PSL CONCEPT GETS INK IN WSJ: Sam Walker of the WALL
STREET JOURNAL examines the sale of PSLs in sports and
writes the "system is already causing an uproar among the
most loyal sports customers, pricing some fans out of the
market and leaving others feeling cheated." The Bonham
Group President Dean Bonham said that the sale of PSLs, in
the "long term," are "going to produce angry fans and empty
seats." By 2000, at least 20 teams in the NHL, NFL and MLB
are expected to issue PSLs (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 7/20).
OTHER NOTES: Padres Owner John Moores, on the difficult
ballpark financing negotiations before the team and the city
reached a tentative agreement last week: "I personally typed
up a press release -- one stating we were terminating
negotiations with the city. I'd given up. [Team President]
Larry [Lucchino] was the guy who insisted we hang in; he
said there still was a chance" (UNION-TRIBUNE, 7/19)....The
SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL's Welch Suggs reports that HOK Sports
"has been bounced from one of the most prominent ballpark
projects on schedule for the next few years." HOK's Bob
White confirmed that the firm had finished its work on the
Mets' proposed new ballpark (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 7/20).
...In Boston, Nick Cafardo reported that insiders said
Nashua, NH, "is making a push" for the Pats: "Nashua isn't
too far from Boston and would certainly be attractive for
those fans who live north of Boston" (BOSTON GLOBE, 7/19).
...More than 10,000 attended the KY Speedway groundbreaking
ceremonies Saturday. Officials "hope to crack the Winston
series by 2003" (CINCINNATI ENQUIRER, 7/19).
