In S.F., Carolyn Jones reports that the MLB Giants
started offering public tours of Pac Bell Park yesterday for
$10. Jones: "Participants can relax in the luxury suites,
take a swing in a batting cage and inspect the visitors'
clubhouse. But don't count on taking a stroll through the
infield." Giants VP/Public Affairs Staci Slaughter "expects
about 40 people per tour, plus two or four private groups
per day" (S.F. CHRONICLE, 4/18)....In DC, O'Hanlon & La
Canfora report that the Capitals are "considering building a
practice facility atop the parking garage that serves" the
Ballston, VA, Metro stop and mall in Arlington County, "one
of several options as the hockey team decides whether" to
move its practice rink from MD (WASHINGTON POST, 4/18)....In
Nashville, Larry Woody wrote that an "infield crowd
estimated at 40,000 boosted" total attendance at Sunday's
NASCAR race at Talladega Superspeedway to approximately
200,000, the "largest sports crowd in Alabama history"
(Nashville TENNESSEAN, 4/17)....Maple Leaf Sports &
Entertainment has offered the city of Toronto C$4.2M to
"give up the balance of its 17-year interest in the Air
Canada Centre." The city received an exec suite, two
Platinum seats and the use of the stadium for two days a
year in return for land given to the stadium developers.
Toronto Mayor Mel Lastman said that the city's seats "are
empty more often than they are full" (TORONTO SUN, 4/18).
