« Anti-Atlantic Yards graffiti in the new cement outside my house | Main | The flexing of 'domain' power »
December 8, 2008
Could roof help bring team to USTA stadium?
Sports Business Journal
by Don Muret
Arthur Ashe Stadium, future home of the New York Islanders? Maybe the Nets?
Far-fetched, perhaps, but Danny Zausner, managing director of the U.S. Tennis Association, threw out those scenarios as his group prepares to issue a proposal in January seeking architects to plan a retractable roof for the 22,547-seat U.S. Open venue.
The roof, which could cost $100 million, would protect the stadium’s playing surface and eliminate the rain delays and washouts that have plagued the tournament in recent years. The USTA has not determined how to pay for the roof, Zausner said.
“Maybe there’s an NBA opportunity,” he said. “Once we start looking at that type of price tag, we need to see what other benefits there are to having a roof.”
...Seven years ago, when the USTA began studying the feasibility of enclosing the facility, officials had brief talks with the NBA about bringing another team to New York to play in a covered Ashe stadium, and the Nets’ situation came up in the conversations. The USTA did not speak directly to the Nets, Zausner said. “They were very preliminary discussions, and it was before Bruce Ratner planned the Nets arena as the foundation of a much larger development in Brooklyn,” Zausner said.
Ratner’s $4 billion Atlantic Yards project, first announced in 2003, has encountered problems with financing and neighborhood opposition. The USTA site is not an option, a Nets spokesman said, stating that construction in Brooklyn will start in the spring after the final lawsuit is resolved, with the arena opening in 2011.
NoLandGrab: An existing facility that could be adapted for a fraction of the price of a new arena, adjacent to a subway line and a Long island Railroad station, with ample parking? Of course it's "not an option."
Posted by eric at December 8, 2008 1:17 PM