April 22, 2006

Saturday morning special

Something about it being springtime - or maybe legislative season - has the stadium and arena news coming faster than even your devoted webmaster can shake a stick at. So without further ado, let's go spanning the globe:

• The city of Ottawa is considering raising the Senators' property-tax bill from $700,000 a year to $1.8 million a year. (Under normal commercial tax rates, they'd be paying $5 million.) Team owner Eugene Melnyk was "incredulous" at the looming hike, according to one team exec, while team president Roy Mlakar declared: "A buck is overtaxed to me." Funny, he doesn't look American.
• One of the competing bidders for a Pittsburgh casino slots license lashed out at the Penguins for refusing to commit to the state's "Plan B" arena plan. if the team's preferred arena partner isn't awarded the license: Forest City Enterprises co-chair Albert Ratner accused the Pens of refusing to chip in more for the arena in order "to sell the hockey team at a higher price." The irony: Albert Ratner's cousin Bruce is currently seeking public subsidies to build a new Nets arena in Brooklyn, to help justify the inflated price he and his partners paid for the team.
• The Seattle Sonics owners have announced that they'd be willing to put up $18.3 million, plus $1 million a year in rent, toward their requested $220 million renovation of KeyArena. To which the Seattle Times editorial writers replied: "Ooooooooooooooooo. Eighteen million dollars." (Really. Follow the link if you don't believe me.)
• San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders has declared that he "would not be able to support the use of any public funds toward the construction of a new [Chargers] facility," and that "the only way that I would be able to support the use of public land is if there is a positive revenue stream back to the City from the use of that land." Apparently knowing what the Chargers' response will be to that, Sanders says he'll seek a lease amendment allowing the team to look elsewhere in San Diego County for a new stadium site, in advance of the January 2007 date when it can legally begin negotiating with other cities, including those outside the region.
• The Indianapolis Colts stadium cost has just gone ... how many people thought I was going to say "down"? Anyone? No, it's up, of course: an additional $15 million or so to pay for a settlement of its eminent-domain dispute with a neighboring bean plant. (No, not that kind of bean plant.) The Indianapolis Star reports drily that "there's no room in the construction budget for this extra cost, so a solution will have to be fashioned to address the shortfall." Gee, ya think?

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