Venue News: UNLV Unveils Stadium Plans; St. Louis Rams Enter Arbitration Over Edward Jones Dome

Compiled by Karen Hogan, Associate Editor, Sports Video Group

A half-dozen “super suites” that will house 300 guests and sell for more than $1 million a year; theater-style seating; and the world’s biggest indoor stadium video screen – longer than a football field. Those were just three of the highlights of a proposed 60,000-seat “Mega-Event Center” on the UNLV campus unveiled Friday to the Board of Regents. The stadium would be part of an overall campus redevelopment project dubbed UNLV Now, which also includes 2,000 to 3,000 student housing units and 300,000 to 400,000 square-feet of retail space to be built by Majestic. A consultant from the University of Michigan who conducted a stadium economic impact study estimated the cost of the stadium project at between $800 million and $900 million…

…The St. Louis Rams enter arbitration this week over the Edward Jones Dome in downtown St. Louis. Three sites have long been discussed as possible homes for a new stadium — a 300-acre lot that stretches from the interstate to the hills at the demolished Chrysler plant in Fenton; a similar swath of land 20 miles north; and an empty lot 20 miles east.  The team and the public agency that runs the Dome, the St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission, have been at a stalemate for months over renovations required by the team’s 30-year lease. Arbitrators will choose between three alternatives: the CVC’s renovation proposal, valued at least at $124 million; the Rams’ much pricier option; or a plan the arbitrators create themselves. The arbitration, however, is likely just a guidepost in the process. If CVC leaders find the end result too expensive, they could let the Rams’ lease go year-to-year beginning in 2015. If the Rams find the renovations too minimal, they could buy their way out…

…Miami Dolphins CEO Mike Dee said the team has committed to privately finance the majority of a proposed $400M renovation of Sun Life Stadium if state and local leaders approve changes in tax laws to fund the balance of the project. The Dolphins were scheduled to announce details of upgrades to the 25-year-old stadium the club owns and operates and a funding plan during today’s news conference at the facility. Team and local officials plan to submit a bid for the 50th Super Bowl, to be played in ‘16, and they have a 90-day window to come up with financing before initial proposals for the game are due in April, Dee said. Final bids are due in May…

…Amid stiff public resistance to partial public funding of a new Atlanta Falcons stadium, top state leaders say the team needs a better game plan if it expects to win crucial legislative support this winter. Some lawmakers suggest a vote to allow about $300 million in Atlanta hotel tax collections to be devoted to the proposed $1 billion retractable-roof stadium couldn’t go forward if they listened to constituents’ concerns. The Falcons and the Georgia World Congress Center Authority, the state agency on whose land the facility would be built, signed a non-binding term sheet in December after months of quiet negotiations. It is the first piece of a detailed agreement on building and operating a new stadium…

…Gov. Steve Beshear and a large, bipartisan group of lawmakers said Thursday that they will pass legislation this year allowing the state’s universities to spend more than $363 million on nearly a dozen building projects — including a $110 million renovation of the University of Kentucky’s Commonwealth Stadium. None of the money would come from the state’s general funds, and the projects would be paid for largely through contributions, existing student fees and other revenue sources. The stadium expansion, the largest single project in the plan, would mean 16 to 20 private suites, new locker room facilities, upgraded concessions and restrooms and more amenities for players, recruits and spectators.

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