The MLB Rangers yesterday in a statement said they "have concluded negotiations on a multiyear agreement for the operation" of the parking lots at the stadium, owned by Ballpark Real Estate, the limited partnership run by former Owner Tom Hicks. In Ft. Worth, Sandra Baker notes “no details were given” about the resolution, but the Rangers said the agreement "represents a satisfactory resolution to this issue.” A dispute over parking revenue “led the two sides into a Tarrant County courtroom nearly a year ago.” A state district judge on Monday “approved a request from the team owners, Rangers Baseball Express, and Hicks' group that the lawsuits be dropped.” The court ruled that each side must pay its "own attorneys fees and that the Rangers be refunded $2,500 paid to the court when they requested a temporary restraining order against Hicks” (FT. WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM, 3/14).
SHOWING COMMITMENT: Churchill Downs Inc. Chair & CEO Bob Evans yesterday said that racing “outside of Kentucky Derby week hurts the Louisville-based racing and gambling cash flow, but the company remains committed to that product despite the failure to get slots at its Kentucky and Illinois tracks.” Evans also said that the company “will spend more on pursuing expanded gambling at Churchill Downs and Arlington Park near Chicago.” In Louisville, Gregory Hall notes Evans’ comments came “a day after Churchill reported record earnings and revenues for the fourth quarter of 2011 and for the entire year.” CDI's stock “was up more than 10 percent in Tuesday trading, closing at $57.23” (Louisville COURIER-JOURNAL, 3/14).
RESTRAINING ORDER: In Sacramento, Jim Sanders noted California could become “the first state to create a ‘Ban List’ prohibiting violent fans from attending professional sports events anywhere in the state under newly proposed legislation.” The list would “operate much like a restraining order: Anyone listed who went anyway would be guilty of a misdemeanor.” Offenders' names and photos “would be published on the Internet and sent to sports arenas, police agencies and ticket vendors by the attorney general's office, which would maintain the list.” The measure, proposed by State Assemblyman Mike Gatto, “would charge each professional sports team $10,000 to create the ban list and a rewards fund for crime witnesses." Teams would "supplement the fund if it fell below $180,000” (SACBEE.com, 3/13).
