Saturday, February 05, 2022

MESANOW: Nation's Largest $280-Million Multi-Purpose Sports-and-Entertainment Complex

From the City of Mesa's non-profit newsroom

Bell Bank Park Officially Opens as Nation's Largest Multi-Venue Sports and Entertainment Complex

February 4, 2022 at 12:54 pm
WHERE: Bell Bank Park, 1 Legacy Drive, Mesa, AZ 85212

WHAT: Representatives from Legacy Cares, Legacy Sports USA, Bell Bank and Oak View Group Facilities, along with friends, family and supporters, gathered Feb. 4 for a special ribbon cutting ceremony to signal the official grand opening of Bell Bank Park, the new $280 million multi-purpose sports and entertainment complex in Mesa.

Bell Bank Park, fulling the mission of Legacy Cares, opened in January of 2022 to host a number of sports teams, events, and competitions throughout the entire month, but this grand opening and ribbon cutting signifies the official opening of the entire sports and entertainment complex.

ABOUT BELL BANK PARK
Bell Bank Park, a 320-acre world class family sports and entertainment complex, fulfills the mission of Legacy Cares.

The one-of-a-kind complex features a 5,000 seat Outdoor Stadium, 2,800 seat Indoor Arena, (35) Soccer/Lacrosse/Football Fields, (57) Indoor Volleyball Courts, (8) Baseball and Softball fields, (20) Basketball Courts, (41) Pickleball Courts, (12) Beach Volleyball Courts, Obstacle Course Racing Park, (22) Futsal Courts, Gymnastics Center, Dance Studio, Cheer Center, Sports Performance Center, Family Fitness Center, Wellness & Fitness Center, esports Center, Kids Play Center, two zip lines, 2.7 acre Tixr Yard for concerts and events, The G.O.A.T Sports Bar and Restaurant, and so much more. With numerous playing fields, Bell Bank Park powered by Legacy Sports USA serves as a major hub for professional, club and recreation competition at various levels of expertise and proficiency. The Park expands beyond sports. The team at Bell Bank Park will create festivals, signature experiences and live concerts that feature national touring acts. The Park will create a thriving entertainment destination in Mesa and the Greater Phoenix region.

ABOUT OAKVIEW GROUP (OVG)
Oak View Group (OVG) is a global sports and entertainment company founded by Tim Leiweke and Irving Azoff in 2015. OVG is focused on being a positive disruption to business as usual in the sports and live entertainment industry and currently has eight divisions across four global offices (Los Angeles, New York, London, and Philadelphia). In addition, OVG is leading the redevelopment and operations of five other new sports and entertainment arena projects, including the Climate Pledge Arena, home to the National Hockey League's newest franchise, the Seattle Kraken, the UBS Arena in Belmont Park, NY, the new home of the NHL's New York Islanders, Co-Op Live in Manchester, England, Enmarket Arena in Savannah, GA, and the Coachella Valley Arena in Coachella Valley, CA, the home of the newest AHL franchise. OVG Global Partnerships is also responsible for securing the naming rights for these projects, and the 2021 winner of the SBJ Sports Awards for best in Sales, Consulting, and Client Service.

ABOUT LEGACY SPORTS USA
Legacy Sports USA is the organization behind Bell Bank Park, initially the vision of Randy J. Miller, Chairman of Legacy Sports USA, Chad J. Miller, CEO of Legacy Sports USA, and Olympic gold medalist Dan O'Brien, Director of Performance Training at Bell Bank Park. Legacy Sports USA is dedicated to hosting premiere tournament events for youth sports and offering opportunities for athletes of all ages and at all levels to develop skills and enjoy training and competition.
Bell Bank Park also includes outdoor and indoor team athletic facilities geared to high-energy entertainment, sports venues, and a multi-purpose arena and outdoor amphitheater for live events, family shows, exhibitions, and conventions.

For more information visit www.LegacySportsUSA.com.

