Facility Notes

The Chargers filed a lawsuit Friday to “force the city of San Diego to pay more than $1.9[M] the team is owed for modifications at Qualcomm Stadium to accommodate disabled fans.”  A state arbitrator last year ruled that the city should pay the franchise for lost revenue from ’02-05 “because the city removed some seats and reconfigured others to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.”  City officials and the Chargers “have been negotiating about when the money would be paid, but a team official said progress was not being made” (Ronald Powell, SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 7/28).

TIGER STADIUM: The Detroit City Council voted 5-4 Friday to approve Mayor Kwame Kirkpatrick’s plan to "demolish most of [Tiger Stadium], preserve the playing field, use perhaps one corner of the structure as a museum or community center, and build low-rise retail and residential on the rest of the site.”  The demolition could begin by the end of the year.  However, the council “created some legal confusion” by voting 6-3 against an ownership transfer of the stadium to the agency handling the demolition.  Council member Kwame Kenyatta said, “If there’s no transfer, how can there be a project?” (John Gallagher, DETROIT FREE PRESS, 7/28).

MADISON SQUARE GARDEN: The Maggie Dixon Classic will be played annually at Madison Square Garden, and this year’s event will feature the first women’s college basketball doubleheader at MSG since ’81.  The event, named after the late Army women’s basketball coach who died in April ’06, will be held on December 8 and feature Rutgers, Duke, Pittsburgh and Army (AP, 7/29).