In St. Paul, Frederick Melo reported Minnesota United Owner Bill McGuire is "gaining control of the Midway Shopping Center as its master tenant, removing the last major impediment toward building" an MLS stadium on the St. Paul site. St. Paul Port Authority President Lee Krueger said that McGuire’s decision to buy out the mortgage for the Rainbow Foods store will "allow the team to finally demolish the supermarket and make room for the stadium’s northern edges" (ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS, 8/19).
QUICK FIX? A SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS editorial states the Santa Clara City Council seems "willing to throw away" the revenue it gets from non-football events to Levi's Stadium "for the sake of its ridiculous" 10:00pm PT curfew for weeknight concerts. The 49ers, who manage the stadium, said that promoters "won’t bring top acts there if they have to end" by 10:00pm. But the city has been "inflexible, refusing to grant exemptions for major events." This "should be easy to resolve" by extending the curfew to 11:00pm for Coldplay and other mega-concerts but "limit the number of extensions to 4-6 a year." That way, the city "continues to get substantial revenue from the shows while limiting the effects on residential neighbors" (SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS, 8/21).
CAR POOL: Oregon State and Learfield's Beaver Sports Properties announced that the Club Level at Reser Stadium will take on a new name this football season -- the "Toyota Club" -- due to a new commitment by the automaker. This marks the first time in the history of Oregon State football there has been a naming-rights partner for Reser Stadium's Club Level. Toyota's five-year commitment is a complement to its existing relationship with Oregon State, as it already serves as a sponsor of the Civil War Series between OSU and Oregon (Oregon State).
