In Tampa, Ashley Gurbal Kritzer noted Tampa Bay Entertainment Properties (TBEP), a new company controlled by Lightning Owner Jeff Vinik, has "struck a deal" to manage USF's Sun Dome. TBEP had already "landed a multimedia rights partnership deal with USF." USF said that the five-year deal beginning July 1 "includes an option to renew." Financial terms of the deal "were not disclosed." TBEP will also "oversee staff operations, booking and management of events and activities, and the arena’s annual operating budget" (BIZJOURNALS.com, 5/1). Also in Tampa, Joey Knight notes the Sun Dome has "been run in recent years" by Spectra by Comcast Spectacor. Its contract "expires at the end of June" (TAMPA BAY TIMES, 5/2).
ALMOST HEAVEN: In West Virginia, Mitch Vingle noted the new video board going up in WVU's Milan Puskar Stadium this summer will "sit atop Touchdown Terrace" and will be "brighter and project crisper images." The video board is "37.2 feet high by 97.2 feet long." The old one is "23.6 feet high and 85 feet long." WVU AD Shane Lyons said that the $4M price tag would not be "handed to the state’s taxpayers." Lyons: "It’s being funded by (the school’s media rights contract with) IMG" (CHARLESTON GAZETTE-MAIL, 4/30).
CENTER OF ATTENTION: In Indiana, Nathan Baird notes Purdue's Mackey Arena will have its video boards upgraded as part of the university's "celebrations of the venue's 50th birthday this coming season." The enhancements include a "center-hung video display with four LED video panels." The $1.9M project "will be funded entirely by gifts" (Lafayette JOURNAL & COURIER, 5/2).
KNIGHT WATCH: UCF AD Danny White said the school's upcoming athletic village project "will be 100 percent privately funded." White: "We’re still raising money but it’s intended to differentiate us in terms of the student-athlete experience that we can create." He added, "Rather than play the arms’ race in terms of bricks and mortars in traditional facilities, we thought it was smarter to accentuate what we’re great at which is our weather and what we can do with landscaping and create a really neat atmosphere out there right in between the nutrition center and the academic and leadership center" (ORLANDO SENTINEL, 4/30).
