Tag: stadium

Duluth's Wade Stadium opened in 1941 as the home of a minor-league baseball team, and like most structures that age, is in need of repairs. So the city is seeking $250,000 from the Legislature this year to pay half of a renovation design effort. That would be followed by a larger request for more state jim decicco next year to make the repairs. But when bricks started falling from the stadium last week, some city council members wanted to  accelerate the state funding requests, says the Duluth News Tribune. They're talking about asking for $4 million right now from the state to renovate the stadium. Last year, the state agreed to pay a substantial chunk of the $1 billion needed for a Vikings stadium and gave St. Paul $25 million for a new minor league baseball park. But Mayor Don Ness said Thursday that the stadium funding request should wait until the city knows how it will come up with its share of the funding. And he proposes asking voters in the fall if they'd favor paying for it by reinstating a half-cent food and beverage sales tax in the city, which had been used to pay for the city's convention center and aquarium. The tax expired at the end of last year. Craig Smith, general manager of the Duluth Huskies minor-league baseball team that plays in the stadium, supported Ness' restrained approach, the paper said.  "It would be a shame if we rushed into things and didn’t do it the right way the first time," Smith told the paper. "We need to stay the course of the current planning that’s going on and not make rash decisions and rush into things just because Humpty Dumpty fell off the wall."

iphone car insurance quotes

The University of Minnesota lost almost $16,000 last year on alcohol sales at home football games, despite selling more than $900,000 worth of beer and wine. The school released the figures to the Associated Press after a records request, which showed it incurred significant expenses from its first season selling alcohol stadium-wide at TCF Bank Stadium. Those include hiring additional police and security officers, setting up tents and other facilities, and equipment rental. Roughly half of its revenues went directly to Philadelphia-based Aramark Corp., which had the contract to sell beer and wine. The booze itself cost the university about $180,000. Associate Athletic Director Tom McGinnis said the university never expected to turn a profit from alcohol sales. The Legislature passed a bill last April allowing the school to sell beer and wine so long as it was available to the general public. "We wanted to make sure that it was a positive experience for our fans," McGinnis said. About $30,000 of the school's expenses were one-time costs to prepare the stadium -- from setting up ATMs to buying plants. That means if Gopher football fans buy as much booze in 2013 as they did last season, the school stands to pull in about $15,000 in profits. But McGinnis said the university learned from its first year of alcohol sales and will make tweaks and cuts to boost profits for the 2013 football season. That could mean swapping kegged beer for bottles and cans and reducing staff, police and security. The school brought on 12 additional police officers and 12 other security employees to deal with any drinking-related problems -- costing the school an extra $47,000. McGinnis said they "erred on the side of safety." The school may also adjust its contract with Aramark. That agreement was signed when the university only sold alcohol in premium seating at sports events, McGinnis said. The state lawmaker who was pushing to extend alcohol sales to basketball and hockey games said the university will need to justify those costs. In the meantime, Rep. Dan Schoen, DFL-St. Paul Park, says he's backing off his bill that would allow beer and wine sales at Mariucci and Williams arenas -- at least until next session, if not longer. "I think the average Minnesotan would have a very difficult time understanding how any business could do $900,000 in sales and lose $16,000 doing it," Schoen said. "With this information, we probably need to take a deeper look." Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

