In Tampa, Scott Keeler wrote Rays Owner Stuart Sternberg should "open the Rays' books" after he laid out a plan to split games between Tampa and Montreal. If financials are the biggest reasoning for the idea, then "full disclosure would be a seminal act of good faith." No one "wants the books cracked," but this "might be the only way for the Rays to convince people just how bad off they are." Keeler: "I don’t begrudge Sternberg for trying to make a few dollars. I’d just want to know how few he is making now" (TAMPABAY.com, 6/27).
NEW HOME? In L.A., Bill Shaikin noted the Agua Caliente tribe, which is partnering with the expansion NHL Seattle franchise to build an arena in Palm Springs for a proposed minor league affiliate, also is the "title sponsor of the Clippers’ G League team, which plays its home games" at Toyota Arena in Ontario, Calif. Tribal Chair Jeff Grubbe said that potentially moving the G League team to the Palm Springs arena if it is built is "yet to be discussed" (L.A. TIMES, 6/27).
ENGLISH LESSON: A New Orleans ADVOCATE editorial stated that the debate over whether the Pelicans' Gayle Benson "should call herself the team’s owner is so silly." Some critics in the NBA "argue the term is insensitive," but no one "getting a professional athlete’s salary and perks is going to be mistaken for a forced laborer on a plantation." The editorial: "We hope no one is ever forced to call Gayle Benson governor. That would clearly be giving her a demotion" (New Orleans ADVOCATE, 6/27). In Orlando, David Whitley writes under the header, "How Did 'Owning' An NBA Team Become Socially Unacceptable?" (ORLANDO SENTINEL, 6/28).
