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Page 17 » Wednesday, August 25, 1999
purs’ arena approved by
county officials for vote
men’s 800, men
s 10,000.
after winning;
) 10.80 second;,BAN ANTONIO (AP) — Bexar County
i bronze in afepnmissioners approved an agreement yes-
on Monday thaiBay with the San Antonio Spurs for a $175
itic and contrcBion tax-funded arena and called a Nov. 2
r the top two I® on the issue.
my goals ven Mrm excited. I’m elated. It’s relief. It’s all
j. "The broiKc [fthe above,” Spurs chairman Peter Holt said.
:ut it for me. I-Bexar County Judge Cyndi Krier noted that
led. 1 need to gejotjers will have the final say when they go to
awing board dhe polls in November to decide whether to
next year.” He hotel and car rental taxes to help pay for
lext year’s slhe arena.
Jones has herseftxecutives with the NBA team, the city’s
irecedented five Hy major league sports franchise, have said
mg jump and tv he Spurs need a smaller, more lucrative are-
ng the long jurjabetter designed for basketball,
dggest challengffturrently, the Spurs play in the cavernous
?ed; it’s then Mamodome. Negotiators with the Spurs, the
vork. Bnty, San Antonio Livestock Exposition
he first one to it mi the Coliseum Advisory Board hammered
ark on my ted: tut the agreement over the weekend after
/ly specialty isrrweks of discussions.
lismissed suggsBrhe pact was outlined in a five-page letter
ut too much )fIntent, which was signed by the four par-
by proclaim.:-;ies yesterday. The agreement outlines the
to win four Bjor provisions that would be included in a
s:Mding contract.
regret it at aLWhe county and the coliseum board would
>ws my mindtkDe landlords for the arena, while the Spurs
mderstand that® livestock exposition would be the major
i in four ever.;;Wants.
r say I’m going'Bunder the letter of intent, the livestock ex-
and a bronze. Bition will pay the county annual rent of
nth a career-bahp million after the arena is built,
f inches in theBfhe amount would increase annually by
r got unlocksB,000 to a maximum of $1.4 million,
if 22-5 MondanBrhe deal calls for the Spurs to pay $28.5
rt of that. Blion up front as a down payment, plus an-
)rn Italian FionAl payments of $1.3 million for rent and $1
’orld champion,Blion toward an operations and mainte-
til the nexicBice fund.
Cuban-born uBThe Spurs also will pay for what the coun-
Spain soaredi fVdescribes as three potential ‘‘black holes”
but her toe apfiBihe arena’s long-term finances: construc-
le foul line. B n cost overruns - annual operating losses
uled it a fair and excess capital repairs,
of 37,815 roariMlf die team manages facility construction
ly had thefina efficiently, there will be no construction cost
match thatHfeBerruns. negotiators said,
e silver at22-9|P ut over the 25-year financing plan,
ns quickly protefire are expected to be annual operating
i hour after the ilosscs in the early years and large capital re-
hx-membefO; pairs in the middle and later years, when
dd theappea ^ 0S ^Y items such as air-conditioning
who re(!if|
izenship
irst woman fror.
itry to win
d at an Olympi
lionships.
Elliott to be released
SAN ANTONIO (AP) — San Antonio
Spurs forward Sean Elliott is scheduled to
be released from a hospital today, a little
more than a week after having a kidney
transplant.
Elliott, 31, needed the transplant be
cause of an illness he has had for several
years called focal segmental glomerular
sclerosis. The condition prevented his kid
neys from properly filtering waste from the
blood.
His brother, 32-year-old Noel Elliott, un
derwent surgery to donate one of his
healthy kidneys for the transplant Aug. 16.
Sean Elliott, a 10-year NBA veteran,
played a big role as the Spurs won their first
NBA championship in June. A 3-pointer he
made while balancing on his tiptoes in the
final seconds of a game was crucial in the
team’s victory over Portland in the Western
Conference finals.
Spellman adjusting to new position
WICHITA FALLS (AP) —
Alonzo Spellman has been a
defensive end ever since he
started playing football and
he’s never been interested
in changing positions.
But after 19 months away
from the NFL, Spellman is
more than happy to move to
defensive tackle if that’s
what the Dallas Cowboys
want him to do.
‘T wouldn’t be in there if
I wasn’t willing to do it,”
Spellman said yesterday fol
lowing his second practice
as a first-team tackle. ‘Tf it’s
going to make the team bet
ter, then I’m all for it.”
Spellman is lining up
next to Chad Hennings in
the spot Leon Lett fills when
he’s not suspended.
The NFL has yet to an
nounce how many games
Lett will miss during his
third ban for violating the
league’s substance abuse
rules, but it’s sure to be at
least four games.
The Cowboys signed
Spellman because they
wanted a veteran to help so
lidify a youth-filled rotation
at defensive end.
But with rookies Ebenez-
er Ekuban and Peppi Zellner
holding their own at end,
Dallas finds itself more in
need of help at tackle,
where none of the candi
dates to replace Lett have
earned the job.
