The N.Y. Daily News Golden Gloves amateur boxing tournament announced yesterday they will relocate to the Barclays Center in Brooklyn where it will hold its two-day Finals event in April ’13. Both the male and female championship bouts will be held over two days in April (Nets). ESPN.com’s Dan Rafael wrote the boxing tournament “that has called Madison Square Garden home for decades, is moving next year.” The Barclays Center also has “an exclusive deal” with Golden Boy Promotions to “put on monthly professional boxing events beginning in October” (ESPN.com, 4/3). ESPN.com's Michael Woods writes "competition is almost always good for the consumer. Therefore, New York fight fans should benefit mightily with the presence of Barclays Center" (ESPN.com, 4/4).
ALL IN FAVOR: In New Jersey, John Brennan reported the American Arbitration Association's three-member Commercial Arbitration Tribunal yesterday “ruled mostly in favor of the Devils in their five-year battle with the city of Newark over rent and parking figures.” This “doesn’t solve the Devils’ longterm financial issues.” But what it “can do, however, is enable the current ownership to pitch more economic certainty to potential new investors than they had before.” The most important figures “are the affirmation of the Devils’ right to $2.7 million in annual parking revenues, plus the city has to put $1 million annually into a capital fund that helps with the Devils’ overhead” (NORTHJERSEY.com, 4/3).
AWAITING APPROVAL: In San Diego, Matthew Hall noted officials from the Mayor’s office on Monday “finally released" the city's contract with N.Y.-based consulting firm Lazard Freres & Co. -- and it "sets a September deadline” for a new Chargers stadium financing plan. The timetable leaves Mayor Jerry Sanders “little more than two months to win City Council approval, not to mention the team’s endorsement, before he leaves office because of term limits in early December.” Under an arrangement authorized by the City Attorney’s Office on March 12, the consultants “will be paid $250,000, but only after they complete their work.” This includes “preparing a draft report by August that details their preferred stadium plan and two alternatives, and then issuing a final report based on feedback from the city by September.” The city did “propose one funding source: A game-day surcharge on parking garages near the East Village site being eyed by the city and team” (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 4/3).