link

The A’s got out to a pretty good start in the first, when three consecutive doubles (Stephen Drew, Seth Smith, and Yoenis Cespedes) let them jump out to a 2-0 lead off Ivan Nova. But the A’s were playing sloppy, bad baseball for much of the first few innings, their fielders choking on easy plays, their pitcher unable to find the strike zone, and, by the second, the bombers had managed to sneak out to an almost-accidental 4-2 lead after a wild pitch let A-Rod score. A’s starter Travis Blackley lasted all of two innings–but he threw 59 pitches. But pitching wasn’t the story tonight. If we witnessed a couple of gems last night, then today we witnessed whatever the polar opposite of that would be. Neither pitching staff could do much to stem the bleeding–though Derek Lowe and Jim Miller did the best they could in the early going–and the A’s made things worse by misplaying balls with alarming frequency. But that was counterbalanced by both sides’ inability to hit with runners in scoring position: on a night when they each scored 9 runs, the Yankees went 4-for-17 (.235) and the A’s 3-for-16 (.187) with runners on second or third. It was a cacophony of mediocrity–and it was, frankly, hard to watch. But both teams proved beyond any reasonable doubt that they could hit a baseball a long way–or, at least far enough to clear the walls at Yankee Stadium. First Ichiro Suzuki, then Stephen Drew and Raul Ibanez lined shots over the wall; with Drew’s going to center, and Ichiro and Ibanez’ going to right. But the real fireworks came in the 13th inning, after everyone had given up on the game: Jonny Gomes blasted a two-run shot to left, and was followed immediately by Yoenis Cespedes**, depositing his own monster blast into the second deck. A batter later, ex-Vikings receiver Chris Carter dropped one in a similar spot. [**Yoenis Cespedes is one of the most exciting players in baseball right now. I mean it. He's got an arm like a cannon (remember last night?) that has forced teams to respect him, he swings with this explosive fury at everything he sees, and when he makes contact he hits the ball hard. He's fast, athletic, and incredibly determined. He's a raw, less skilled but more powerful version of Mike Trout.] The three homers came after five and a half innings of drivel, with the Yankees putting men on and being completely unable to score. They had men on second or third in the 12th, the 9th, and the 7th innings, and couldn’t get it done. It was pathetic. And they went from having Derek Jeter (who, earlier in the game has extended his hitting streak to 16 games) batting with a man on third in a tie game in the bottom of the 12th to losing by four in the top of the 13th. All of that is prelude, context-setting to what happened next: a series of singles by the top of the order–Ichiro, swinging an incredibly hot bat, A-Rod, and Cano–loaded the bases. Oakland reliever Pat Neshek threw a ball behind replacement catcher Derek Norris (in for George Kottaras who was leveled by Ibanez trying to score earlier in the game…those collisions are terrifying). Oakland by three. Eduardo Nunez came in and lofted a ball to center. Oakland by two on the sac. Then in stepped Raul Ibanez. A long drive to deep right field, screaming towards the second deck–tie game. The stadium, emptied out after Oakland’s barrage, was a mob scene. It would take the Yankees another inning to actually clinch the game, but it didn’t matter. The feeling of accomplishment, of battle, was hard to suppress: you could see it in the faces of the players in the dugout, it was etched onto each player that took a swing, and it imbued the stadium with an energy that had been sorely lacking. This is not a perfect team. It’s probably not even be a great team. But it is a winning team. They proved that tonight.

redirected

posted at 2:01 pm on September 4, 2012 by Ed Morrissey It’s been amusing to see Democrats stumble repeatedly over the site name of their venue for Barack Obama’s acceptance speech on Thursday, Bank of America Stadium.  Some have taken to calling it “Panthers Stadium” in order to distance themselves from the despised banking industry, as local station WCNC noticed last week: The name change is causing some political whispering. Democrats, like Donna Brazille and DNC Chair Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, have repeatedly substituted the major banking company’s name for something else when referring to the site. Some believe the party doesn’t want to be associated with the bank at the convention because of public frustrations during uncertain financial times. WCNC also hears that Democrats want to cover the Bank of America sign, which convention officials didn’t exactly deny: When asked if it would cover up Bank of America’s signage at the stadium, DNCC officials would not comment specifically. However, they did indicate it is customary to cover signage at any arena or stadium to help branding for the convention. Imagine what it will take to cover up the fact that the convention itself will get funded by … Bank of America.  And Wells Fargo.  And a lobbying firm.  And a few other corporations that will kick in sponsorship money to pay the bills, despite more than a year of insistence from DNC officials that corporate money would not be taken to pay for the event: Companies including Bank of America Corp. and Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) have contributed $20 million toward the cost of the Democratic National Convention, helping fund an event that Democrats initially said wouldn’t accept corporate money, according to two people familiar with the matter. Organizers of this year’s convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, turned to corporations after the city’s host committee struggled to reach its $36.7 million fundraising goal, according to the people, who requested anonymity. Last year, the Charlotte host committee set up a separate entity called New American City Inc., to take corporate cash and to which Bank of America and Wells Fargo contributed, according to the people. The two banks were on a list of corporate donors released Sept. 1 by the host committee that also named AT&T Inc. (T), US Airways Group Inc. (LCC), Duke Energy Corp. (DUK) and the law-and- lobbying firm McGuireWoods LLP. There’s nothing inherently wrong with these arrangements.  It’s just that all of the holier-than-thou sanctimony on fundraising which preceded this event certainly looks foolish now, perhaps especially with the inclusion of the lobbyist group.  That shouldn’t be a big surprise, however, since the lobbying industry feasted on the opportunities presented by Obama in his stimulus package and ObamaCare.  Lobbyists have been grateful to Obama ever since.

