Paul Golden: Trying to understand Yosemite name dispute

Re “Park Service dealt early blow in Yosemite fight” (Front page, May 21): As a devotee of Yosemite National Park, I wanted to learn about Delaware North Co. Privately owned for over 100 years, it was started by Louis Jacobs and now is owned by his son Jeremy, and grandsons. They also own the Boston Bruins.

Delaware North provides food and hospitality services for eight Major League Baseball franchises, owns 10,000 gaming machines in five states, TD Garden in Boston and provides services to Wembley, Emirates and Pride Park stadiums and the Australian Open. Annual revenues exceed $3 billion; DNC employes 60,000.

Its Parks and Resorts division was founded to run concessions for Yosemite, Grand Canyon, Niagara Falls State Park and other parks and four major U.S. airports.

In 1993, DNC paid the previous Yosemite vendor,, the Curry Company, $61.5 million for the rights to tangible, intangible and intellectual rights. In 2015, DNC sued the National Park Service because the new concessionaire, Aramark was not required to buy trademarks and intangible assets from DNC. The asking price was $51 million, but the Justice Department put the value was $3.5 million.

A company earning over $3 billion annually could afford the loss (and tax benefit) for intangible assets such as the names Ahwahnee, Curry Village, Half Dome among others. Though a socialist concept, would it be better for our National Parks to be owned and run solely by the federal government, even if it means the food is worse?

The last time my wife and I stayed at the fabulously overpriced Ahwahnee in 2011 the rugs were worn and the furniture in the common rooms dilapidated. This was not the case in the 1980s when it was under Curry management.

This story was originally published May 23, 2016 at 1:48 PM with the headline "Paul Golden: Trying to understand Yosemite name dispute."