State Approves $8M MLB Incentive Grant

NJBIZ, Sep 22, 2008

The state's Economic Development Authority has approved an incen- tive grant of $8 million to Major League Baseball Properties Inc. of New York and its Secaucus-based firm, MLB Network, LLC, in exchange for creating 201 new jobs and investing $54 million in a televi- sion production studio. The EDA said it approved the grant last week, and it will be paid under the state's Business Employment Incentive Program over 10 years.

The plan is for the two firms to broadcast professional and amateur baseball games from the Secaucus studio, as well as major events like the All-Star game and the World Series, according to the grant application filed with the EDA.

"We have selected the old MSNBC studio in Secaucus on Hartz Way to work out of, and will debut the MLB Network on January 1, 2009," Major League Baseball spokesman Matt Bourne says. The two firms are slated to operate out of a 142,271 -square-foot facility in Secaucus.

The anticipated average wage for the jobs they could bring is $117,413, the EDA states. The incentive offer actually is a reimbursement of 80 percent of the state income taxes paid by those employees, the maximum available for BEIP employees, according to the agency. - Shankar P.