Ohio car insurance quote

It was a good day across the board for the home team today, as Phil Hughes went 7+ strong innings and the Yankees’ offense plated six runs to carry the day this Saturday afternoon. The bottom third of the lineup drove in five of the Yankees’ six runs, aided by home runs from Jayson Nix and Raul Ibanez in the 2nd and 4th innings, respectively. That was more than Hughes would need. With the news that David Phelps would be moving to the bullpen to accommodate the return of Andy Pettitte, meaning that Hughes’ spot in the rotation was safe, Hughes went out and gave the Yankees 7.2 innings of one run ball, with the only run coming on a solo home run by Mike Carp in the seventh. With that shot, Hughes has now allowed at least one home run in each of his first seven starts. That was pretty much the lone blemish on Hughes’ afternoon, however, as he was otherwise very good in holding down the Mariners’ lineup. Boone Logan would finish out the game for the Yankees, recording all four of his outs via strikeout while allowing a run and a double to Carp. Curtain calls: Phil Hughes: 7.2 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 4 K. Exactly what Hughes needed to do this afternoon and then some, and easily his best start of 2012. Raul Ibanez: 2-3 with a home run, he’s now homered in four consecutive of his last five games. Still now reason for him to be playing the outfield with Nix and Dewayne Wise on the roster as well, but it worked out on this day anyway. Bronx cheers: Curtis Granderson & Alex Rodriguez: Both Grandy and A-Rod went 0-4 with two strikeouts. Up next: The Yankees will try to complete the sweep for Mom in an early afternoon game at the Stadium tomorrow. More importantly, Andy Pettitte will be making his return to the Yankee Stadium mound as well.

