In no particular order, or as we call it in New York, Mets style:
- Elvis Presley Enterprises is looking for property tax breaks from Memphis and Shelby County to help build a $20 million, 5,000- to 6,000-seat arena at Graceland. This could violate a non-compete clause with the Grizzlies over tax breaks for their arena, and local officials aren’t too thrilled with the request anyway: “I don’t want this body to be looked at as a pawn to sweeten the pot,” city councilmember Berlin Boyd told WMC-TV, which is a reasonable sentiment if a somewhat confusing metaphor.
- Preliminary designs for an MLB stadium in Portland look like a cross between a modernized Stade Olympique and the Jupiter 2. But there’s no reason to take these seriously as what an eventual stadium would actually look like if one is ever built, so, you know, don’t.
- The Miami Marlins and St. Louis Cardinals are seeking $100 million in public hotel-tax money from Palm Beach County to upgrade their 20-year-old spring training facility, saying they need expanded clubhouses, more batting tunnels, an expanded team store, Wi-Fi, a new scoreboard, more shaded seating areas, and “agility fields” (presumably not this kind) in order to remain “competitive.” Neither team appeared to indicate why any of this is Palm Beach County’s problem.
- North Carolina FC owner Steve Malik say that if Raleigh spends $13 million a year to build a downtown soccer stadium, it will get an MLS expansion franchise. He also said that the public will be almost entirely repaid by new tax receipts from the stadium. It is left as an exercise for the reader as to which statement is less believable.
- The Connecticut state assembly has declined to approve $100 million in renovations to Hartford’s XL Center, seeing as the place is currently up for sale. That makes sense, but it’s slightly worrisome to think that the assembly might approve $100 million in renovations after the arena is sold, unless the sale price is more than $100 million.
“Most communities do have a 10,000-seat stadium and a 20,000-seat seat stadium,” Malik said.
Opiod use really IS off the charts. Yes, Steve, we all have stadiums just lying about.
Is Graceland threatening to move if they don’t get the tax break? #noleverage
Not sure about that, Steve. If new arenas can have statues of players who never played in them outside, and relocated franchises still hang retired numbers of aging stars who retired before the franchise moved, why can’t Graceland pull up stakes and move to Des Moines or San Antonio?
As the classic Mojo Nixon song advises, “Elvis is Everywhere”
I hear Graceland lacks modern amenities and sources of revenue. They should build a new one.
Elvis has left the city.
Thanks for the Friday laugh, Steve.
Not up on my Mets history Neil…. is this season some sort of anniversary of a particular Marv Throneberry or Fred Merkle (Giants, I know, but still NY/NL)?
Nope, just honoring the latest instance of the Mets Metsing, as evidenced in the link provided.
(Also, I’m puzzled why your comment was initially caught in the spam filter, unless it somehow interpolated your remark to expect you to say “Merkle’s Boner.”)
I wondered if it was grammatical, given that I forgot to include an indefinite article (?) at the end…
English majors can write spam filters too, I guess.
covfefe
Will you be doing any posts/columns about the proposed Formula 1 auto race in Miami starting October, 2019? A sport, in the words of retired motorsports writer Ed Hinton, the owners fill 747s with all the loot they take from countries that host them (must be second behind the Olympics).
Who will be the primary tenant for the arena at Graceland?