MENAFN PRESS RELEASE: Ground-Breaking Set by Caliber for 144-Unit The Commons of Mesa in Downtown

Caliber will hold Groundbreaking for The Commons of Mesa on February 23, 2022

MENAFN

menafn.com | 2/4/2022 2:37:04 PM

(MENAFN- News Direct)

Scottsdale, AZ | February 04, 2022 10:00 AM Eastern Standard Time

Caliber (CaliberCos Inc.), a vertically-integrated alternative asset manager and fund sponsor, just announced the groundbreaking for The Commons of Mesa, a 144-unit apartment community located in downtown Mesa will be held on February 23, 2022, at 10 am.

The Commons of Mesa will contain 48 one-bedroom units and 96 two-bedroom units. It will be comprised of twelve buildings each with 12 units surrounding a common courtyard.

It is located at 140 W. 2nd Avenue Mesa, AZ 85201 (between S. Robson and South MacDonald). The development sits on a 2.54-acre lot that is walking distance to Mesa's downtown district.

Caliber is redeveloping 29 West Main Street as a mixed-use property with 10,000 square feet of retail on the ground floor and 90 apartments on the five floors above.

Caliber is in the entitlement process for these apartments now with its partner Bob Worsley of Zennihome.

"Given the national conversation about the lack of attainable housing, Caliber's apartments at The Commons of Mesa and at 29 West Main Street, add 234 new apartments to Mesa and are hitting directly at the need that local governments across the country are trying to address,” continues Hartman.

Caliber is leading the effort to redevelop downtown Mesa.“We are pleased that Mayor John Giles, City of Mesa, is scheduled to participate in this groundbreaking event,” adds Hartman.

By national standards, Mesa is the 34th largest city in the US and one of the fastest growing cities. Its downtown area in particular, where The Commons of Mesa is located, has experienced a renaissance in the past few years with the introduction of a light rail service, redevelopment of its historic core, and the new Arizona State University Campus at Mesa City Center which will host more than a thousand students, faculty and staff and is set to open in spring 2022.

Mesa currently has an annual growth rate of 2% and has seen its population increase by 22.5% since the 2010 census. Future job growth in Mesa over the next 10 years is projected to be 47%, far outpacing the national average.“Now that The Commons of Mesa is under construction, we will start pre-leasing as soon we are far enough along,” concludes Hartman.

The total development cost for The Commons of Mesa is $42M.

Caliber is raising equity for this project in the amount of $9M.

Caliber is co-developing this project with Cardinal Capital Management , a vertically integrated real estate development company that specializes in multi-family and workforce housing.

Another strategic partner for The Commons of Mesa is Waltz Construction.

ABOUT CALIBER

Caliber – the Wealth Development Company – is a middle-market alternative asset manager and fund sponsor with approximately $2 billion in assets under management and development. The Company sponsors private funds and private syndications. It conducts substantially all business through CaliberCos, Inc., a vertically integrated asset manager delivering services which include capital formation and management, real estate development, construction management, acquisitions and sales. Caliber delivers a full suite of alternative investments to a $4 trillion market that includes high net worth, accredited and qualified investors, as well as family offices and smaller institutions. This strategy allows the Company to opportunistically compete in an evolving middle-market arena for alternative investments.

Additional information can be found at CaliberCo.com and CaliberFunds.co.

Friday, February 04, 2022

Stunning Statement - Elon Musk Announces Date of Going to Mars

NEW SEASON FOR SOUTH PARK : Subversive Sitcom Comments on Anti-Maskers ...

How to keep it "fresh" after 25 years - ". . .Though it feels like we’re in a flashpoint moment as a nation and perhaps even species, this is basically business as usual for South Park.

Parker and Stone continue to thrive on the non-commentary that their strategy of partial metaphor affords them, hiding behind the joke once it comes time to make a statement beyond the broadly agreeable. . .

Central

South Park returns with plenty to work with but little to say

In its 25th season opener, Matt Stone and Trey Parker’s subversive sitcom attempts to comment on anti-maskers

<div class=__reading__mode__extracted__imagecaption>A still from South Park. Photograph: Comedy Central<br>A still from South Park. Photograph: Comedy Central</div>

Charles Bramesco

the Guardian

"South Park subsists on controversy and conflict the same way you and I subsist on carbon-based food matter. In this respect, the show could go on forever; the world sure isn’t getting less hysterical and contentious with time, providing Trey Parker and Matt Stone with an infinite supply of grist for their mill of proudly dim-witted parody.

