Venue News & Notes: White Sox Block Cubs’ Arizona Home

The Chicago Cubs are facing opposition from the White Sox and other Cactus League teams to a financing plan for their new spring-training complex in Mesa, AZ. Under the proposed plan, all Cactus League teams would bankroll the $84 million stadium though ticket surcharges. White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf said other teams didn’t pitch in to pay for Camelback Ranch in Glendale, AZ, the spring complex the Sox share with the Los Angeles Dodgers…

…Super Bowl XLV will come to Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, TX, on Feb. 6, 2011. It’s the first time the Dallas-Fort Worth area will host such a prestigious and financially taxing event. “Not only are we going to be ready, we’re going to be enthusiastic,” Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert said this week. “On Monday, the clock really starts. I think we see the potential for this year, and I think, more and more, we’ll focus on doing such a good job.” At the forefront is raising money. When North Texas secured the bid in May 2007, it proposed raising $30 million to fund the project. Slightly more than half of that has been raised so far…

…Residents of Houston’s East End plan to head to the County Commissioners meeting today to give their support for Major League Soccer’s Dynamo. They want the county to use a tract of land there to build a new stadium for the Dynamo. It is that tract of land, now a parking lot, that is a key interest to East End business owners and neighbors. Where the Dynamo stadium will be built and how it will be funded remains controversial. Supporters want a Dynamo stadium to be built in the East End, saying it would also encourage more economic development there.