Contract documents obtained by The Indianapolis Star through a records request show Westfield officials committed to paying half of the hotel rental bill last year while publicly saying that no city incentives would be used to help lure the Colts. The team is leasing a 152-room Cambria Suites for roughly 30 days each summer to accommodate players, coaches and staff.
The Colts announced in September that they planned to move the team’s training camp to the suburb’s 400-acre Grand Park sports campus. The team’s contract to lease the campus said it would pay the city $653,000 over 10 years. The city was positioned to make an estimated $190,000 per year from parking, food and beverage sales.
Todd Burtron, chief of staff to Mayor Andy Cook Cheap Isaiah Oliver Jersey , said the contract isn’t misleading and that technically city funds aren’t being used. Money from Hamilton County’s tourism bureau, Visit Hamilton County, will cover the cost, he said.
The tourism bureau gave the city a $313,000 grant to pay for locker rooms at the Grand Park facility, Burtron said. That money will instead be used to help fund the team’s hotel stay this year and city funds were used to cover the locker room expenses Cheap Carlton Davis Jersey , he said.
The bureau was interested in helping pay for a long-term amenity that would be used by others beyond the Colts, said Visit Hamilton County President Brenda Myers. She said she doesn’t plan to audit or protest how the city used the grant. She also said the bureau hasn’t yet approved any money for Westfield in 2019 or 2020, but wouldn’t rule it out.
”I know the lockers are built because we saw them,” she said. ”As long as the project got done, then we feel like the goal was accomplished.”
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Information from: The Indianapolis Star, Mike Budenholzer wanted to coach elsewhere. The Atlanta Hawks finally agreed it’s a good idea.
The Hawks and Budenholzer mutually agreed to part ways Wednesday in a move announced by the team in a three-sentence statement.
The decision was not totally unexpected as Budenholzer was granted permission to interview with other teams even though he is under contract with the Hawks for two more seasons.
According to multiple reports Cheap Calvin Ridley Jersey , Budenholzer interviewed with the Phoenix Suns for their vacant coaching position last week before withdrawing his name from consideration. Budenholzer now may be a top candidate to coach the New York Knicks.
Budenholzer was 213-192 in the regular season and 17-22 in the playoffs in five seasons with Atlanta. The Hawks were an Eastern Conference-worst 24-58 this season.
The Hawks’ free-fall from a franchise-record 60 wins only three years ago to the bottom of the conference this season was startling. The team’s streak of 10 straight playoff seasons ended, but Budenholzer still carried the respect needed to earn interest from other teams looking for a coach.
Even this season, when the Hawks tied with Dallas for the NBA’s third-worst record, they were rarely blown out. They lost 21 games by fewer than 10 points, with only seven losses by 20 or more points.
Always passionate on the bench, at times to the point of earning rebukes from officials Cheap P.J. Hall Jersey , Budenholzer showed no sign of giving up on the team.
”I love what I do,” Budenholzer said on April 11, one day after the end of the disappointing regular season. ”I love this team. I’m focused on what we just did and how we can get better going forward.”
Golden State coach Steve Kerr, who played for the Spurs when Budenholzer was Gregg Popovich’s longtime assistant, said last month he has borrowed from Budenholzer’s strategy.
”I didn’t really pick his brain but I definitely picked his playbook,” Kerr said. ”I really did. Some of that is through Pop. They ran a lot of the San Antonio stuff when they got here to Atlanta. That’s the derivative. … He’s taken a lot of that San Antonio stuff and expanded on it and I’ve definitely stolen some stuff from him.”
Budenholzer was named NBA coach of the year for the 2014-15 season Cheap Brian O'Neill Jersey , when he led the Hawks to their first 60-win season, a division title and their first appearance in the Eastern Conference finals.
He was promoted to president of basketball operations but then gave up that title when Travis Schlenk was hired as general manager in 2017. The loss of power may have been the first step in Budenholzer’s exit.
The Hawks’ inability to retain such top players as Al Horford and Paul Milsap led to the team’s rapid decline. The Hawks fell to the bottom of the conference while leaning heavily on rookie center John Collins, second-year forward Taurean Prince and point guard Dennis Schroder.
The Hawks have scheduled a news conference with Schlenk for Thursday.
Schlenk declined an interview request from The Associated Press.
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