Enron Corp. Chair Ken Lay and Astros Owner Drayton
McLane said yesterday that they "would join" the Rockets in
the "'very important battle' to win" a second vote for a new
arena, according to Eric Berger of the HOUSTON CHRONICLE.
Lay: "We're prepared to help out financially and help raise
some money." Lay added that Houston's businesses "can raise
more than" $1M for a downtown arena campaign. But Public
Strategies Inc. (PSI) told Houston sports and business execs
last week that a campaign "would cost" $4-5M, "well above"
the $2M spent for last November's failed arena referendum.
Berger notes that PSI spent $3M in a campaign for a $175M
arena for the Spurs. Lay said raising between $1-1.25M is
"very doable," but that it "would be difficult to raise much
more." Harris County-Houston Sports Authority Chair Billy
Burge said that the $5M figure floated by PSI "seems high,"
and that $3M "might be reasonable." Berger adds that
Rockets COO George Postolos and the team "appear cautiously
optimistic" about the possibility of securing a new arena
(HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 2/23). A sidebar profiles the market
size of potential Rockets suitors, and sources have
indicated that if the Rockets relocate, Baltimore is "among
the favorites" to land the team (HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 2/23).
UNITED WE STAND? In Houston, Dale Robertson writes
under the header, "Arena Bandwagon Needs To Get Rolling."
Robertson: "Houston would be measurably less of a city ...
without an NBA presence" (HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 2/23).
