St. Joe Corp. and the NFL "are abandoning plans to
develop a chain of interactive sports-themed entertainment
centers," according to Carrns & Fatsis of the WALL STREET
JOURNAL, who calls the deal's collapse "an embarrassing
failure for the NFL, which has wanted to step up its outside
business development." NFL Dir of Corporate Communications
Chris Widmaier said that the league intends to "move forward
with new partners" on plans for NFL entertainment centers,
but said that the league had "no timetable for renewing the
development effort" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 9/21). Sources of
BRANDWEEK's Terry Lefton say that St. Joe "bowed out" due to
"financial pressure" as its shares recently fell from $39.50
to its current range of just over $21 a share. While there
were also reports that "fiscal projections were not rosy for
the NFL venture," a league source "insisted" the project was
still viable -- although there is "no possibility" of the
first NFLX opening before the end of 2000, and "because of
the high cost of New York real estate, it would likely go up
somewhere other than New York" (BRANDWEEK, 9/21 issue).