green coffee plus

Now that the Minnesota Vikings will get their new stadium, the worrying can begin over a gambling expansion designed to pay the state’s share of the $975 million project.By passing the final stadium bill Thursday, lawmakers committed the state to raising $348 million by allowing electronic pull-tabs and bingo in bars and restaurants. The financing plan drew skepticism on the bill’s way through the Legislature, prompting the sponsors to include backup measures in case the pull-tab dollars don’t materialize, including a lottery game and luxury suite taxes.Gov. Mark Dayton has pledged to sign the stadium bill into law after serving as its chief cheerleader. Backers pushed it through the Legislature after years of failed attempts, despite opposition from no-new-spending Republicans, liberal Democrats and even the top House Republican, Speaker Kurt Zellers. Lawmakers were on the receiving end of an intense outpouring of support from Vikings fans, while the state’s business leaders and labor unions also put their clout behind the project. Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak brought $150 million from his city to the table, subject to a City Council vote later this month.But money questions were on the sidelines Thursday as Vikings fans celebrated the bill’s passage. In the Senate gallery, fans broke out in a rendition of the “Skol Vikings!” fight song, earning a reprimand from the Senate secretary.“Let’s build it!” shouted Vikings vice president Lester Bagley, the team executive who spent much of the past decade lobbying for the nearly $1 billion stadium. The new stadium will be built on the downtown Minneapolis site of the 30-year-old Metrodome, an inflatable bubble-topped building the Vikings argued did not generate enough revenue for the team to compete.On Thursday, the Vikings and the University of Minnesota announced they have reached preliminary agreement on the Vikings’ use of TCF Bank Stadium during construction of a new Vikings stadium. Under the agreement, the Vikings will pay the university a fixed fee of $250,000 per game. The combined rent and expected concessions and sponsorship revenue that the Vikings would share with the university would amount to $300,000 per game, or $3 million per regular NFL season. The Board of Regents takes up the agreement Friday, and university President Eric Kaler could sign the letter of intent in the next few days.The Senate vote capped an amazing comeback for the Vikings’ stadium dreams, which just a few weeks ago were fizzling before a visit from NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell crystallized fears that the Vikings could leave the state without a new home.At a celebratory news conference, owner Zygi Wilf recalled when he and his brother Mark first took ownership of the team nearly seven years ago and being asked whether they would move the team.“We kept on fighting that this day would come, and it’s here today,” Wilf said.Dayton publicly thanked the Wilfs for agreeing to a $50 million bump in their share in final negotiations this week.“Without your willingness to take that last step, we wouldn’t have crossed the goal line,” the governor said.The stadium project - with 51 percent of the construction cost covered by taxpayers - comes after years of state deficits and spending cuts to schools, health care and other programs. The state is currently in the black, but a $1 billion-plus deficit is projected for the two-year budget that starts in mid-2013.“When this doesn’t work, it’s money right out of schools, right out of welfare, right out of health care, right out of you name it - everything we spend money on,” said Sen. Sean Nienow, R-Cambridge, before he cast a vote against the project.Opponents on both sides of the political spectrum predicted that the state is likely to further expand gambling if the electronic pull-tabs - now just a low-tech paper game offered in bars and restaurants - don’t bring in enough money.“They’ll want to double down on the bad deal. We’ve created a monster here,” said Sen. Dave Thompson, R-Lakeville, leader of the conservative faction within the GOP Senate caucus.Stadium supporters noted that the final deal required the team to round up $477 million from private sources, $50 million more than originally promised.Sen. Doug Magnus, R-Slayton, said he is confident the gambling money will come through. The bill envisions the new electronic games bringing in $59 million a year in tax revenue by 2014. But if tax collections end up being lower, a sports-themed lottery game and a 10 percent suite tax would kick in. Together the two measures would raise $4 million a year, Magnus said.“Certainly there are a lot of folks that are never going to support any stadium no matter if a fairy godmother dropped one next door to us,” said Magnus, who participated in a legislative group that worked behind the scenes on a bill for two years.Over the long term, supporters also expect the stadium to be a good deal for the state. Sen. John Harrington, DFL-St. Paul, said he expects the return on the state’s investment to be substantial over time. The Metrodome was built for $55 million, including $33 million in public money, and ended up bringing in hundreds of millions in tax revenue over the past three decades. Harrington said he voted yes on the stadium to help put people to work.“I have 20 percent unemployment on the east side of St. Paul,” he said. “I need every job in this bill that we can possibly come up with.”The deal guarantees the Vikings’ future in Minnesota for three decades. Bagley said the team’s billionaire owners, New Jersey developers Zygi and Mark Wilf, supported the final plan, even with the additional private cost, because time was running out. Senate passage came on the last day the Legislature was allowed to take votes.“It’s a good deal for the state, it’s a good deal for our fans and it’s a good deal for Minneapolis. It’s a fair deal,” Bagley said.The Vikings intend to take advantage of an NFL loan program, sell naming rights and possibly impose seat license fees to help cover the team’s end of construction costs. They will be bound by a 30-year lease on the stadium and pay about $13 million a year in operating fees. Minneapolis will kick in about $7 million a year for operating costs, and a public authority will have the power to rent the stadium on non-game days for concerts, conventions and special events such as monster truck rallies.

click here