Facility Notes
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Traffic, Capacity Issues Must Be Addressed At
Alamodome Before Hosting Another Final Four |
San Antonio Sports Exec Dir Susan Blackwood said that traffic and capacity issues at the Alamodome "must be addressed for the city to have another shot at a Final Four basketball tournament." Blackwood said that the NCAA committees "responsible for selecting sites for future Division I basketball championships have been looking for 'more bells and whistles' and arenas with more seating than the Alamodome can provide." In San Antonio, William Pack notes the Alamodome's seating "can be expanded to hold 70,000, but that's 30,000 short" of the Cowboys' new stadium, which will host the men's event in '14. While Blackwood "offered no price tag on upgrades," she said that the Alamodome "will have to be improved to remain competitive" (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS, 5/28).
ON TARGET: In Minneapolis, Joe Christensen notes the Twins' new Target Field is set to open next year and "some of the park's signature elements are in place, from the space-age rooftop canopy to the glass enclosures of restaurants and bars that will sit right on top of the action, near the foul poles." Christensen: "What really stands out to me is the ballpark's intimacy. The bleacher seats seem to rise straight up from the outfield wall, and those sections are angular in shape, giving the place anything but the cookie-cutter feel of the Metrodome" (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 5/28).
CATCH OF THE DAY: In Miami, Matthew Haggman reported all three Wall Street credit rating agencies for the Marlins' new ballpark Tuesday announced "favorable assessments" of Miami-Dade County's "plan to sell more than $300[M] in bonds -- which will be repaid with tourist taxes -- before groundbreaking on the former Orange Bowl site in July." All of the ratings "put the bonds in the middle of the pack for investment-grade bonds." Florida-based securities firm Guzman & Co. President Leo Guzman: "That should be enough to get it done" (MIAMI HERALD, 5/27).
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