In Minneapolis, Helgeson & Kaszuba note a "new financing plan" for a Vikings stadium "ran into immediate trouble Monday at the state Capitol, but had enough momentum to pass its first test in the House." The plan to fund the nearly $1B stadium "could get more hearings in both the House and Senate this week before the Legislature begins" a 10-day spring break. No Senate panel has "yet approved the plan" (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 4/3).
WARNING NOTICE: NBA Kings Owners the Maloof family "sent another warning Monday that they will not sign off on a deal to build a new arena complex if they are expected to cover some of the project costs." Maloof family attorney Eric Rose said in a statement yesterday, "Pre-development costs are not the responsibility of the tenant. Further as a tenant, we should not be responsible to reimburse the operator for the development if the project never materializes." Rose's statement "also insisted that the Maloofs had made their views clear prior to the NBA's March 1 deadline, and noted that the family has never signed the term sheet" (NWCN.com, 4/2).
TERMS OF SERVICE: In Tampa, John Romano writes under the header, "The Powerful Piece Of Paper That Is The Tampa Bay Rays Lease." A "brief, four-sentence section is known as the 'exclusive dealings' portion of the stadium use agreement between the Rays and St. Petersburg," and the clause essentially "forbids the Rays from negotiating to play in any stadium other than" Tropicana Field before '27. The lease states that any violation would result in "irreparable harm and damages.'' St. Petersburg City Attorney John Wolfe, who was an assistant city attorney when St. Petersburg drafted the agreement in the early '90s, said, "Did we do our homework? Yes, we did" (TAMPA BAY TIMES, 4/3).
SPONSORSHIP PROTECTION: In Ottawa, Neco Cockburn noted the city has "agreed to protect and recognize sponsors of the Sens Foundation and Ottawa Senators hockey club." An agreement giving the companies "exclusive sponsorship rights at the refrigerated ice pad outside City Hall." The city is "responsible for and is to receive all of the revenue from sponsorship programs at the rink, where the ice surface featured logos of the Senators and city when it opened in January." The city contributed $250,000 to the project, and the "Sens Foundation covered the remaining costs." The bill for the rink "grew to about" $2M before it opened (OTTAWA CITIZEN, 4/2).
