SEATTLE — A wealthy hedge-fund manager won approval Monday for his plan to bring professional men's basketball and hockey back to Seattle, with initially skeptical City Council members agreeing to put up $200 million for a new arena after he promised to personally guarantee the city's debt.Council members voted 6-2 to approve Chris Hansen's plan for a $490 million arena near the Seahawks and Mariners stadiums south of downtown."I was a skeptic when this came forward because I was worried about our taxpayers," said Councilwoman Sally Bagshaw. "The fact that we have a personal guarantee from Mr. Hansen . . . that makes a big difference."At the end, we're going to have something the city is proud of."Seattle hasn't had an NBA team since 2008, when the SuperSonics moved to Oklahoma City and became the Thunder, devastating their fans here. It's been quite a bit longer since Seattle had major-league hockey: The Metropolitans, who won the Stanley Cup in 1917, disbanded in 1924.The Edmonton Oilers is one NHL team already discussing possible relocation to Seattle after plans for a proposed $475 million arena in Edmonton were thrown into doubt earlier this month.Though the franchise said it still hopes to reach a deal with Edmonton on a new arena, owner Daryl Katz, team president Patrick LaForge and Kevin Lowe, president of hockey operations, were in Seattle for meetings Monday about a possible relocation.The Oilers said in a statement that the team is listening to proposals from a number of potential NHL markets.Hansen, of San Francisco, is a Seattle native, an early investor in Facebook and a big Sonics fan who approached Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn last year in hopes of building a new arena to attract an NBA team and hopefully an NHL team as well. KeyArena, where the Sonics played, is considered outdated and financially unviable. The $200 million in public financing would be repaid by arena-related taxes.The deal Hansen worked out with the mayor's office met with resistance at City Council, where members worried about the effect of more traffic in what is a crucial shipping corridor, thanks to the nearby Port of Seattle, and about creating competition for the publicly owned KeyArena, which turned a profit last year.But Hansen made a number of concessions and won over a majority. In addition to personally guaranteeing the debt payments, he agreed to kick in more money for transportation improvements and $7 million for KeyArena, and he agreed to buy the new arena back from the city for $200 million at the end of the 30-year use agreement if that's what the city wants.He also agreed to be independently audited to assure that he's worth at least $300 million.
Showing posts with label approves. Show all posts
Showing posts with label approves. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Japanese baseball union approves participation in 2013 WBC
After weeks of uncertainty, the Japanese Professional Baseball Players Association has decided to participate in next year's World Baseball Classic, it was revealed on Tuesday.
"We want to announce that the players from the 12 teams have decided to take back the non-participation resolution (passed on July 20) in order to participate in the WBC," said union president Takahiro Arai of the Hanshin Tigers at a press conference in Osaka prior to the team's game against the Yomiuri Giants.The union's declaration seemingly paves the way for Japan to compete for a third consecutive title in next year's WBC. Nippon Professional Baseball had previously agreed to compete, but the union had resisted, until Tuesday."The fact that the JPBPA and NPB have apparently reached agreement is certainly a positive development. We look forward to receiving an official acceptance from NPB," MLB's vice president for Asia Jim Small, representing WBC Inc., said in an email to The Japan Times.The decision to compete is a reversal from the stance the union took July 20, when its members voted to not compete in the tournament unless NPB secured the sponsorship rights for the team.After meeting with tournament organizers, NPB officials revealed Japan in fact owned certain rights to sponsorship revenues stemming from the Samurai Japan team, likely a contributing factor in bringing the JPBPA on board."The reason we decided not to participate was not because the players were struggling," read a statement on the union's website. "We just wanted to have the rights normally given to a participant country at a regular international sporting event. Because of that, we wanted to obtain a more successful future for NPB and more of all for Japanese professional baseball."
"We want to announce that the players from the 12 teams have decided to take back the non-participation resolution (passed on July 20) in order to participate in the WBC," said union president Takahiro Arai of the Hanshin Tigers at a press conference in Osaka prior to the team's game against the Yomiuri Giants.The union's declaration seemingly paves the way for Japan to compete for a third consecutive title in next year's WBC. Nippon Professional Baseball had previously agreed to compete, but the union had resisted, until Tuesday."The fact that the JPBPA and NPB have apparently reached agreement is certainly a positive development. We look forward to receiving an official acceptance from NPB," MLB's vice president for Asia Jim Small, representing WBC Inc., said in an email to The Japan Times.The decision to compete is a reversal from the stance the union took July 20, when its members voted to not compete in the tournament unless NPB secured the sponsorship rights for the team.After meeting with tournament organizers, NPB officials revealed Japan in fact owned certain rights to sponsorship revenues stemming from the Samurai Japan team, likely a contributing factor in bringing the JPBPA on board."The reason we decided not to participate was not because the players were struggling," read a statement on the union's website. "We just wanted to have the rights normally given to a participant country at a regular international sporting event. Because of that, we wanted to obtain a more successful future for NPB and more of all for Japanese professional baseball."Wednesday, July 6, 2011
IOC approves slopestyle for Sochi
Durban, South Africa — Slopestyle is coming to the 2014 Winter Olympics. Baseball and softball will get a chance to come back for the 2020 Summer Games.The International Olympic Committee approved the inclusion Monday of men's and women's slopestyle events in snowboarding and freestyle skiing for the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia.Also approved for Sochi were snowboard parallel slalom events for men and women.In slopestyle, snowboarders and skiers do tricks while going down the mountain and maneuver through "features" — rails, big jumps and bumps.
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