MLB.com's Owen Perkins reported the Rockies' $6M offseason upgrades at Coors Field were “primarily covered" by the team, but concessionaire Aramark, Coors Brewery and the Stadium District “all chipped in to some degree.” Among the upgrades is a “unique feature that isn't known to exist in any other ballpark is ‘The
Garden,’ a sustainable garden created through a partnership with” The
Institute for the Built Environment at Colorado State Univ. The Garden
will “provide Aramark with sustainably produced and managed vegetables
and herbs, including peppers, tomatoes, chives, scallions, parsley,
rosemary, and thyme, all of which will be incorporated into food items
at the Mountain Ranch Club in right field” (MLB.com, 4/4).
DELAY OF GAME? In St. Paul, Doug Belden notes Minnesota state Sen. Sean Nienow said that he will "introduce a bill that would delay the sale of bonds for a new Vikings stadium until a revenue stream to pay them off is secured." Nienow added that he and Rep. Mary Franson plan to "introduce the bill next week." Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority Chair Michele Kelm-Helgen has said that debt service payments of around $34M per year would "need to be made starting in 2014" (ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS, 4/5).
SHORT SELL: USA TODAY's Nate Ryan writes there are "myriad reasons" why all 65,000 seats at the shortest track on the Sprint Cup circuit, Martinsville Speedway, "should be filled Sunday" for the STP Gas Booster 500. This is the "best track that NASCAR has to offer when the standard is the slam-bang style that causes NASCAR chairman Brian France to crow, 'This is a contact sport.'" Its "tight confines are the perfect setting for a season that already has been fraught with flared tempers." There is "no track that consistently produces better racing in NASCAR, though that doesn't always translate to a full house in one of the more economically depressed regions visited by Sprint Cup." It is "unlikely there will be a sellout Sunday at an oval that hasn't sold every one of its tickets in several years" (USA TODAY, 4/5).
