Venue News: Seattle Arena Plans Released; Atlanta Falcons Inch Closer to New Stadium

Compiled by Karen Hogan, Associate Editor, Sports Video Group

From “cruise ship” to “glowing volcano” to “Jell-O mold,” there have been some imaginative adjectives attached to the latest Seattle Arena design proposal, which 360 Architecture presented Tuesday night. In its original proposal last month to Seattle’s Downtown Design Review Board, the architecture firm commissioned by Chris Hansen, the billionaire hedge fund manager who’s building the arena to bring the NBA back to town, emphasized that it wanted the structure to have an iconic form. They may have found such a form with the orange truncated cone located at the center of the building encased by glass concourses. That doesn’t mean they’ll have a popular icon, but plenty of Seattleites hated the Space Needle when it first went up for the 1960 World’s Fair and now it’s the symbol of the city…

…After about two years of discussions, the Atlanta Falcons are a step closer to getting a new downtown stadium. The state agency that owns the 20-year-old Georgia Dome on Monday approved the framework for a deal with the Falcons to build a roughly $1 billion stadium with a retractable roof. There are still several key steps ahead, including exactly how much the government will have to contribute and where it will be built. The deal calls for the Falcons to pay about 70% of the total cost, and the government will pay for the rest with a hotel tax. The Fulton County Commission and the city of Atlanta still must approve using the revenue from the tax to build the new stadium…

…The University of Cincinnati is ready to kick off a major fundraising drive to upgrade its football stadium. School officials hope to raise $60 million to $70 million to add private suites and make concession stand and other improvements to the 35,000-seat Nippert Stadium on campus. The drive comes on the heels of the surprise weekend signing of veteran major-conference coach Tommy Tuberville to lead the Bearcat football team. Cincinnati officials are still hoping to land a berth in the Atlantic Coast Conference, and the new coach and a stadium improvement could make the Bearcats more attractive…

…Dodger Stadium is busy with construction during the offseason, with several machines at work, several thousand seats removed, and stadium walls either stripped or temporarily out during construction. Dodgers CEO Stan Kasten was able to shed some light on Tuesday on some of the improvements being made at Dodger Stadium, though the full details, with drawings of the potential finished product, will be available in January. Kasten said at issue is the timing of the improvements, which partner Magic Johnson valued on Monday at over $100 million…

…Mobivity Holdings Corporation announced a partnership with C Spire Wireless to create interactive and unique fan engagement solutions for the Memphis Grizzlies and FedExForum. Mobivity will help fans interact with the NBA team using its patented mobile marketing platform, as well as in-stadium graphics for live polling, text-to-win campaigns and picture-to-screen engagement. C Spire is the official wireless partner of the professional basketball team and FedExForum and has exclusive category rights for marketing promotion and technology development under a multi-year sponsorship agreement with the team.

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