In Miami, Mazzei & Caputo in a front-page piece note a majority of Miami-Dade voters who voted in the Sun Life Stadium renovation election before it was called off were opposed to the stadium bill. A count released by the elections department yesterday showed that among the 60,678 voters who "voted by mail or at early-voting sites," 57% opposed the Dolphins’ proposal, while 43% were in favor. But Dolphins stadium campaign consultant Eric Jotkoff "dismissed any notion that the proposal would have failed" (MIAMI HERALD, 5/15).
DON'T BANK ON IT: In Baltimore, Eileen Ambrose reports 1st Mariner Bancorp "says it does not plan to bid for naming rights" to 1st Mariner Arena after its deal expired last year. Company Exec VP/Retail Banking Dennis Finnegan said, "We talked some numbers. We weren't close to what they're suggesting." Finnegan declined to disclose the price tag Legends Hospitality placed on the arena's naming rights, but said it was "multiples" of what the company had been paying. He added that 1st Mariner "might reconsider if Legends comes back with a lower figure that's closer to what the company proposed" (Baltimore SUN, 5/15).
PERSONAL DEMONS: In Chicago, Rick Telander writes the plan for a new DePaul Univ. basketball arena at McCormick Place is a "dumb idea on the face of it." If DePaul plays 18 games at the new arena, it leaves 347 "days of emptiness." Telander writes this is "such a guaranteed money-loser that it boggles" his mind. The United Center is "much closer to DePaul than McCormick," and it "already offered itself to DePaul for 10 years, rent-free" (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 5/15).
