In Phoenix, Jeff Metcalfe reports the Arizona State Univ. baseball team’s “move from Packard Stadium to the Chicago Cubs’ planned spring training facility was approved by the Arizona Board of Regents.” ASU will enter into “a 30-year facility use agreement with the Cubs at their $100 million spring training facility near Riverview Park in Mesa.” The school will “lease the land for $1 per year while retaining revenue from parking during ASU games.” It “will not pay rent to the Cubs until making $1.1 million from tickets, concessions and parking.” The school will “have its own locker rooms and practice facilities” and the cost of the clubhouse “is estimated at $2 million, which will be paid by ASU through fundraising.” The Sun Devils are expected “to begin playing at the new facility” in ’14 (ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 10/12).
EARTH, WIND, FIRE: In Cleveland, Karen Farkas reports the Indians and Cleveland State Univ. announced yesterday that “an 18-foot-wide helix turbine developed by a CSU engineering professor will be mounted atop” Progressive Field’s southeast corner. Indians Asst. Dir of Ballpark Operations Brad Mohr said that the turbine will “generate about 40,000 kilowatt hours per year, about the same energy used to power four homes.” Mohr said that the ballpark “uses about 17 million kilowatt hours a year.” He hopes the turbine’s “visibility sparks interest in renewable energy so that one day it’s put into production” (Cleveland PLAIN DEALER, 10/12).
YOU COMPLETE ME: In Houston, Jose De Jesus Ortiz writes “although there’s plenty of work to be done” before the MLS Dynamo’s new stadium opens “on May 12, it [is] easy to envision how it will look.” Most of the risers “on the upper bowl are up” and the “roof canopy is already covering a large portion on the southwest corner of the stadium.” Dynamo MF Geoff Cameron said, “You kind of picture in your head where you’re going to be walking out. Walking into the new stadium, it’s clear it’s going to be a state-of-the-art facility and it will make the team complete” (HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 10/12).
HIGH DEFINITION: In Charlotte, Erik Spanberg notes the Bobcats recently “worked with Daktronics to repair and upgrade the four-sided video scoreboard at Time Warner Cable Arena.” New panels and pixels on the video boards “will make the screens clearer -- and also allow for conversion to high-definition in the future” (CHARLOTTE BUSINESS JOURNAL, 10/7 issue).
