Dynamo's sales staff gives about 25 tours a week to prospective clients

Three months before the MLS Dynamo hold their first event at BBVA Compass Stadium May 10 and officially open it May 12, the stadium "is almost complete," according to Jose de Jesus Ortiz of the HOUSTON CHRONICLE. The team’s sales staff "gives about 25 tours a week to prospective clients," and Dynamo President Chris Canetti “gives at least one tour a day" to media. Canetti said, "This place sells itself. So getting people in the building, letting them stand exactly where their seats are going to be, and showing them around is a great selling point." He added, "You can see what is going to be the final version of almost everything. You can walk into a suite. You can walk into a locker room.” Workers began “installing the pitch's sod Wednesday,” and that job “should be complete by the weekend.” The “orange seats have been installed through most of the southwest corner of the upper bowl.” Season-ticket sales “are at an all-time high for the franchise.” Current season-ticket holders have been offered “an exclusive window to purchase up to 20 extra tickets for the opener until next Wednesday.” The Dynamo “could top 10,000 season tickets for the first time.” Canetti said, “We're 90 percent to our goal. We're 80 percent up on where we ended last year. Right now, we would be in the top five in the league in season-ticket total” (HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 2/10).

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In Seattle, Thompson & Miletich report consultant Carl Hirsh, who is advising Seattle officials about on a potential new arena, “met privately with several City Council members over the past few days, sharing financing ideas that include a wholly owned broadcast network.” In meetings Wednesday and Thursday, Hirsh "told council members the wealthy San Francisco hedge-fund manager who wants to build a new arena is seeking to identify possible revenue streams to finance the project." Council members said that revenue to build a Seattle arena and to cover the costs of acquiring NBA and NHL teams “could come from admission taxes from events at the new facility, as well as the development of a lucrative television network” (SEATTLE TIMES, 2/10).

TRAINING DAYS: In DC, Mike Jones noted the Redskins “continue to explore options that would enable them to hold training camp away from Redskins Park for the first time since 2002.” But if they do, it “won’t take place" at George Mason Univ. GMU AD Tom O’Connor said, “We agreed that although the Redskins believe that Mason’s athletic facilities are top notch, and we had all the things they would need from a football standpoint, we wouldn’t be able to meet the requirements to accommodate the media and fans at this time.” The Redskins looked into holding camp at GMU “last offseason, but the uncertainty of the NFL lockout hindered the team’s ability to plan for specific dates, and the talks with O’Connor and the university didn’t progress very far” (WASHINGTONPOST.com, 2/8).

RAIN RAIN GO AWAY: In Austin, John Maher reports recent rains “have pushed back the construction schedule at the Circuit of the Americas” F1 track. Austin Commercial Senior Superintendent Scott Kahler, “anticipating drier weather, expects lost time on the $300 million project to be made up in the coming months.” As for the track itself, Kahler estimated that 85% of the excavation “has been completed” (AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN, 2/10).

RED FLAGGED: In Charlotte, Erik Spanberg reported deficits at the NASCAR HOF “are twice as high as anticipated through the first half of the current fiscal year.” For the six months covering July through December, the HOF “posted a deficit of $440,000, compared with the budgeted figure of $205,000.” In December, the most recent month of financial data available, losses were “slightly higher than expected, with an actual deficit of $172,000, compared with the anticipated $149,000” (BIZJOURNALS.com, 2/8).

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