Turner Broadcasting Systems has retained ProServ to
assist with the procurement of a naming rights partner for
the new Hawks & Thrashers arena, which opens in Fall '99.
ProServ will work in concert with Turner Broadcasting Sales,
Inc., in taking the deal to market (Turner)....In Seattle,
the Public Facilities District Board approved revised
spending plan that exhausted a $24.7M reserve fund for the
Mariners new ballpark, guaranteeing the project "will exceed"
its $417M budget. But Mariners President John Ellis
confirmed that the team will "pay these overruns" (Tacoma
NEWS TRIBUNE, 5/19)....The 76ers broke ground yesterday on a
new practice facility at the Philadelphia College of
Osteopathic Medicine (PCOM). The 76ers new facility, a joint
venture of the team and PCOM, will be called the Student
Activities Center (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 5/20)....The Harris
County-Houston Sports Authority is expected to give a two-
year, $600,000 contract to TX-based Schindewolf & Associates
to oversee construction of the Astros new park (HOUSTON
CHRONICLE, 5/20)....The stadium efforts of the Mets and
Yankees are examined by USA TODAY's Tom Pedulla in a Sports
Cover Story under the header "N.Y. Stadiums: Controversy Is
All That's Building" (USA TODAY, 5/20).