City Newspaper Archives - 3/2008
SPORTS: City wants control of Rhinos' stadium
Published by Tim Louis Macaluso on Mar 04, 2008
The city owns the land on which the stadium was built. At a press conference this afternoon, Mayor Bob Duffy and city attorney Tom Richards said that Rochester's land contract with the Rhinos' owners permits the city's takeover if the owners don't have a team and a full season in place. "And they didn't have that," Richards said.
The announcement comes on the heels of this morning's Democrat and Chronicle report that a deal between a potential investor and the bank holding the mortgage on the stadium had fallen through.
The city wants to take control of the structure and assure its maintenance and security and either get a new owner for the Rhinos team or get another sports team to use the stadium, Richards said. The stadium's new tenant will have to "prove to the city that they're solvent for at least a year," Richards said.
City officials said they could take control of the stadium within a week, he said.
Asked whether the city could be sued, Duffy said that neither the city nor the state is the culprit. But, he said, anyone can sue anyone. And, he said, "I think this whole issue is going to spark litigation all over the place."
