WILL COLISEUM LAND VALUE AFFECT NEW ARENA PLANS FOR HORNETS?

          Charlotte City Council member Don Lochman said
     yesterday that the "lower-than-expected value" of the
     Charlotte Coliseum land "could make it hard for him and
     others on the council to support an arena deal" for the
     Hornets, according to Lauren Markoe of the CHARLOTTE
     OBSERVER.  But "most" of Lochman's colleagues, which viewed
     the appraisals, said that his "conclusions were far too
     pessimistic."  Appraisers for the city valued the uptown
     area land for a proposed new arena "at about" $20M, while
     the Coliseum land was valued "at about half that," which
     "surprised" both city and team officials.  Despite the
     estimate, some Council members feel a land swap "could still
     work."  But Charlotte City Manager Pam Syfert, who is
     leading the talks with the team, said, "It's much too early
     to start speculating on the land swap because we're still
     working on the outlines of whether or not we actually have
     an arena framework" (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 10/20).