Hornets co-Owner Ray Wooldridge "scrapped his most
recent" financing plan for a downtown arena yesterday but
said that he "feels closer than ever to striking a deal with
city officials," according to Lauren Markoe of the CHARLOTTE
OBSERVER. Wooldridge's latest move comes after Charlotte
City Council members "indicated they will soon allow closed-
door negotiations between city staff and the team." At a
meeting with Wooldridge yesterday, City Council members
"outlined a resolution that would charge staff to begin
working out a detailed agreement with the Hornets after July
24," the day City Council votes on the resolution.
Wooldridge called the new plan "very, very significant"
because it would allow the team to "close deals with sources
of private funding for an arena." Wooldridge: "All the
private investors are going to say, `This is going to
happen,' or `It has a good chance of happening.'"
Meanwhile, City Council members "gave mixed reviews to their
meeting with Wooldridge" and "seemed dissatisfied" with his
answers to their questions about his previous two proposals,
which called for the Hornets to contribute little money up
front (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 7/12). Wooldridge added that he
would not extend the December 31 deadline to reach an arena
deal "unless there was a `good faith' effort by the city to
complete negotiations" (Raleigh NEWS & OBSERVER, 7/12).
PLAYER CONTROL: Meanwhile, Wooldridge spoke out on the
player behavior issues that have involved several Hornets
players recently: "I can tell you there's going to be a
significant reduction in our tolerance of any actions that
are not viewed favorably by the community. ... We're going
to have stricter enforcement" (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 7/12).
