Hillsborough County, FL, officials today will ask
Circuit Court Judge Sam Pendino to change his Friday ruling
that the Bucs' stadium lease is "unconstitutional,"
according to Joe Henderson of the TAMPA TRIBUNE. In a
motion filed Tuesday, the county said Pendino "overlooked"
the "severability clause" in the team's lease, which
maintains that if one term is ruled invalid, the rest of the
lease "remains in force." Pendino's ruling was based
"solely" on a clause which would have given the team the
first $2M from non-football events at the new stadium. The
county wants Pendino to approve the rest of the lease and
validate a $204.5M bond issue that will help finance the
stadium. The Bucs "hedged on compromising with the city and
county," as officials asked that the Bucs accept a 50-50
split on non-football revenues as a substitute for the
offending clause. Officials "believe" Pendino would accept
the compromise. Tampa Mayor Dick Greco said that if the
case "drags on," he "might support" the construction of a
"bare-bones" stadium (TAMPA TRIBUNE, 3/26).
COSTLY COMPROMISE? In St. Pete, Larry Dougherty wrote
that over 30 years, a 50-50 split of non-football revenues
"could cost" the Bucs up to $30M (ST. PETE TIMES, 3/25).
