The Shreveport City Council yesterday discussed a proposal by the Pelicans to "build a new sports complex" worth more than $100M, and although the plans are "centered around the Pelicans' G League team, the proposal includes a 'Saints practice facility' in the development site plan," according to Josh Katzenstein of the New Orleans TIMES-PICAYUNE. Shreveport and Pensacola, Fla., have "emerged as the two finalists for the Pelicans' developmental team." Shreveport is "considered the front-runner in the competition to land the franchise" (New Orleans TIMES-PICAYUNE, 8/23). In Shreveport, Lex Talamo in a front-page piece notes the project would have "two parts," including a mixed-use development, as well as an "indoor center with capacity for seating 3,200," which would be built with up to $27.1M in city funds. The sports complex "may draw the most public reaction because of the public funding." Some of the more than a dozen people who spoke at yesterday's meeting "expressed less enthusiasm than those" in a city-sponsored Pelicans video. They questioned the "merits of investing in the sports complex and mixed-use development rather than the police department, city streets and other infrastructure, or existing sports venues" (Shreveport TIMES, 8/23).
