Facility Notes
In Chicago, Paul Sullivan writes the "mystery over who broke a water pipe in the Cubs' dugout after their Game 3 loss in Los Angeles didn't have quite the same buzz as the one over who smashed Sammy Sosa's boom box after the final game of 2004." Cubs GM Jim Hendry, when asked who may have broke the pipe, said, "I have no idea, and I don't have any interest in finding out. To me, it's not even an issue. Believe me, if I had been in a uniform, it might have been me." Hendry added, "The clubhouse people told me it was about the fourth or fifth time it has happened this year. ... There was no permanent damage done to the facility" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 10/9).
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RSL, Media Prepare For Tonight's Debut At
New Rio Tinto Stadium Against Red Bulls |
REAL DEAL: MLS Real Salt Lake (RSL) tonight will play the first game in their new Rio Tinto Stadium, and in Utah, Scott Pierce writes the facility is an "intimate 20,008-seat setting for fans and viewers -- the main sideline camera is only 41 feet from the field." What it "boils down to is a set-up that not only makes it easy to televise games but will create the kind of broadcast that will make for a much better viewing experience at home." RSL Senior Dir of Marketing Trey Fitz-Gerald: "This is the first (soccer) stadium built with television in mind." Pierce notes ESPN2, which will telecast tonight's match against the Red Bulls, "will use 10 or 11 cameras." Meanwhile, RSL is talking to current partners KSL-NBC, Comcast and "at least one other local station with an eye toward using the stadium itself to help promote the team." Fitz-Gerald: "We may televise every home game next season" (DESERET NEWS, 10/9).
LIGHT SHOW: In Utah, Tim Buckley reported a "new lighting and sound system will be installed at EnergySolutions Arena for the upcoming" '08-09 NBA season. Jazz G Deron Williams said that the new lighting "will allow for the darkening of most of the arena during pre-game player introductions." Williams said of Jazz President Randy Rigby, who assumed his role in '07, "He's already made a lot of changes, a lot of improvements, since he's been here, and I think he's going to continue to do that" (DESERET NEWS, 10/7).
THAT'S A WRAP: In Newark, Russell Ben-Ali reported the Bergen County (NJ) Film Commission "has backed off a plan to seek public funding to study whether the Izod Center ... could become home to a major film and television production facility." The New Jersey Sports & Exposition Authority (NJSEA) and the Film Commission announced "a joint effort to find a suitable alternate site for a Meadowlands film studio." NJSEA President & CEO Dennis Robinson said, "The addition of a film studio in the Meadowlands region holds great possibilities for Bergen County as well as cross-promotional opportunities with Izod Center, Giants Stadium, Meadowlands Racetrack and Meadowlands Xanadu" (Newark STAR-LEDGER, 10/8).
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