September 30, 2003
Marlins, Cowboys pitch stadiums
With the long, slow summer at an end, stadium-grubbing season has kicked into full gear again today. In Miami, the playoff-bound Florida Marlins have begun talks with the city about public funding for a $350 million baseball stadium - there's a December 1 deadline to use money from a previously authorized Convention Development Tax. Meanwhile, in Dallas, the Cowboys have apparently decided it's cheaper to buy airtime than legislators, running a series of radio ads touting their $650 million stadium plan, for which they want $400 million in county funding. The Cowboys say they want a public referendum on the ballot in November 2004.
September 28, 2003
"Mistake by the Lake" opens
The $632 million publicly financed "renovation" of the Chicago Bears' Soldier Field is set to open tomorrow night, and the reviews aren't kind. "A friend of mine who is studying architecture was in town last week," one Chicagoan told the Boston Globe. "We had stopped at a restaurant and he asked the owner the absolute 'must-see' structure in Chicago. And the owner pointed east and said 'to the lake where there's a gigantic ashtray lodged in a football stadium.'"
September 26, 2003
Consider it a down payment
The owners of the Sacramento Kings have donated $100,000 to the anti-recall effort of California Gov. Gray Davis, just as the governor decides whether to sign a bill that could help fund a new Kings arena. The owners' political consultant, Richie Ross, says he told his clients not to donate to campaigns for fear that other candidates will also want their share of the boodle, but at these prices, we say they're getting off cheap.
September 25, 2003
Expos staying put for 2004
Turns out those who picked the field in the Great Montreal Expos Relocation Lottery are the winners: the team is expected to stay put for at least one more season. MLB would like to shift a quarter of the schedule to San Juan again (or perhaps Monterrey, Mexico), but Expos players have refused to okay such a move without guarantees that MLB won't slash their payroll, a request that MLB responded to in typical MLB fashion.
September 24, 2003
Giants Stadium reno deal
After two months of contentious negotiations, the New York Giants and the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority have agreed on a deal for $290 million in renovations to Giants Stadium, including adding luxury suites. Under the complex agreement, the public authority will give up half the revenue from nonfootball events at the stadium, while gaining a share of naming-rights and suite money. The Giants will fund half the costs of the renovations with a bank loan, and the other half with money from the NFL's "G2" fund, which lets teams draw on visiting-team club seat and TV revenue to repay stadium costs; since G2 money was previously indicated to be earmarked for projects that included public subsidies, this could represent a policy change on the part of the league - stay tuned.
September 18, 2003
Desperately seeking Newark
With the breakup of the YankeeNets conglomerate imminent, partner Raymond Chambers is again talking of building an arena in Newark - this time for only the New Jersey Devils. Chambers says a new site on city-owned land could reduce the price of the long-planned arena, though it's unclear how losing 41 nights of Nets basketball a year would affect the building's finances. The Newark arena plan fell apart earlier this year after YankeeNets balked at paying its one-third share of construction costs.
In other Nets news, the New York Post is reporting that YankeeNets principal George Steinbrenner is opposed to selling the team to a group that would move it to Brooklyn, fearing that city subsidies for a new arena there would make it more difficult for him to get money for a new stadium for the Yankees. No word yet on whether The Boss plans to weigh in on the New York Times building fiasco.
September 17, 2003
Portland out, Vegas in for 2004 Expos?
Catching up on recent Montreal Expos developments with the help of Doug Pappas' Business of Baseball Weblog:
- Portland, Oregon, has apparently taken itself out of the running for 2004, by declining to submit a provisional bid. The city remains in the running for 2005 and beyond, though, and could end up playing the bogeyman role that Tampa Bay did for much of the 1980s and 1990s, when no fewer than seven teams extracted stadium subsidies from their home cities by threatening a move to Florida.
- Las Vegas has entered the running, with word that Chicago Cubs broadcaster (and Bud Selig pal) Steve Stone has put together a group to move the Expos there. (No word on where the team would play, however, or who would pay for it.)
Meanwhile, Bud Selig's silence (or statements that might as well be silence) continues on the Expos' future - though if you're really curious, you might try phoning him up and pretending you're the leader of a major Western nation.
St. Louis stadium groundbreaking soon?
The St. Louis Cardinals ownership insists it will be ready for a groundbreaking on its new baseball stadium in October, despite not having all the financing in place yet. "Essentially, it's a done deal," team president Mark Lamping told the Associated Press. "We expect to close on the financing perhaps as early as next month." Under the complex financing package, private investors would build the stadium with help from local government subsidies, then lease it back to the team. When and if the private investors are identified, St. Louis County must still vote to approve its $45 million in promised funding.
September 16, 2003
Selig still hedging on Expos
MLB commissioner Bud Selig seems determined to drag out his multi-city bidding war for the Montreal Expos as long as necessary to shake a new stadium loose from some unsuspecting metropolis. In his latest public statements, Selig indicated that the team could be moved to a new temporary home just for 2004, either one of the three declared suitors (Washington, Northern Virginia, or Portland) or possibly some mix of Montreal, San Juan, Puerto Rico and Monterrey, Mexico.
"Obviously the options are the various cities that have expressed interest, as well as the cities that have expressed interest in a series of games or all the games," said Selig, in a language curiously similar to English. "The relocation committee is hard at work in finding a home for the Expos. We'll make that determination in the coming weeks, or how long it takes."
September 08, 2003
Coyotes cost overruns
The owners of the Phoenix Coyotes have agreed to pay for about $30 million in cost overruns on their new hockey arena in Glendale, Arizona, bringing their total expenses to about $40 million. With the city of Glendale paying $180 million in tax money toward the arena, this would bring the team's share of the costs to a whopping 18 percent. Coyotes co-owner Steve Ellman is also supposed to build an office, housing and entertainment development around the arena, but it's unclear when or if he'll find the money to do so.
September 07, 2003
Your name here
With both Green Bay Packers fans and the team itself wanting to see newly renovated Lambeau Field retain its name, the city of Green Bay may be reconsidering its plan to sell naming rights to the historic stadium to pay off $100 million in public construction debt. In related news, the Green Bay/Brown County Professional Stadium District has agreed to accept donations from Packer fans who want to see the Lambeau Field name saved; though they must be less than thrilled that the organizers' website claims it will raise "thousands of dollars" toward the cause.
