Venue News & Notes: NBA Backs Plan for Downtown Sacramento Arena

In a game-changing move, the National Basketball Association has backed one of the arena task force-elicited plans that would build an arena for the Sacramento Kings downtown at The Railyards through the sale of Cal Expo and the relocation of the fairgrounds to land at Arco Arena. An NBA consultant and developers Gerry Kamilos and David Taylor unveiled this week the details of the complex plan involving the three sites during a news conference at the Citizen hotel. Earlier at Sacramento City Hall, the representatives of each of the seven recently submitted proposals briefly discussed their projects with the public and media at a jammed open house…

…Houston is expected to be included in the official U.S. bid to host a FIFA World Cup in 2018 or 2022. The USA Bid Committee will conclude its eight-month host-city selection process by unveiling the list of 18 cities to be included in the bid Tuesday. The bid is due to FIFA by May 14, and soccer’s world governing body will announce the winning bids in December. Houston bid committee members, which include public and private entities, like the city’s chances of making the cut…

…A dozen private companies — including some major players in the venue-management business — are vying for the chance to run Indianapolis’s publicly operated convention center and football stadium. The bids came from entities that include Pennsylvania-based giant SMG and a distinctive partnership involving the Indiana Pacers. They followed a request from the city in the fall seeking companies that could find ways to cut the facilities’ operating costs and were made public Friday…

…Aiming to set a new standard for water use in professional sports facilities, the Minnesota Twins will use a rainwater-recycling system that should help reduce the need for municipal water by 50%. The rainwater-recycling project, which is being donated by Pentar Inc., will capture and purify water to be used in washing down the lower decks of the new $425 million, 40,000-seat Target Field, as well as to water the baseball field, according to a press release. The effort, which should save 2 million gallons of water a year, is one aspect of the stadium’s scheme to qualify for LEED certification…

…The world has long known that Texas Stadium’s days are numbered. Now it knows just how many days are left. Thousands of pieces of dynamite placed throughout the stadium will bring down Irving’s most famous building shortly after dawn on April 11 in a nationally marketed, highly publicized event. And yes, Irving officials want Dallas Cowboys fans to come out and pay their last respects to the building that housed America’s Team for 38 seasons. “It’s such a storied building, people want to be a part of the event and say, ‘I was there,’” said Maura Gast, executive director of the Irving Convention and Visitors Bureau.