Facility Notes
In Miami, Matthew Haggman notes by Wednesday morning, "workers assembled on the site of the former Orange Bowl to begin clearing land" for the Marlins' new ballpark. By Wednesday evening, Miami-Dade County Finance Dir Carter Hammer was in N.Y. "signing off on a bond sale" of $300M to pay for "much of construction of the new ballpark." Miami-Dade County Manager George Burgess: "This is a go. Everything is done and priced. We have the funding in place to build the ballpark." The moves Wednesday "represented a giant step in the long-standing ... effort to build a baseball stadium in Miami." Marlins officials said that they are "on track for Opening Day 2012." But for that timetable to "hold up, the team and local government will have to avoid construction mistakes and delays, not an easy challenge in South Florida" (MIAMI HERALD, 7/2).
 |
Glendale Spent $37M To
Develop Camelback Ranch |
DESERT HEAT: In Phoenix, Wong & Watters report four months after the White Sox and Dodgers opened their spring-training complex at Camelback Ranch, Phoenix and Glendale have "agreed how to divide the tax dollars it generates." Camelback Ranch is on Phoenix land owned by Glendale, which spent $37M to "build streets, water lines and other infrastructure in the area." Under the agreement, Phoenix "will reimburse Glendale for those improvements using 80[%] of sales-tax revenue collected from the ballpark and surrounding 120-acre future commercial development." Phoenix "would retain" 20% of the revenue. The arrangement "will continue for up to 40 years, or until Glendale's infrastructure costs are repaid" (ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 7/2).
GRASS IS GREENER: In Baltimore, Kevin Van Valkenburg notes the Ravens have "arranged to install temporary sod on top of their own turf" at M&T Bank Stadium for the July 24 Chelsea-AC Milan World Football Challenge match. Ravens VP/Stadium Operations Roy Sommerhof said that the move "will be 'fairly costly,' although he declined to give an exact figure." To make the move to natural grass, the Ravens have hired Virginia-based Duraturf Service Corp., which "regularly provided similar services for RFK Stadium" (Baltimore SUN, 7/2).
TAKING CHARGE: In San Diego, Kevin Acee reports the Chargers this year will close their training camp to the public "due to safety concerns at Chargers Park." Replacement of a drainage pipe that "burst in February and caused significant damage to the team's ... facility is not scheduled to begin until at least later this month and is expected to take two to three months to complete." The team has "arranged for three free public workouts to be held at Qualcomm Stadium" on August 5, 8 and 12 (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 7/2).
|
