Commitments and Contingent Liabilities

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2019

Litigation

In the ordinary course of business, from time to time, we may be subject to legal claims and administrative proceedings. As of December 31, 2019, we are not subject to any litigation that we believe could have, individually or in the aggregate, a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations, liquidity or cash flows.

Operating Lease Commitments

We are liable under various operating leases for: (i) land at the Cascata golf course, which expires in 2038 and (ii) offices in New Orleans, Louisiana and New York, New York, which expire in 2020 and 2030, respectively. The weighted average remaining lease term as of December 31, 2019 under our operating leases was 16.3 years. Our Cascata ground lease has three 10-year extension options. The rent of such options would be the in-place rent at the time of renewal.

Total rental expense, included in golf operations and general and administrative expenses in our Statement of Operations and contractual rent expense under these agreements were as follows:



	Year Ended December 31,				Period from October 6, 2017 to December 31, 2017
(In thousands)	2019		2018		Period from October 6, 2017 to December 31, 2017
Rent expense	$	1,622	$	1,519	$	256
Cash paid for rent	$	1,257	$	1,297	$	268

On May 10, 2019 we entered into a lease agreement for new office space in New York, NY for our corporate headquarters. The lease has a 10-year term, with one 5-year extension option and requires a fixed annual rent of $0.9 million. We determined the lease was an operating lease and recorded a $6.7 million right of use asset and a corresponding lease liability within Other assets and Other liabilities, respectively, on our Balance Sheet. The discount rate for the lease was determined to be 5.3% and was based on the yield of our current secured borrowings, adjusted to match borrowings of similar terms.

On January 1, 2019, upon adoption of ASC 842, we recorded an $11.1 million right of use asset and a corresponding lease liability within Other assets and Other liabilities, respectively, on our Balance Sheet, related to the ground lease of the land at the Cascata Golf Course. The discount rate for the lease was determined to be 5.5% and was based on the yield of our current secured borrowings, adjusted to match borrowings of similar terms.

The future minimum lease commitments relating to the base lease rent portion of noncancelable operating leases at December 31, 2019 are as follows:



(In thousands)	Lease Commitments
2020	$	1,485
2021	1,862
2022	1,880
2023	1,899
2024	1,919
Thereafter	20,983
Total minimum lease commitments	$	30,028
Discounting factor	12,290
Lease liability	$	17,738

Caesars Entertainment Outdoor

Loss Contingencies [Line Items]

Commitments and Contingent Liabilities

Note 9 — Litigation, Contractual Commitments and Contingent Liabilities

Litigation

The Business and its operations may be subject to litigation involving employment matters, personal injuries, and other matters that arise in the normal course of business. We do not expect the outcome of such ordinary and routine litigation to have a material effect on our combined financial position, results of operations, or cash flows.

Contingent Liabilities

In January 2015, a majority of the Trustees of the National Retirement Fund (“NRF”), a multi-employer defined benefit pension plan, voted to expel Caesars and certain of its affiliates from the plan. The NRF has advised Caesars and Caesars Entertainment Resort Properties, LLC (“CERP”) that this expulsion triggered a withdrawal liability with a present value of approximately $360 million, payable in 80 quarterly payments of about $6 million. The NRF filed a similar claim against each Caesars Debtor in CEOC’s bankruptcy. Although the Business’ employees did not participate in this plan, because the entities that own the Business are a member of the Caesars Group (as defined below), such entities are jointly and severally liable with Caesars and CEOC for any liability under the NRF’s claims.

On March 13, 2017, CEOC, CEC, CERP, the Caesars employers that contribute to the NRF, and the NRF and certain of its related parties entered into a settlement agreement resolving all issues related to the disputes with the NRF. Under the terms of the settlement, CEC, or a person on CEC’s behalf, was required to pay a total of $45 million to the NRF on the Formation Date.

Under the Caesars Debtors’ Plan, the NRF is barred from asserting any claims against the Company and its subsidiaries to the extent such claims arose prior to the Formation Date.

Operating Lease Commitments

The Business is liable under operating leases for land at the Cascata golf course, equipment and other miscellaneous assets, which expire at various dates through 2039. Total rental expense under these agreements included in direct golf operating expenses and property costs in our Statements of Operations were approximately $0.7 million for the period January 1, 2017 to October 5, 2017 and approximately $1.0 million for each of the years ended December 31, 2016 and 2015, respectively.

The future minimum lease commitments relating to the base lease rent portion of noncancelable operating leases at October 5, 2017 are as follows:



	(In thousands)
	Operating Leases
2017	$	214
2018	873
2019	891
2020	908
2021	926
2022 and thereafter	18,911
Total minimum rental commitments	$	22,723

Other Commitments

The Business utilizes a third-party golf maintenance company for its Rio Secco and Cascata golf courses. The agreements are for five years and expire in February 2019 and include all labor and equipment necessary to maintain both golf course grounds. Total expense under these agreements included in direct golf operating expenses in the Statements of Operations were approximately $2.1 million for the period January 1, 2017 to October 5, 2017 and $2.9 million and $2.8 million for the years ended December 31, 2016 and 2015, respectively.

The future commitments relating to these agreements at October 5, 2017 are as follows:



	(In thousands)
	Maintenance Agreements
2017	$	775
2018	2,969
2019	225
Total maintenance agreement commitments	$	3,969