Facility Notes

SMG Regional VP Doug Thornton said that the second phase of the Superdome’s $210M renovation, a $30M upgrade of the club lounges and luxury suites that began in January, is almost 90% done and is “on track to be finished" before the Saints' first home preseason game, August 10 against the Bills.  Phase three will not begin until after the Sugar Bowl and the completion of the Saints’ upcoming season (New Orleans TIMES-PICAYUNE, 7/12)...The Univ. of Florida secured a $7M pledge from James “Bill” Heavener, whose name will grace the new football office complex at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.  The project, which will include a 6,815-square-foot expansion of the football office, is scheduled to be completed before the ’08 season (SUN-SENTINEL.com, 7/12)....NASCAR Dir of Security Gary Gardner, in a Q&A with NASCAR.com, was asked how security in NASCAR is different than other sports. Gardner: “What baseball game have you ever been to where there were 200,000 people?  What football game you ever gone to that had 35,000 campers adjacent to the facility?  At Lowe’s Motor Speedway, on some weekends, they’ve reached 60,000 campers.  That’s not including the fans in the stands.  That’s a small city” (NASCAR.com, 7/11).