MLS Crew President & GM Mark McCullers yesterday said of the Columbus Crew Stadium scoreboard, which caught fire before a game against DC United on Saturday, “We turned it on (Tuesday) and ran it, and it’s fully functional.” In Columbus, Adam Jardy writes many fans were “hoping that the damage to the 15-year-old scoreboard would lead to it being replaced with an updated version,” but “no such luck.” The main sound system “will be inoperable,” but the team “will run sound through speakers hung at the north end of the stadium.” Saturday’s game was “played without any functioning audio system for the fans” (COLUMBUS DISPATCH, 5/2).
RELATED PROJECT: In Las Vegas, Taylor Bern reports UNLV has proposed a $60M renovation plan to "remodel or replace many fixtures” at the Thomas & Mack Center. The proposal “contains an overall update to many components that have helped run the building” since ‘83. UNLV Senior VP/Finance & Business Gerry Bomotti said while the renovations are not tied directly to the proposed UNLV Now project, “This was really part of that” (LAS VEGAS SUN, 5/2).
TIGHTENING THE PURSE STRINGS: Indiana state Sen. Michael Young said that a $2M luxury suite expansion at Lucas Oil Stadium and other potential Capital Improvement Board projects “helped spur state lawmakers to put a 10-year limit on two recent tax increases.” In Indianapolis, Jon Murray wrote the move is “evidence of some legislators’ long-standing frustration with the spending priorities of the CIB, which runs the city’s sports venues and convention center” (INDIANAPOLIS STAR, 4/29).
HISTORICAL HOLD-UP: ESPN.com’s Ivan Maisel reports work on the $66M College Football HOF in Atlanta “fell behind a couple of weeks early because work crews found the foundations of 19th-century dwellings beneath the surface of the land.” College Football HOF President & CEO John Stephenson said that workers also “found a layer of ash -- the residue left when Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman burned Atlanta during the Civil War” (ESPN.com, 5/2).
