On Long Island, Neil Best notes for “the first time in MetLife Stadium’s seven-year history, the teams will be aiming to reach -- or defend -- blank end zones, with nothing but nine white, diagonal lines to decorate an area otherwise the same generic green as the rest of the field.” The “unprecedented plan is the result of two factors.” The first is because it is “the fastest Jets-to-Giants changeover which stadium staff ever has had to pull off,” from an 8:25pm ET Dolphins-Jets game on Saturday to a 1:00pm Lions-Giants game on Sunday. The second is the “forecast for inclement weather.” MetLife Stadium CEO Ron VanDeVeen said that had the forecast been better, the end zones “would have been changed from Jets to Giants colors and logos (NEWSDAY, 12/15).
KINGDOM COME: The NBA Kings said that their hotel project immediately north of Golden 1 Center, the 16-story hotel and condo tower, known as The Sawyer, “won’t open until next summer.” In Sacramento, Dale Kasler notes the Kings “wanted to open their new boutique hotel" in time for the NCAA Tournament first- and second-round games there in '17. A team spokesperson said that the project is “moving forward; concrete is due to be poured within two weeks on the top floor, weather permitting” (SACBEE.com, 12/12).
GATEWAY TO SOCCER? In St. Louis, Koran Addo notes city voters “may have the chance this spring to vote” on whether taxpayer money would be used to build a downtown stadium for an MLS expansion team. St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay hopes to get the proposal on the April ballot, and it will “revolve around voters’ willingness to approve a half-cent sales tax increase” (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 12/15).
