The work to get the Wizards stadium built out at the Legends continues to move ahead, and today we find out that the Wizards and OnGoal have "sweetened" the deal for the STAR Bonds that would help finance the building of the stadium. According to the KC Business Journal, the Wizards, OnGoal, and Cerner have made some changes to their request to the state in hopes of getting the STAR Bonds. The group has brought the requested STAR Bond money down from $173 million to $155 million. With the project as a whole being $420 million, that means just under 37% of the project would bet covered by the STAR Bonds, instead of 41% of the project. They have also pledged 1,000 more jobs, bringing the total to 9,000 new jobs for Wyandotte County and raised the proposed average salary of those positions over $10,000 to $65,000 per year.
In more news on the project, Charles Gooch over at Ink had an interview with Tim Weaver from Lane4 to discuss the project. Being a Wizards fan himself, Gooch was able to get some information that many Wizards fans will be interested in reading about the stadium. He gets some updated information about the entertainment district area that would be going up in the same area as the stadium, including an idea of what to expect to be in that area (bars, restaurants, etc) and what sort of events would be held there (concerts, festivals, tennis, and other sporting events). According to Weaver (via advisory and planning firm, Conventions, Sports and Leisure International), the stadium and entertainment area, along with the soccer feilds, would host upwards of 800 events a year. That's a shocking number when you think about it. That's over 2 events each day out in that area, including double headers, youth tournaments, concert tie ins and multiple other events. Seriously that is a jaw dropping number of events that could end up being held at this area.
As Gooch mentions, the exclusive negotiation deal that the team signed with Wyandotte County expired tonight, but like Gooch, I'm confident something will get done out at the Legends. Whether it's Monday, or early next week as Gooch says, I don't know, but that would be fantastic news if it is true. And with all the other talk recently it certainly seems like it could be true. Overall, a great post by Gooch with some great information on the development that Wizards fans might not get from the major media.
With these two articles, things seem to be really moving forward and exciting right now. Hopefully we'll hear something good before the Wizards even take the field again at CAB next Saturday the 17th.
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