Here's some facts that ought to be obvious, but perhaps are not:
Clear Channel is a massively huge media empire. They are based out of San Antonio, Texas. They have very few employees in Minnesota.
Clear Channel would not be involved in guaranteeing payment of bonds on the theaters if they did not think there was a significant amount of profit to be made via being involved in this arrangement. Essentially all of that profit money will leave the state of Minnesota.
The Ordway/Theater Alliance is locally based. Virtually all revenues and profits will be spent here in the local economy. That money will be spent and respent by the people who receive it, generating local economic activity.
That the Hennepin Theatre Trust (HTT) is a non-profit does not mean they have nothing but good motives. To imagine HTT has our best interests in mind while they are in bed with Clear Channel is naive at best.
Clear Channel clearly does not have our best interest in mind, but rather maximum short-term profit, which is not atypical of large corporations, as it's the nature of the beast.
Clear Channel is still going to want to book big Broadway productions into large Twin Cities theaters, regardless of who owns or manages them. There's no point in helping them complete their vertical market integration, and there's no loss in keeping them out of the ownership and/or management deal.
Chris Johnson, Fulton
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