In Atlanta, Jim Galloway reported Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal yesterday “laid out some arguments likely to be used by supporters of a new, $1 billion stadium that would serve as a new home for the Atlanta Falcons.” Deal said that he “wants the team to stay put” in the city. The “most important thing” Deal did yesterday was to “cast the decision as one that should yield to local -- i.e., Atlanta -- sentiment.” Deal also “implied that the issue would be pressed this year, despite the fact that the issue polls dismally.” Deal: “In talking with the Falcons, they believe this is a time-critical issue” (AJC.com, 1/15).
MOTOWN MOBILE: Red Wings Senior Dir of Communications John Hahn wrote in an e-mail, “Joe Louis Arena is not equipped with the infrastructure required for dedicated, publicly accessible Wi-Fi service.” In Detroit, Bill Shea reported because the Red Wings “intend to move, there’s concern from mobile providers about investing much into an arena that will lose its primary tenant and could be razed.” Houston-based Molitoris Group Principal Rob Todd said that anything installed now at the arena “couldn’t be transported to a new arena," and it "likely would be out of date anyway” (CRAINSDETROIT.com, 1/13).
PAST DUE: California officials said that the “financially troubled” L.A. Memorial Coliseum Commission has “breached its lease contract with the state by failing to pay $500,000 in rent due at the end of the year.” In L.A., Rong-Gong Lin II reported the declaration, which became public yesterday, “came as the latest sign of fiscal distress for the Coliseum, a taxpayer-owned stadium that is at risk for running out of money by the end of March.” It was “immediately unclear what the failure to pay the rent means for the management of the Coliseum” (LATIMES.com, 1/15).
GEEK SQUAD: Stats LLC has struck a partnership with ticket search engine SeatGeek in which aggregated ticket listing data will now be part of Stats' Hosted Solution content feed licensed to more than 100 major publishers. SeatGeek will become an affiliate partner of Stats, joining similar outfits such as FanSnap and FansEdge (Eric Fisher, SportsBusiness Journal).
