A WHOLE NEW MEANING TO LAKERS' SHOWTIME

     Gourmet pizza, fine wine, the Internet and movie previews
could be part of a new arena for the Kings and Lakers, following
a trend in arena development that targets "non-fans with venues
that are as much about entertainment and retailing as athletics."
Tim Kawakami of the L.A. TIMES reports that in the next few
weeks, team owners are expected to announce a site and possibly
an architect for the proposed 20,000-seat, $200M arena set to
open September '99.  HOK and NBBJ are the top contenders to
design the arena, which is envisioned as an "entertainment hub,"
a la Madison Square Garden, except the L.A. arena would "try to
merge Hollywood with hockey and NBA dazzle with multimedia
retailing."  John Semcken, VP of Majestic Realty, which is run by
Kings co-owner Edward Roski:  "A lot of other buildings have had
pieces of this idea here and there -- an exploding scoreboard or
a Hard Rock cafe or a Niketown inside.  We'll have the whole pie"
(L.A. TIMES, 7/16).