The Oakland City Council began a re-examination of the
Raiders relocation deal and the renovations at Oakland sports
facilities. Council critics "named no names during a review of
the first full accounting of the deal, but blamed staff work for
high-flown projections of fan enthusiasm, mistakes in selling
Raiders' seat licenses" and nearly $30M in construction cost
overruns (S.F. CHRONICLE, 10/25). ...Teamworks of Atlanta is
working with the MCI Center to create the National Sports
Gallery, a 25,000-square-foot museum combining athletic history
with virtual-reality game booths. Also, a three-story
neighborhood sports bar and restaurant will reportedly be part of
the MCI retail complex (WASHINGTON TIMES, 10/25). The '97
Franklin National Bank Classic featuring Kansas, LSU, Maryland
and George Washington men's basketball teams will be played at
the MCI Center in December of '97 (WASHINGTON POST, 10/25)....The
St. Petersburg City Council Thursday officially approved the name
change of the Devil Rays' home from ThunderDome to Tropicana
Field (TAMPA TRIBUNE, 10/25)....The U.S. Depart. of Justice filed
a legal brief supporting two disabled Broward County citizens who
are suing Ellerbe Becket, the designers of the new Panthers arena
(MIAMI HERALD, 10/25).
