In Atlanta, Leslie & Tucker reported five construction firms on Friday "made the short list to become the lead contractor" for the Falcons' new stadium project. The finalists include Atlanta-based Holder Construction, Arizona-based Hunt Construction Group, N.Y.-based Turner Construction, N.Y.-based Skanska USA and Maryland-based Clark Construction Group. The Falcons and the Georgia World Congress Center Authority last month "jointly hired" K.C.-based 360 Architecture as lead architect for the project. The firm is "in the process of conceptual planning" (ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION, 5/18).
WINDS OF CHANGE: In Chicago, Seth Gruen cites a source as saying that the AFL is "seriously considering the possibility" of the Chicago Rush playing the rest of its home games in Rockford, Ill. Allstate Arena has "been home to the Rush since the team's inception" in '01, but the team is "already scheduled to play home games in Rockford on June 8 and June 15 because of conflicts" at the venue. Rush coach Bob McMillen said, "I don’t know where we’ll be in a few weeks, but all I know is we’re going to play football for the rest of the season" (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 5/20).
TIGER'S CAGE: In Baton Rouge, Scott Rabalais reports workers at LSU's Tiger Stadium are "laying the foundations for what will be about a 7,500-seat addition that will include club seats, suites, an upper deck seating area, standing room only areas, and new video scoreboards in the southeast and southwest corners of the old coliseum." The project, to be "completed for the start of the 2014 season, will bring Tiger Stadium’s capacity to approximately 100,000." Workers are "installing an expanded scoreboard and sound system" at the stadium's north end (Baton Rouge ADVOCATE, 5/20).
BREAK THE BANK: In Charlotte, Eric Frazier reported a recent poll of 650 city residents found that 64% of respondents "oppose Charlotte spending tax dollars to help" the Panthers renovate Bank of America Stadium (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 5/19).
