SEARCHING FOR NEW HOMES: The WALL STREET JOURNAL's
Milstead & Johnson examine the Hornets' and Magic's effort
to build new arenas and write the two cities are "relatively
newcomers to major-league sports, but they already share a
distinctly big-league problem. Their [NBA] teams say their
publicly funded arenas -- less than a dozen years old -- are
economically obsolete and must be replaced. Such is the
life for small pro-sports cities." A case-by-case
comparison of each city's argument for a new arena is then
presented (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 8/23).
NOTES: NEWSDAY's Jennifer Morrill reports that a new
Mets minor league ballpark in Coney Island "could cost
almost" 30% more than planned. Figures city officials
released yesterday indicate that in order to be complete by
next June, the city "may spend up to" $39M to build the
6,500-seat ballpark instead of $30M. N.Y. Mayor Rudy
Giuliani said the increase was necessary "to get it done on
time" (NEWSDAY, 8/23)....In Milwaukee, Don Walker cites
Green Bay Area Chamber of Commerce President Duanne Swift as
saying that he "plans to meet with Packers executives today
to try to persuade them to endorse the second question on
the Lambeau Field referendum," which asks whether excess
revenue from a sales tax to help pay for renovating Lambeau
Field should go toward property tax relief (JOURNAL
SENTINEL, 8/23)....Work is "under way" for a new Basketball
Hall of Fame in MA. The $105M project, "expected to take
two years," will include a new basketball-shaped museum,
retail stores, a 200-seat theater and an underground parking
garage (AP, 8/23)....In K.C., Brad Cooper reports that real
estate broker Ralph Varnum unveiled plans to build an arena
with 8,000-10,000 seats. The arena "would be the home for
some kind of minor league franchise," but Varnum "wouldn't
specify the sport or identify who is buying the land."
Varnum said that "some of the buyers already are involved in
the ownership of other minor league teams," including the
CHL Topeka ScareCrows (K.C. STAR, 8/23).
