Hurricanes President Don Waddell said that season-ticket renewals are at the "best rate they have been in eight summers, and ticket revenue is up" 40% compared with this time last year. In Raleigh, Jason deBruyn noted the team's average attendance of 12,203 this past season and 65% home capacity were both the "lowest in the league." However, for the '16-17 season, renewals are at 86% for all plans and 88% "for full-season plans (best renewal percentage in the last eight summers)" (BIZJOURNALS.com, 5/16).
STRICTLY BUSINESS: In San Antonio, W. Scott Bailey writes Spurs Sports & Entertainment should "reach out" to David Beckham and "make him a deal he can’t refuse -- 50 percent ownership in a San Antonio MLS team that would play in an expanded Toyota Field." Bailey: "Who better than the Spurs, a group that has everything in place to make MLS work, including a financial penalty it must pay if no team comes to San Antonio?" There are "reasons why the Spurs should pursue such an opportunity." Foremost is the "fact that a deal with Beckham would make it much harder" for MLS Commissioner Don Garber and other league officials "to say no to San Antonio" (SAN ANTONIO BUSINESS JOURNAL, 5/13 issue).
THE BEAUTIFUL GAME: In Cincinnati, Paul Daugherty writes while MLB is "begging kids to play," USL club FC Cincinnati "draws more than 23,000 for minor league soccer, on the sort of weather day that would have baseball kids inside, playing video games." Daugherty: "Twenty years ago, if I’d spent Sunday column space writing about soccer, readers would have told me to examine my head. I’d have told me to examine my head. Now, I write about soccer and the response is mostly positive. The holdouts are predictable. They sound like I did, 20 years ago." The Lindner family, which owns the team, has "tapped into the local zeitgeist at a very good time." FC Cincinnati is "not topping the Reds anytime soon," but soccer in the city "isn't going away" (CINCINNATI ENQUIRER, 5/17).
