Charlotte city officials said yesterday that Hornets
co-Owner Ray Wooldridge "disregarded the work" of the City
Council-appointed New Arena Committee "when he crafted his
arena proposal" calling for the team to pay for 25% of the
$250M project, according to Lauren Markoe of the CHARLOTTE
OBSERVER. The New Arena Committee submitted a report last
summer suggesting that the team pay for 50-60% of the cost
of a new $225M arena. Council member Don Lochman, on
Wooldridge: "Why would the guy totally ignore that? The
committee report recommended a substantial private
investment." A majority of council members polled yesterday
said that they "won't approve a plan if the Hornets fail to
offer more than" 25%. Several members also "faulted
Wooldridge for outlining a timetable that makes a public
vote on the project's public money impossible." Wooldridge
wants to break ground on an arena by August 1, but the
"earliest" a referendum could be held is November 7
(CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 5/24). A CHARLOTTE OBSERVER editorial
examines Wooldridge's offer under the header, "Hornets Can't
Be Serious": "[The proposal] should be viewed as a starting
point. Mind you, we're assuming Mr. Wooldridge views it
that way, too, because to view it as a serious offer would
be ludicrous. Too much remains unanswered" (CHARLOTTE
OBSERVER, 5/24). Also in Charlotte, Tom Sorensen writes on
the situation and notes that "a leader [on the arena issue]
had better emerge now. If we don't try, and try hard, to
keep the Hornets, we're fools" (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 5/24).
