Venue News & Notes: Right on Target

On
Monday, the Minnesota Twins hit the bull’s-eye when the team announced
tentative agreement on a 25-year marketing deal with Target Corp. to call the 40,000-seat
stadium Target Field. The $517 million stadium project, financed mainly
with public money, will open in 2010…
…The
joint venture AEG formed with Harrah’s in 2007 to build and operate a
new major-league arena in Las Vegas no longer includes the casino operator,
say two sources with inside knowledge of the deal. Instead, a consortium whose
goal is to bring an NHL expansion team to the proposed 20,000-seat facility in
2010 has stepped into the role as a primary investor…
…Tucson
officials are moving forward with plans for a new downtown
arena. City officials say they’re close to naming an operator and after
that will come the selection of a builder…
…Other
than the fact that Vikings owner Zygi Wilf says he will contribute $250
million, franchise officials have said little about how a
new football stadium on the site of the Metrodome will be financed, but it
appears the Vikings are hoping the solution can involve hospitality taxes…
…The
newest sporting venue in
Fort Wayne,
IN, joined the rest of the world. Parkview Health
announced it will pay $3 million over 10 years for the right to have its name
atop the new
downtown baseball stadium…
…A
railroad safety board will use $200,000 of its tax revenue to pay for preliminary
engineering and cost estimates to move railroad tracks to make
room for a proposed Lincoln, NE, arena…
…The
Pee Dee Pride ECHL hockey franchise moved to
Myrtle
Beach, SC, at the end of the 2005 season, but the team
has yet to play a game. At the heart of the problem is the proposed $48
million 7,000-seat arena at Coastal Carolina University, which has yet to
break ground. The only progress made in the construction was the widening of
the road off U.S. 501 into
the
university…
…Manitoba
Premier Gary Doer says his officials are considering kicking in $20 million
toward a plan that would build
a new home for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers at the
University
of
Manitoba.