(Or at least, enough to fulfill their contract with Comedy Central for another five seasons and 12 hour-long TV movies to run on the Paramount Plus platform.) Limited more by the practicalities of maintaining a famously rigorous production schedule under the added strain of a pandemic than by creative stagnation, the show now returns to a regular season order following a quasi-hiatus that saw 2020 and 2021 pass with a pair of specials apiece. And because America continues to grow more fractious and paranoid, a pop-culture institution entering its 25th season still has plenty to work with – yet little to say. . .

[...] It’s all easy enough to watch, especially for the hordes of longtime viewers for whom tuning in has become an annual ritual as reliable as the beginning of a new year.

But familiarity and expectedness have never been aspirational qualities for South Park. You can’t spend 25 years making a TV show without developing some habits and routines, and it could be argued that that’s a necessity in the labor-intensive process of generating a complete work of original animation on a weekly basis. Even so, the danger of Stone and Parker’s subversive streak is the soul of the show. Without that, the buttons being pushed don’t feel so hot, a given topic’s equivalent of whinging about those clowns in Congress.

Looking at the history of the small screen, an unending broadcast run and the guarantee of an easily satisfied audience have led to only one thing: complacency. With Parker and Stone now entering their 50s, the greatest challenge facing them is their own success."

NEW POLITICAL STUNTS: Rudy Giuliani Surprise Reveal as "The Masked Singer"

During last week’s taping for the upcoming season, Giuliani ― concealed in a costume that could be anything from a giant taco with a tomato for a head to some glittering, disembodied lips ― reportedly took off his disguise and revealed himself to the judges, who weren’t all pleased to see the former Trump adviser involved in the production.

Rudy Giuliani Revealed As Masked Singer Contestant: Reports

Horrified judges Ken Jeong and Robin Thicke reportedly walked off in protest.

Rudy Giuliani in New York City on Wednesday.

Rudy Giuliani's next stop is reportedly reality television.

By Lydia O'Connor Reporter, HuffPost

HuffPost

Rudy Giuliani, the man who tried to help Donald Trump overthrow the results of the 2020 presidential election, has taken on a new gig as a contestant on Fox’s “The Masked Singer,” Deadline and TMZ reported Wednesday. . .

Judges Ken Jeong and Robin Thicke walked off the stage in protest before eventually returning, Deadline reported, but the two other judges, Jenny McCarthy and Nicole Scherzinger, remained and “bantered” with Giuliani, who was recently subpoenaed by the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Robin Thicke and Ken Jeong with Jenny McCarthy on The Masked Singer.

Giuliani was one the speakers at Trump’s Jan. 6, 2021, rally contesting the 2020 election results that Congress was getting ready to certify. The former New York City mayor told the crowd that voting machines were rigged and that the matter needed to be settled with “trial by combat.”

<div class=__reading__mode__extracted__imagecaption>Rudy Giuliani's next stop is reportedly reality television.

If Giuliani appears as reported ― singing and dancing before a panel of celebrities attempting to guess his identity ― he’ll be following in the footsteps of the GOP’s former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, who competed in the show in 2020 as a pink and purple tie-dye bear.

(Here's what The Guardian printed about that: "In 2020, Sarah Palin, the former governor of Alaska and another controversial political figure, made a similar reveal on the show. Palin said she appeared as a “walking middle finger to the haters out there in the world where I could do whatever I wanted to do”, prompting shock and criticism of the show." Here's the reference for that quotation: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/feb/03/rudy-giuliani-surprise-masked-singer-judges-walking-off

Does Giuliani even sing? Does he dance? There aren’t many examples of either, . ."

ON THE BREAKFAST MENU TODAY IN AMERICA: Spectacular Opening Ceremonies Winter Olympics 2022

NBC, the Peacock network with the rights to broadcast the Olympics, will show the opening ceremony live, starting its show at 6:30 a.m. Friday.

According to the network, this year’s Olympics will be the first to include coverage of all events both live and on demand.

The ceremony, which officially opens the Winter Games even though some events already have started, is scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. in China. With the 13-hour time difference to the East Coast of the United States, that’s 7 a.m. for some of the country.

