said Bill Squires, the director of stadium operations at Yankee Stadium. “At least we can take care of our players’ parking. I don’t think (the Red Sox) can even do that.

“It’s not like Dodger Stadium, where they have a huge lot surrounding the park. The city regulates the pricing, which is $4 and $7 for valet, but it fills up fast. And parking on the street is not a wise think to do in this neighborhood.”

Parking is worse at Boston’s Fenway Park, where the minimum charge to park is as much as a reserved game ticket--$10. The Red Sox literally have no parking facility of their own, and the surrounding lots are independently owned and unregulated. Public transportation, needless to say, is encouraged.

On the other hand, the New Jersey Meadowlands, where the New York Giants and Jets and New Jersey Nets play, has seemingly unlimited parking--28,000 spaces--and at a good price, $5 for football games and $3 for basketball games.

But why drive when you can take a train, bus or subway? At Boston Garden, home of the Bruins and Celtics, a commuter train stops at North Station, which is right at the Garden. The T-subway also stops right at the arena. For the die-hard drivers, there are private parking lots in the area, but the price is hefty. The lot directly across from the Garden charges $15.

Madison Square Garden, home of the New York Rangers and Knicks, has a similar setup. Penn Station is located beneath the Garden, and subway service is a couple of blocks away. There are about four parking lots in the vicinity that charge $10-$15 a car. Then there’s street parking, which one New Yorker said you wouldn’t want to chance.

“You could get a ticket, or then, you could get your car stolen,” she said.

Parking is a seller’s market everywhere. Milwaukee County Stadium, which can accommodate 13,000 cars, will charge $6 a game this season for preferred parking at Brewer games. Preferred parking lots are those closest to the stadium. Other parking will cost $4.

Parking at Chicago’s Wrigley Field can be an event in itself. The ballpark is located in the midst of a residential neighborhood, and the Cubs’ own only three lots with very limited space to sell to the public. Most all parking is on the street and in private lots in the area, where a space can cost $15.

At Candlestick Park, where the 49ers play to sellout crowds of 62,000 every game, it costs $12 to park in one of the 7,000 paved spaces. The rest of the fans pay $7 to park in one of the 10,000 dirt spaces outside the stadium.

Those fans pray that it doesn’t rain.

LOS ANGELES AREA PARKING LOCATION: ROSE BOWL SPACES: 22,000 COST: $5 EVENTS: 11 GROSS INCOME: $153,159 EXPENSES: $49,000 PROFIT: $104,159 LOCATION: ROSE BOWL / UCLA SPACES: 5,100 COST: $5 EVENTS: 7 GROSS INCOME: NA EXPENSES: NA PROFIT: 81,025 LOCATION: ROSE BOWL / Other SPACES: COST: 3-5 EVENTS: 4 GROSS INCOME: NA EXPENSES: NA PROFIT: 23,134 LOCATION: DODGER STADIUM SPACES: 16,000 COST: 3 EVENTS: 81 GROSS INCOME: 3,530,000* EXPENSES: 882,500* PROFIT: 2,647,500* LOCATION: ANAHEIM STADIUM SPACES: 16,000 COST: 4-5 EVENTS: 92 GROSS INCOME: 3,185,755 EXPENSES: 607,755 PROFIT: 2,578,000 LOCATION: ANAHEIM STADIUM / Angels SPACES: COST: 4 EVENTS: 81 GROSS INCOME: 2,282,460 EXPENSES: 458,460 PROFIT: 1,824,000** LOCATION: ANAHEIM STADIUM / Rams SPACES: COST: 5 EVENTS: 11 GROSS INCOME: 903,295 EXPENSES: 149,295 PROFIT: 754,000** LOCATION: SPORTS ARENA SPACES: 5,000 COST: 3 EVENTS: 168 GROSS INCOME: 2,000,000 EXPENSES: 500,000 PROFIT: 1,500,000*** LOCATION: COLISEUM SPACES: COST: 5 EVENTS: 31 GROSS INCOME: EXPENSES: PROFIT: LOCATION: SANTA ANITA SPACES: 24,000 COST: 2, 4, 7 EVENTS: 118 GROSS INCOME: 4,120,000 EXPENSES: 1,030,000* PROFIT: 3,090,000* LOCATION: HOLLYWOOD PARK SPACES: 25,000 COST: 2, 4, 7 EVENTS: 102 GROSS INCOME: 2,591,913* EXPENSES: 647,978* PROFIT: 1,943,935* LOCATION: FORUM: Lakers / Kings SPACES: 3,450 COST: 5 EVENTS: 85 GROSS INCOME: Majority of spaces are given away as part of Senate Seat program, which is factored into the price of the ticket. EXPENSES: PROFIT: 1988 figures. *Estimated using parking industry formula. **Net figure is split evenly with club and city of Anaheim. ***State-owned. $1 million to Exposition Park Improvement. $500,000 to state general fund.