The Lipton Championships plan to develop a sports
complex, along with two other South FL organizations, which
will include an Arthur Ashe-Butch Bucholz Tennis Center at
Miami's Moore Park (USA TODAY, 3/16)....After touring the
under-construction Philips Arena, Colin Campbell writes that
the "vast roofed saucers of yesteryear are dead," while
"intimacy" in arenas is "definitely the thing now," as the
seats at the facility "are all up close" (ATLANTA
CONSTITUTION, 3/16)....New York City pledged $2.2M toward
the design of a minor-league baseball stadium for the Mets
at Coney Island. The city's Economic Development Corp.
named Manhattan architect Jack Gordon to design the stadium
and plans to spend $20M to build it at "no cost to the
Mets." Annual rent for the team at the stadium will be
$100,000-$510,000, depending on attendance (N.Y. DAILY NEWS,
3/13)....In Newark, George Jordan wrote that arena builder
LZA Group has signed a long-term lease with plans to "double
the size of its offices and staff in Newark." LZA Group is
currently supervising facility construction in Miami,
Atlanta, and S.F. "has been tentatively selected to build"
the Nets' proposed Newark arena (STAR-LEDGER, 3/14).