This post has two feature stories and links to other related content: 1 is from HuffPost and the other from Aljazeera

Olympic Fans In U.S. Can Watch Opening Ceremony With Breakfast

NBC, the network with the rights to broadcast the Olympics, will broadcast the opening ceremony live, starting its show at 6:30 a.m. Friday.

<div class=__reading__mode__extracted__imagecaption>Officials ran through the planned light show during a rehearsal for the opening ceremony of the 2022 Winter Olympics.

HuffPost

BEIJING (AP) — Instead of waiting until prime time, Olympic fans in the United States will be able to watch the opening ceremony of the Beijing Games on Friday with their morning cup of coffee. . .Several sports, including hockey and figure skating, started before the opening ceremony began, but no medals will be awarded until Saturday, the first full day of competition.

> There will be six gold medals awarded on that first day, including in men’s moguls and the mixed team relay in short track speedskating. The marquee men’s downhill in skiing is set for Sunday, while Mikaela Shiffrin will go for her first gold on Monday in the women’s giant slalom.

[...] The closing ceremony will be on Feb. 20."

=========================================================================

Winter Olympics: Which world leaders are attending Beijing 2022?

A diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Olympics has reduced the number of world leaders attending the Games.

<div class=__reading__mode__extracted__imagecaption>The National Stadium and the Beijing Olympic Tower are lit in red on the eve of the Chinese New Year ahead of the 2022 Winter Olympics [Jae C. Hong/AP Photo]

The National Stadium and the Beijing Olympic Tower are lit in red on the eve of the Chinese New Year ahead of the 2022 Winter Olympics [Jae C. Hong/AP Photo]

aljazeera.com

A diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympics over human rights violations in China and concerns about COVID-19 have reduced the number of world leaders and foreign dignitaries attending the games.

Still, Chinese President Xi Jinping was due to meet more than 20 leaders as Beijing officially kicks off the event on Friday.

A look at who is attending, who is staying away and why:

Countries whose leaders are attending

Russia: President Vladimir Putin is meeting Xi before the opening ceremony, underscoring their close ties as they both face deteriorating relations with the United States.

Egypt and Serbia: Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Serbia’s Aleksandar Vucic have gravitated towards China amid growing frictions with the West.

Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE: China is Saudi Arabia’s largest buyer of oil and a significant customer of Qatar’s natural gas.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom’s de facto leader, is appearing at the Winter Games as investors and some governments signal warming relations after the 2018 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan: The leaders of all five former Soviet republics in Central Asia are heading to Beijing, highlighting the region’s increasingly close ties with China.

Kyrgyzstan’s President Sadyr Japarov pushed last month for the revival of a long-delayed project to build a railway from China through his country to Uzbekistan. China is Turkmenistan’s only reliable key buyer of natural gas.

Argentina and Ecuador: Argentina is set to become the first major Latin American country to join China’s Belt and Road Initiative. In Beijing, President Alberto Fernandez is also expected to discuss China’s help building Argentina’s first nuclear power plant since 1981.

Meanwhile, President Guillermo Lasso is seeking to renegotiate Ecuador’s $4.6bn debt with China.

United Nations: Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus will attend the opening ceremony.

The International Olympic Committee is a close partner of the UN, Guterres said, and the Olympics brings together people with a message of solidarity and peace.

Countries that are boycotting

The US announced a diplomatic boycott while allowing its athletes to compete. Major US allies followed, including the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada.

Kosovo and Lithuania, whose relations with China have nosedived over their ties with Taiwan, are also boycotting the games diplomatically.

India said it would not send any officials following reports that a Chinese military commander who was involved in deadly clashes with Indian border forces in 2020 had been chosen as one of the Olympic torchbearers in Beijing.

Non-boycotters, but not attending

The royals in Norway and Sweden, who normally attend the Winter Olympics, are not going.

Neither are any leaders from Germany, Austria or Switzerland, all big winter sports nations.

Officially they are citing the coronavirus pandemic, rather than any diplomatic protest. Others, such as Denmark, the Netherlands and New Zealand have cited COVID-19 restrictions while also expressing concern over China’s human rights situation.

MesaZona > Table of Contents : Here's The Menu. Enjoy