Facility Notes
A report from HOK Sport, which was commissioned by a committee Edmonton Mayor Stephen Mandel assembled to look into the feasibility of a new downtown Oilers arena, “warns ‘substantial’ public contributions are a ‘necessary and essential component’ of any major civic arena.” The report also “warns talk of a downtown arena will be both controversial and politically-charged.” However, Edmonton Mayor Stephen Mandel “vows taxpayer money won’t be spent making his dream of a new downtown arena a reality”(EDMONTON SUN, 6/8). The report also indicated that six proposed sites “have been identified.” But specific details on locations and why they were selected “have been blanked out” (EDMONTON SUN, 6/8).
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Editorial Questions NYRA's Ability To
Run New York's Thoroughbred Tracks |
BELMONT PARK: A N.Y. DAILY NEWS editorial states the NYRA for Saturday’s Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park “lost much of its toilet service for several hours,” and Gawker.com posted a photo showing “eight of 50 or so men who had lined up to urinate in a 55-gallon trash drum.” What happened was a “national humiliation that NYRA is doing everything in its power to pretend away.” NYRA is “on the verge of having its franchise to run New York’s three Thoroughbred tracks extended for 25 years.” But if NYRA “can’t run a quality Belmont stakes in front of all America, what good is it?” (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 6/10).
NOTES: Centerplate has inked a deal with the Univ. of Alabama to provide food, beverage and retail merchandise services at the school’s athletic facilities beginning this summer (Centerplate)....IEAH, the majority owners of Big Brown, is “seeking a tax break” in Hempstead, New York that “could be worth at least $1[M] for a new equine care medical facility being built near Belmont Park.” The Hempstead agency “would enter into a 10-year lease agreement for the 23,000-square-foot, two-story building” (NEWSDAY, 6/9).
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