‘‘We want to see if he can
go inside and give us a little
punch at defensive tackle,”
coach Chan Gailey said. ‘Tf
we had All-Pros in there, we
probably wouldn’t move
him in there.”
Spellman’s only experi
ence playing inside has
been on the nickel pass
rush, when he was the end
forced into the tackle-like
position of having a team
mate on each side.
The biggest change he
faces is handling the various
double-teams and other
blocking schemes offensive
linemen use on tackles.
‘Tt will take some time to
get used to the combination
blocks and the quickness of
things inside,” Spellman
said. “You’ve got to get off
the ball and react to things
a little bit differently than
you do at end.”
Coaches believe the 6-
foot-4, 292-pound Spellman
has the size and speed to
handle the job.
“He just has to learn to
stay low and learn the
reads,” defensive line coach
Jim Bates said.
Spellman was a ferocious
end during his six years
with the Chicago Bears, but
he was released last sum
mer after a spurt of erratic
incidents triggered by bipo
lar disorder, a mental ill
ness.
He sat out last season
while receiving treatment
for the disease and getting
his life back in order.
Early in training camp he
signed with a one-year deal
with Dallas for the veteran
minimum of $400,000.
If Spellman sticks at tack
le, Gailey said he’d be in
clined to carry one less de
fensive lineman, freeing up
a roster spot elsewhere.
He’ll also have the luxury of
using Spellman at tackle or
end once Lett returns.
“I think that would be no
problem for him,” Gailey
said. “I think he could ad
just back and forth easily,
which can be a key factor
for you.”
chillers and other components begin to
wear out.
The agreement also states $1 from every
parking fee and $1.50 from every stock show
ticket sold will go toward paying off arena debt.
The financing plan calls for the county’s
hotel occupancy tax to be increased 1.75 per
centage points and for the county’s car rental
tax to be increased 5 percentage points.
This would make the county’s hotel occu
pancy tax 16.75 cents on the dollar — the sec
ond highest in the nation behind Houston —
while the car rental sales tax would be 15
cents on the dollar.
Commissioner Paul Elizondo said the two
anchor tenants will pay roughly half of the fa
cility’s total cost, while the other half would
come from the hotel and car rental tax in
creases.
“Basically, it looks like we have a deal,”
Elizondo said. “So, in the interest of keeping
the Spurs in town — which is not my main
goal — and to provide a way for this com
munity to have a new venue for the Stock
Show and Rodeo, which gives out so many
scholarships, we have crafted a deal where
the users and the outsiders are paying for the
facility.”..;
Warren hoping to leave injuries behind
WICHITA FALLS (AP) — Chris War
ren was back in Dallas Cowboys training
camp yesterday. So were concerns about
the groin problem that limited him last
season.
Coaches thought Warren was fine un
til he left camp last week for further
treatment with a specialist in Colorado.
He was supposed to be back in time for
a team meeting and a practice Monday,
but missed both.
Coach Chan Gailey was going to meet
with Warren when he arrived Monday
night, but the running back got in so late
that they didn’t get together until yester
day morning. Their talk seemed to re
solve things.
“He made a mistake and he knows
it,” said Gailey, whose anger was obvi
ous Monday. “He’s apologized to me.”
“It was a communication mix-up,”
Warren said. “I could’ve handled it dif
ferently, but I didn’t.”
Now that Warren is back, the focus
returns to the groin problem that kept
him out of seven full games last year and
parts of two more.
“The injury is in kind of a weird
spot,” Warren said. “It can’t be strength
ened with weights or any of the things
we would normally do.
“It’s getting better. I just have to stay
on top of it, that’s the main thing.”
Warren practiced in pads yesterday af
ternoon after only going through agility
drills in the morning. Gailey said there’s
a chance Warren will play in the exhibi
tion game Sunday night against Denver.
“I think we’ve got to see how it feels
in three or four days,” Gailey said. “Then
we’ll be in better shape to make that de
cision.”
Gailey called Warren’s injury a little
problem which could become a big one if
it lingers. The coach said it’s frustrating
not knowing whether he can count on
Warren to be healthy because there were
plans to expand his role in the offense.
“The guy’s a great player,” Gailey
said. “I wish I had it a different way, I re
ally do.”
Warren, Seattle’s all-time leading
rusher, averaged a team-best 4.9 yards
per carry last season and had Dallas’ two
longest runs from scrimmage while play
ing on third downs and backing up Em-
mitt Smith.
Gailey had tinkered with using Smith
and Warren on the field at the same time
and had other ideas he’d hoped to test.
For now, those plans are on hold.
“We’ve lost a little over a week of
work with him, not implementing some
things we would’ve like to have imple
mented,” Gailey said. “Whether we still
can, I don’t know. It’s not like there’s a
lot of installation time to tinker with new
things.”
A few weeks ago, Warren said he fi
nally was back to 100 percent. He had
n’t told coaches of any setbacks before
leaving last week.
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