Venue News: Mariners Begin Work on Largest Video Display in MLB; Coyotes Arena Deal Approved

Compiled by Karen Hogan, Associate Editor, Sports Video Group

Earlier this month, the Seattle Mariners began work on what will be the biggest video display in Major League Baseball and one of the largest in professional sports. It’s the centerpiece of the biggest upgrade to Safeco Field since it opened in 1999 and a technical marvel that could become a tourist attraction on its own. At 201.5 feet by 56.7 feet, the display is nearly a block long and wider than the record-holding jumbo display at Dallas Cowboys Stadium. It’s ten times the size of the ballpark’s current video screen and has a viewing area of roughly 2,182 42-inch TVs. And yes, it will still display hydro races – but the boats will now be rendered in full 1080p high-resolution…

…City officials approved a $320 million deal Tuesday night to keep the Phoenix Coyotes in the city’s arena. The city council approved a 20-year, $324 million deal for Jobing.com Arena in June, but city leaders sought to renegotiate it. The newly approved proposal would help Glendale because it would reduce payments in the early years of the 20-year deal and save the city $4 million. Council members debated the proposed arena-management agreement with potential Coyotes buyer Greg Jamison and whether the city can afford the agreement. The deal requires Glendale to cut $20 million from the general fund. That means trimming dozens of positions within city government over the next five years. Without the team, Glendale would still have to trim $12 million. The council approved the deal on a 4-2 vote…

… Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber says the league is at “the finish line” in negotiations with New York City to acquire land to build a stadium in Queens that would become home for the league’s 20th team. Garber says MLS hopes to have the team start play in 2016 at a 10-acre site in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park and spark a rivalry with the New York Red Bulls, who play at a 25,189-capacity stadium that opened in 2010 at Harrison, N.J. Garber said the Red Bulls do not have the right to block a second team in the market. New Red Bulls sporting director Jerome de Bontin told Fox this month that an additional team probably was premature…

… If the Golden State Warriors displayed the flair for the fast break on the court that the team’s owners have shown at San Francisco City Hall, the ever-struggling basketball team would be playoff-bound. But now that the Board of Supervisors has voted to let environmental studies begin on the team’s wish to place an arena on Piers 30-32, here’s something to remember: The ambitious proposal so far is a bundle of good intentions and little more. Something this prominent should not be treated as a presumptive slam dunk, which seems to be the attitude of Mayor Ed Lee’s administration. The Warriors insist they need to open the arena in 2017, the year their lease ends in Oakland. City Hall is happy to oblige, mapping out a review process that has the design taking shape at the same time the financial deal is being worked out and the environmental process is getting under way. The only firm details right now are the numbers: Team owners Peter Guber and Joe Lacob want to rebuild the 13-acre pier and top it off with a 17,500-seat venue that would be used for more than 200 events a year…

…Participants at a public forum on a potential new stadium for the Atlanta Falcons pushed for more information on the project and an opportunity for “meaningful public input.” The Georgia World Congress Center Authority and the Atlanta Falcons have been negotiating a deal for a potential new stadium for the past two years. The facility, which would cost a minimum of $948 million but is expected to surpass $1 billion, would replace the 20-year-old Georgia Dome. In 2010, the Georgia Legislature agreed to allow Atlanta and unincorporated Fulton County to continue dedicating a portion of hotel-motel taxes they collect to paying off bond debt on a stadium as long it is built on GWCCA property. Part of the stadium’s costs will be paid with about $300 million from those hotel-motel tax collections, while the Falcons are expected to pay for the remainder.

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