The proposed $230M Dallas arena "cleared a lukewarm"
     Dallas City Council on Wednesday, as it ratified City
     Manager John Ware's letter of intent on a new facility,
     according to Todd Gillman of the DALLAS MORNING NEWS.  While
     council officials "said voters deserve the final word  ...
     some predicted" that voters would reject the deal if the
     Mavericks and Stars "don't promise enough downtown
     development to justify" the $125M public subsidy.  Gillman
     adds that "even some council members who voted to keep the
     deal on track remain critical of key elements in the
     package, particularly the lack thus far of guaranteed
     development around the arena; the mandatory demolition of
     18-year-old Reunion Arena; and the reliance on tourist taxes
     rather than user fees on parking and tickets."  The council
     will decide November 12 whether to call a January vote on
     higher hotel/car rental taxes to finance the city's share. 
     By then, team owners and city negotiators say, a site will
     be picked and more details will be known about the potential
     for development around the arena (MORNING NEWS, 10/9).

          Three East Valley, AZ, cities -- Tempe, Mesa and
     Scottsdale -- passed on a multipurpose dome, "saying they
     liked the concept but wanted more details about private
     investment in the stadium," according to Chris Moeser of the
     ARIZONA REPUBLIC.  The decision "effectively ends chances
     that a sales tax to pay for the stadium could be before East
     Valley voters" in '98 and "casts serious doubts" about the
     proposed National Sports Center that would be home to both
     the Cardinals and Coyotes.  But city mayors and team
     officials said that the proposal just "needs more work." 
     Cardinals VP/Gen. Counsel Michael Bidwill: "[W]e've got to
     sit down with private side developers, perhaps the Coyotes,
     and put together a package."  The East Valley Partnership
     had proposed a quarter-cent sales tax that would raise about
     $223M for the sports center and the Partnership had lobbied
     the cities to create a sports district to work out details
     on the cost of the project with voters having "final say on
     any tax proposal."  But Moeser writes the fact that cites
     "were unwilling even to start the process of putting a tax
     before voters is telling" and "speaks volumes about the
     political climate in the wake of Bank One Ballpark" (ARIZONA
     REPUBLIC, 10/9).  Bidwill: "We're doing the reverse of Bank
     One Ballpark and the way that was done.   We're doing it in
     the light of day and we're doing it openly."  Coyotes COO
     Shawn Hunter said they too want "more information about the
     scope of the project, where it will be, what it will look
     like, and what it will cost" (ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 10/9). 

          An editorial in today's BOSTON GLOBE states that MA
     Acting Gov. Paul Cellucci has "presented a rational economic
     case for helping the Patriots renovate" Foxboro Stadium, but
     that MA House Speaker Thomas Finneran's "demands are
     beginning to look like an effort to make [Patriots Owner
     Robert] Kraft an offer he can't accept" (BOSTON GLOBE,
     10/9)....In Baltimore, Jon Morgan writes how added revenues
     streams from new ballparks affect a team's on-the-field
     success.  For example, he notes that at Oriole Park at
     Camden Yards, concession sales at "now routinely top"
     $500,000, and could hit $750,000 for tonight's ALCS game
     (Baltimore SUN, 10/9)....The family of Daniel Weber, who was
     electrocuted nearly a year ago at Bank One Ballpark, is
     suing contractors Perini Building Co. and Huber Hunt &
     Nichols, as well as the Maricopa County (AZ) Stadium
     District (ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 10/8). 

          Oakland Football Marketing Association (OFMA) President
     Richard Rogers, who has an inventory of 20,000 unsold
     Raiders PSLs, "says he could bring the moribund Raiders
     marketing effort back to life" if the PSLs were converted
     from their original 10-year term to lifetime licenses and
     were priced at "market demand," according to Rick DelVecchio
     of the S.F. CHRONICLE.  Rogers wants the Raiders and the
     Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Authority to join the OFMA
     in a market research study on the idea, but he said he's
     received no response from either party.  Raiders Exec
     Assistant Al LoCasale said that the team is against lifetime
     PSLs if the price is increased.  LoCasale added that the
     Coliseum Authority's lawsuit against the team hurts any
     joint study: "Makes it extremely difficult to partner with
     people who have pulled a gun on you while they were standing
     behind you" (S.F. CHRONICLE, 10/9).  

          "Clearing the way for a planned downtown sports arena,"
     L.A. City Council member Joel Wachs said yesterday that "he
     will exempt the facility from his proposed ballot measure
     that would require voter approval of publicly subsidized
     sports stadiums," according to Beth Shuster of the L.A.
     TIMES.  In return, Wachs said that the arena developers, NHL
     Kings Owners Philip Anschutz and Edward Roski, "have agreed
     to several new financial conditions that would dramatically
     reduce any taxpayer costs for the new arena."  Wachs said
     the developers will give the city an "ironclad" guarantee
     that they will repay $58M in municipal bonds to be used for
     the project; ensure that the $58M will not come from sales
     taxes, property taxes or utility taxes generated by the
     arena; pay about $1.6M for a two-acre property that the city
     had tentatively agreed to give the developers, and pay about
     $3.2M-a-year for use of the arena site for 55 years.  The
     previous deal called for a $1M-a-year lease.  Wachs said
     that the only public money involved in the arena would be
     $12M given to the developers by the Community Redevelopment
     Agency.  Kings President Tim Leiweke "acknowledged that the
     deal is financially riskier for the developers, but he said
     their desire to build the facility in the city outweighed
     their concerns" (L.A. TIMES, 10/9).