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FACILITY NOTES

          SOUND CHECK: RFK Stadium officials said that the
     stadium "is structurally sound," a day after "chunks of
     concrete peeled off the underside of the stadium's upper
     deck and struck empty seats below" during an MLS game.  But
     D.C. Sports & Entertainment Commission Chair John Richardson
     said he did not want to "minimize the significance" of the
     incident.  Richardson added that "he was told that staff
     engineers make regular visual inspections of the facility"
     and he was "satisfied" (WASHINGTON POST, 8/27). 
          RISKY BUSINESS? In San Antonio, Tom Bower reports that
     local business leaders are "calling on the city and county
     to work out a deal to jointly manage" a new Spurs arena and
     the Alamodome.  Former Mayor Nelson Wolff says that many
     leaders "have major concerns over the risk of building a
     facility on county land near Freeman Coliseum that would
     directly compete" with the Alamodome (EXPRESS-NEWS, 8/27).
          LET'S GO TARGETING: In Philadelphia, Christopher Hepp
     reports that the Phillies have "set a new target date --
     October -- for completing plans to build a new stadium,
     preferably at Broad and Spring Garden Streets."  Phillies
     Chair Bill Giles: "We have a goal of getting everything in
     place by October" (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 8/27).
          READY TO ROAR: Lions COO Chuck Schmidt said that the
     team "probably will try to break ground for their new
     downtown stadium within the next four months."  Stadium
     plans "are still being finalized, but to open the stadium
     date by the target date of 2002, the Lions would have to
     break ground this year" (DETROIT FREE PRESS, 8/27).
          LET GO OF MY TECO: In Naples, Greg Hardwig reports that
     the ECHL Everblades announced a 20-year, $7M naming rights
     agreement with Tampa-based TECO Energy for Everblades Arena. 
     The company name "will be on the arena, at center ice, and
     virtually everywhere else the Everblades Arena name appears"
     (NAPLES DAILY NEWS, 8/27).
          MORE NOTES: John McEnroe, on the Arthur Ashe Stadium at
     the National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadow, N.Y., which
     hosts the U.S. Open: "The stadium is way to big.  I don't
     know why they built it that big. ... It holds, what, 22,500
     people?  And way too often, there are too many empty seats"
     (BOSTON GLOBE, 8/27)....Speedway Motorsports will add 13,000
     seats to the 134,000-seat Bristol Motor Speedway.  The
     addition will be completed for the facility's 2000 spring
     Winston Cup weekend (SMI)....In Las Vegas, Mark Anderson
     wrote that "for the first time since" '72, grass "was on Sam
     Boyd Stadium's playing surface Wednesday."  The turf is part
     of a $18M renovation to the stadium that includes a new
     press box with suites and club seats (REVIEW-JOURNAL,
     8/26)....In Nashville, Larry Woody reported that the city's
     new $125M, 50,000-seat racetrack will be called Nashville
     Superspeedway.  Dover Downs Entertainment President Denis
     McGlynn: "We wanted a name that would convey to fans all
     around the country where the track is located" (Nashville
     TENNESSEAN, 8/26)....Little League Baseball "kicked off a
     campaign" to raise $15M to "complement" $5M "already in the
     bank" for projects, including a stadium alongside
     Williamsport (PA)-based Lamade Stadium (USA TODAY, 8/27).

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 25, 2024

NFL meeting preview; MLB's opening week ad effort and remembering Peter Angelos.

Big Get Jay Wright, March Madness is upon us and ESPN locks up CFP

On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

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