Venue News & Notes: The Indoor Advantage

Topping this week’s venue news is the
announcement that Argentina is gearing up to defy the International
Tennis Federation by choosing a small indoor stadium for Davis Cup
play, in hopes of maximizing its chance of winning the nation’s first
Davis Cup title. The 14,000-seat Parque Roca Stadium has been ruled out
by the Argentine Tennis Association, leaving the venue choice between
arenas that don’t meet ITF requirements.
…Argentina is set to defy the International Tennis Federation and choose a small indoor stadium to maximize its chance of winning its first Davis Cup title.
The Argentine Tennis Association ruled out playing the November final
on outdoor clay at its regular site, the 14,000-seat Parque Roca
Stadium in Buenos Aires, and narrowed its choice to indoor venues that
currently fall short of stringent ITF requirements…
…Demolition
work on Louisville, KY’s downtown arena site is 80 percent completed
and will be finished entirely by the end of October. That means construction of the $238 million, 22,000-seat arena will begin
in November, according to Bill Hedge, project director with
Minneapolis-based M.A. Mortenson Co., the construction manager for the
project…
…Six acres surrounding Phoenix’s Surprise
Stadium have been foreclosed, and plans for a nearby bowling alley have
fallen through, signaling further delays in a troubled commercial
compound hailed by officials as Surprise’s “future downtown.” Both
pieces were part of the mixed-use Stadium Village project financed by a group of Nevada developers…
…A
professional soccer stadium built for DC United in Prince George’s
County, MD, would pump more than $6 million in annual tax revenue into
the county and state, according to a study released Tuesday by the
Maryland Stadium Authority. The 24,000- to 27,000-seat stadium would also generate nearly $31 million in earnings through as many as 63 events a year, including 15 United games…
…According
to Teddi Burns, associate director of the department of athletics at
Loyola College in Baltimore, plans for a new stadium have been under
way for several years. Although the stadium will not be game-ready until spring 2010,
beginnings of the foundation are starting to surface. Sasaki, the same
architectural firm that contributed to the Olympic stadiums in Beijing
this year, is the main mind behind the new structure…
…The mayor of Harrison, NJ, is finally getting his dream of bringing a major-league soccer stadium to the working-class town
of 14,000. After eight years and many delays, the first pieces of steel
for the new stadium, renamed the Red Bull Arena, went into the ground
last month.