January 06, 2007

Weekend Update: Vancouver dome deflates, so does S.F. stadium plan

Lots of football news (U.S. and Canadian-style) this week, plus new developments in Minnesota and Seattle:

• The inflated Teflon roof of Vancouver's B.C. Place - home of the B.C. Lions CFL team and centerpiece of the 2010 Winter Olympics - collapsed yesterday after being buffeted by strong wind gusts. One stadium worker described the sound as that of "elephants running through your living room." (How would he know?) The Globe and Mail's architecture critic thinks this would be a good opportunity to consider tearing down the 24-year-old stadium, given that it "sits on the equivalent of four blocks of some of Canada's most expensive land."
• The San Francisco 49ers have laid out a set of "guiding principles" for a new stadium in Santa Clara, including "no new taxes" and "no net cost to the city's general fund," though it would involve some "public investment." (Best guess here: either tax increment financing or something similar where the city would be "repaid" by stadium-related tax payments.) Team execs say they hope to firm up financing plans with Santa Clara officials over the next six months. San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom has proposed a new stadium on the Hunters Point site, but Niners owner John York wasn't interested, instead accusing Newsom of "political gamesmanship."
• The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports that the dispute over the sale of land for the Minnesota Twins stadium "is threatening to derail the property's sale just two months before work is to begin on the site." It also says that the gap between what the county is offering and what the landholders are demanding is "likely in the millions of dollars," which isn't really all that much when you're talking about a half-billion-dollar project with a $90 million budget for land and infrastructure alone. Contrary to what the Star Trib's Sid Hartman said earlier this week, the county has already begun eminent domain condemnation proceedings for the property, and will move to seize it at a January 22 court date if no deal is in place to buy it by then.
• Oceanside has joined Chula Vista and National City as sites the San Diego Chargers are exploring to be their new home. Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman - who doesn't have a stadium or a plan for one, not that that's stopped him before - called to express interest in the Chargers, but was told they plan to remain focused on San Diego County "for the time being."
• As suburban Renton and Bellevue bid to become the new home of the Seattle Sonics, the anti-subsidy group Citizens for More Important Things has released a poll showing that King County voters would back a ban on sports subsidies like the one passed by the city of Seattle in November, with 53% saying they'd vote for it, and just 25% saying they'd vote no.