Author: David Dyte

Has Hercules gone bananas?

access_time personDavid Dyte

In a press conference in Industry, CA, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced that he has signed the environmental exemption bill for Majestic Realty’s proposed stadium development. “This is the best kind of action state government can create — action that cuts red tape, generates jobs, is environmentally friendly and brings a continued economic boost to California,” he added.

It is curious that such an environmentally friendly project requires an environmental exemption.

Maria Elena Durazo, head of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, repeated Majestic’s guarantee that stadium employees, including parking attendants, will be paid middle class wages. According to payscale.com, this would mean the middle class begins at $7.65 per hour.

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And you thought U-Haul was expensive

access_time personDavid Dyte

The NHL expects up to $100 million as a relocation fee for the bankrupt Phoenix Coyotes, according to Susan Freeman, a lawyer representing Blackberry billionaire Jim Balsillie. As the franchise bankruptcy case drags on, Judge Redfield T. Baum agreed that the league has a right to demand such a fee, and warned its representatives, against their protestations, that a definite figure should be set before June 22, when the NHL may be forced to auction the team off and allow it to move.

The NHL, for its part, wants a September 10 auction for a franchise that would remain in Phoenix.

While Judge Baum sifts through all manner of legal issues, one theme remains constant throughout the proceedings: Everyone wants a slice of the pie. More than 40 lawyers are present, representing the NHL, the City of Glendale, present owner Jerry Moyes, and a host of creditors and other interested parties.

At one point the judge quipped, “We’re not selling a used car here.”

He’s right. Over the last 13 years, a used car would have been a better deal.

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Super Bowl heads back to Superdome

access_time personDavid Dyte

NFL owners voted earlier this week to play the 2013 Super Bowl in New Orleans. Stephen Perry, president of the New Orleans Metropolitan Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, was enthusiastic, saying, “It’s been a long road back, and we feel like this is sort of a final validation that the capacity of the New Orleans’ tourism industry is 100 percent back, because we just landed the biggest event there is.”

Clearly, the 34-year-old venue has come a long way since the dark days of 2005.

Of course, the cynical might argue that it’s not such a feel-good story as you might think.

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Legislators weigh Indy stadium bailout

access_time personDavid Dyte

WRTV News reports, somewhat dramatically, that Lucas Oil Stadium could close if a state bailout deal is not reached for the Indianapolis Capital Improvement Board. The CIB, which operates the Indianapolis Colts‘ one-season-old stadium along with Conseco Fieldhouse, home to the Indiana Pacers, is facing a $47.4 million operating deficit, after failing to budget properly for $26 million in annual operating costs for Lucas Oil Stadium.

The consequences of financial failure for the CIB remain unclear. CIB President Bob Grand sounded pessimistic, if vague, saying, “If you want me to give you worst-cases, I mean the worst-case scenario is we could be out of money and the facilities would be, arguably, closed.”

The bailout plan includes annual $5 million payments from both the Colts and Pacers, which neither team has agreed to as yet (UPDATE: Since the Pacers would be absolved of about $15 million a year in operating costs, this would actually save the team $10 million a year. -ND), as well as tax increases on alcohol, restaurant meals, hotel stays, and sports tickets.

Politicians are not yet on board with the plan, either. NWI reports that Thomas McDermott Jr., Mayor of Hammond in northwest Indiana, is incensed that a similar finance plan for flood protection levees in his district was blocked in December. “It seems to me that it’s more important to build football stadiums than it is flood walls,” he said on Thursday.

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LA stadium developer must crack Walnut

access_time personDavid Dyte

The City of Walnut has filed suit in Los Angeles County Superior Court to block the development of a new football stadium in neighboring Industry, citing insufficient study of the environmental impact.

According to the San Jose Mercury News, stadium developer Majestic initially filed a full environmental impact study for a mixed-use development on the site, and only a shorter supplement to that when the plan was changed to radically different stadium project. The suit, if successful, will force Majestic to produce a completely new environmental study.

Majestic managing partner John Semcken was in no mood for conciliation. “If they think we’re going to stop working on football because of little old Walnut, they’ve got another think coming.”

The NFL is not answering questions on the subject, including the biggest one: which team, if any, will play in this stadium?

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Not everyone united on DC stadium plan

access_time personDavid Dyte

The Washington Post reports that the Prince George’s County Council’s General Assembly Committee voted 5-0, with two abstentions, against the next step in the stadium process. Specifically, the committee voted to recommend opposing state legislation allowing the Maryland Stadium Authority to begin design, site study, and financing work on the proposed new stadium for DC United. This vote is non-binding, and such votes represent “the sense of the Council at that time” according to Council Chairman Marilynn M. Bland.

While other Council members were silent on the reasons for the vote, Eric Olsen took issue with an obscure throw-in part of the plan allowing for new headquarters for the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, bypassing the council. According to Olsen, “That is a fatal flaw.”

DC United spokesman Doug Hicks appeared bemused. “It’s difficult to react to today’s vote, as we’ve not yet spoken to the legislators and don’t know what, exactly, they are opposed to.”

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Maryland stadium plan lacks specifics

access_time personDavid Dyte

Tim Lemke of the Washington Times has summarized the state of DC United’s proposed new soccer stadium in Prince George’s County, Maryland. To summarize the summary: There is no site yet, no clear budget, no financing plan, and no detail whatsoever in an enabling bill introduced in Maryland’s General Assembly. There is, however, a press conference tomorrow.

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NFL in LA: no team yet, but several stadium options

access_time personDavid Dyte

The City of Industry’s Planning Commission approved the latest version of Ed Roski’s football stadium plan on Thursday, over the protests of neighboring cities Diamond Bar and Walnut. This passes the project back to the City Council for a final vote. Among the claims made by Roski’s Majestic Realty: the stadium will be the greenest in the NFL and will generate $762 million per year. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s office, however, has asked the LA Area Chamber of Commerce to endorse no specific site, leaving such unlikely options as Chavez Ravine in play.

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