Facility Notes
MLB President & COO Bob DuPuy said that MLB, the Marlins and local officials are now focusing solely on the Orange Bowl site for a new retractable-roof ballpark for the team. The development excludes a downtown site that first emerged in late ’06 and which had been strongly favored by both league and club executives and seen as a potential spark to end the fruitless decade-long quest for a new stadium. Still foremost at issue is bridging a financing gap standing at roughly $40 M (Eric Fisher, SportsBusiness Journal).
GO FIGURE: The 8,000-seat Comcast Arena at the Everett Events Center in Seattle will host the ’08 Skate America Championships, “featuring the world’s top figure skaters.” The competition is part of the Int'l Skating Union Grand Prix Series and is “considered the premier international figure skating competition held in the [U.S.] each year.” Snohomish County (WA) Council Chair Dave Gossett said that the event “is expected to bring thousands of visitors and produce up to $2.6[M] in local tax revenue” (AP, 10/23).
HIGH ON A MOUNTAIN: MLL Commissioner David Gross said that the league will play its ’08 All-Star Game on July 17 at Denver’s Invesco Field At Mile High, home to the MLL Denver Outlaws. ESPN2 will broadcast the game live, and Bud Light will sponsor a halftime skills competition (MLL).
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