Rockets officials met with Louisville leaders for two
hours Saturday about the team potentially relocating to the
city, but the parties "did not discuss how the city would
pay for" a new arena for the team, according to Eric Berger
of the HOUSTON CHRONICLE. Although the city, Jefferson
County and the state of KY "would all have to contribute" to
finance the "expected" $200M arena, KY Gov. Paul Patton said
that "a decision on how that would be done is probably
months away." Patton: "I think everyone agrees that it
would be desirable to have the Rockets. But we have only
begun to evaluate whether it would be feasible." A source
at the private meeting said that it "entailed a chamber of
commerce type presentation of Louisville's merits, without
delving into hard numbers." In order for the Rockets to
move to Louisville, the city would "need to have an arena
built without a charge to the team" and local companies
would have to "guarantee" to buy 70 luxury suites at an
average annual cost of around $125,000 each. Meanwhile, the
Harris County-Houston Sports Authority "is putting together
another deal for a Houston arena funded partly by public
money." If the team agrees to a deal, a second referendum
would be held in Houston in November (HOUSTON CHRONICLE,
5/14). In Louisville, Chris Poynter wrote that Rockets
officials, including COO George Postolos, "toured the
proposed site for a downtown arena" over the weekend and
"were wined and dined [Saturday night] by some of the city's
most prominent" business execs. However, Poynter noted that
the team "remained mum" about the possibility of moving.
City attorney J. Bruce Miller: "I believe some enormous
progress has been made" (Louisville COURIER-JOURNAL, 5/14).
