Facility Notes

ESPN.com's Terry Blount noted Saturday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Samsung Mobile 500, the first Sprint Cup race to take place "under the lights" at Texas Motor Speedway, "probably will draw the biggest crowd ever to see a sports event in Texas on a Saturday night." TMS President Eddie Gossage: "It has a lot of advantages. Fans can tailgate all day at the track and cook some food. And if it rains you have a rain date on Sunday." Gossage "also thinks the future could hold night races on a weekday." Last April's Samsung Mobile 500 "was rained out on Sunday but still had a crowd of more than 100,000 on a Monday during the day," and that "got Gossage thinking about what could happen on a Monday night." But he added, "Overall, I think night racing should remain the exception. That's part of what makes it special" (ESPN.com, 4/5).

SEEKING A LANDING SPOT: In Buffalo, James Fink reported the Ira G. Ross/Niagara Aerospace Museum "has to start looking for a new home" three years after "moving into space inside HSBC Arena." Museum officials were notified by Sabres parent company Hockey Western New York LLC that the 10,000-square-feet of space they have been "using for an exhibition hall and showcase of their vast supply of artifacts, needs to be vacated when their lease expires on June 30." The museum had been leasing the space at a "deeply discounted rate offered by" former Sabres Managing Partner Larry Quinn, and it "occupied the space on a year-to-year lease" (BIZJOURNALS.com, 4/5).

UPGRADING THEIR LAIR: In Detroit, James Jahnke reports the Univ. of Michigan athletic department "has hired TS Sports/Lighthouse to install new video displays and scoring systems at Michigan Stadium, Crisler Arena and Yost Ice Arena." The "removal of the existing video boards began last month" at Michigan Stadium, where the new video screens "behind each end zone will be 47 feet by 85 feet (40% larger than the previous boards) and will be installed in time for the upcoming season." At Crisler Arena, TS Sports "will replace the center-hung scoreboard that was installed in 1998." Yost Ice Arena "will get new LED video displays for the first time," and a "new, center-hung scoreboard will have nine displays." The "entire project will cost about" $20M (DETROIT FREE PRESS, 4/6).