Six Flags Inc. wants out of New Orleans. The theme park operator announced July 2 it is offering $10 million, 66 acres of land as well as a payment of 20% of the city's insurance proceeds from the park above $75 million. Six Flags New Orleans was never profitable with a population of a half million and doesn't expect it to be profitable with its current population estimated by think tank RAND at 155,000. Oklahoma City-based Six Flags purchased the New Orleans park in 2000, which was valued at $135 million, out of bankruptcy for $22 million. But after the installation of five new rides and a major advertising push, the park remained a financial failure. The park generated $24.5 million in 2003, $18.2 million in 2004 and $15 million last year. Hurricane Katrina put a nail in the coffin of the New Orleans amusement park, closing the location because of undisclosed damage.
It can be argued that amusement parks have reached their saturation point and lost their mystique with the public. Consolidation may be around the horizon. CBS Corp. decided to part ways with its Paramount Parks for $1.24 billion in cash on May 22. Palamon Capital Partners said May 30, it sold six of the seven European leisure parks it acquired from Six Flags two years ago for an undisclosed price.
Meanwhile, the New Orleans amusement park now sits idle waiting for its parent company to make a move. Six Flags has itself been in turmoil. A new investor group led by a Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder took over the reins of the company in Dec. 15, 2005 and has vowed to turn it around. With a mandate on profitability, the new Snyder-led board has put its Six Flags parks in New York, Texas, Colorado, California and Washington on the auction block giving little hope for the reopening of Six Flags New Orleans. — Gerald Magpily
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