Colorado Peace Ride

This year of change continued Thursday with the final Rockets game on Fox Sports Houston, which signed on as Home Sports Entertainment in January 1983 with a Rockets game and had been the teams cable/satellite home, except for a brief period, ever since.

But what escaped my notice until this week is that Thursday also marked the end of the Rockets contract with KILT (610 AM), their radio flagship since 2002.

We know that when the Rockets next take the court, they will be seen on the newly launched Comcast SportsNet Houston. But where will they be heard?

KILTs new contract with the Texans binds CBS Radio even more fervently with the NFL. The Rockets are KILTs second team, and I cant imagine that sits well with management.

So I think its fair to assume Rockets radio rights will be in play. The team will not comment, and KILT program director Gavin Spittle also declined comment Thursday.

Possible alternatives include Clear Channels KBME (790 AM) or KTRH (740 AM). If Comcast retains KFNC (97.5 FM), maybe the Rockets would choose to capitalize on the NBAs relationship with ESPN. And if youre looking for a dark horse, what about supplementing news with sports on KROI (92.1 FM)?

While we await a decison, the Rockets radio future is another variable in a market filled with moving parts.

Cable changes

Every time I mention CSN Houston, someone asks if it will be available only to Comcast cable subscribers.

Thats not the case. It will be offered to DirecTV, Dish Network, U-verse and other cable providers, who must strike a deal with the NBC Sports Group to carry it.

As for Fox Sports Houston, it will continue with Astros games through the end of the baseball season. Dont be surprised if the Houston area is subsequently folded back into the greater five-state Fox Sports Southwest empire.

Jon Heidtke, longtime general manager for the Fox regional network, said last week in College Station the future of the FS Houston footprint has yet to be decided.

We will be bringing events into the Houston marketplace with the Texans and Dynamo and our high school coverage, and I certainly anticipate we will always have a presence (in Houston), Heidtke said. But as we bring more content in from around the region (including a full load of Rangers games next season), having Houston fall under the Southwest banner is an option rather than having a branded Houston entity. We wouldnt have the (satellite) transponder needs for Astros and Rockets games.

Voice of the Skeeters

Thursdays inaugural Sugar Land Skeeters game also featured the debut of Fort Bend County native and University of Texas graduate Lane Zieben calling play-by-play on the teams website, SugarLandSkeeters.com, and Cox Radios websites at TheNew93Q.com and HoustonsEagle.com.

Zieben, who grew up in the First Colony area and graduated from Elkins High School, spent the past six years in Austin, graduating from Texas in 3½ years and building up his rÃsumà calling Longhorns soccer, softball and volleyball games and assembling and voicing video highlights for the Round Rock Express games.

He also worked as a spotter for Carter Blackburn on ESPN college football broadcasts and called games off monitors in Austin during the World University Games in China.

When I heard rumblings about the Skeeters, my first thought was how I could get on with them, Zieben said. I contacted them a year before they were thinking about hiring a broadcaster, and I checked back again in six months and every time I came to town to visit my family.

He admires Jim Nantzs delivery, Mike Tiricos versatility, Bob Costas storytelling ability and Blackburns hustle, which has influenced his own. And now he has a chance to show what he can do in the biggest grind of them all: 140-plus baseball games, home and away.

Its my show to run, he said. But Im confident. Im grateful to the people who have helped get me to this position, and now its paying it forward. You have to meet the right people who know how much you care about what you want to do. Carter gave me that opportunity, and now its paying off.

Four DVRs, no waiting

KPRC (Channel 2) has its second Dynamo away game at 6:30 pm Saturday at DC United. Glenn Davis and Eddie Robinson will call the game with Channel 2 reporter Ryan Korsgard on the sidelines. …

The nationwide sports migration to FM continues, with ESPN announcing a deal Thursday to move its New York station from 1050 AM to 98.7 FM, where it will displace the legendary urban station WRKS, aka KISS FM. ESPN will lease 98.7 FM from Emmis Communications and will flip its AM signal to ESPN Deportes in September. … Im a fan of WGBHs American Experience on PBS, but the Jesse Owens film at 7 pm Tuesday didnt show me anything I hadnt learned from ESPNs SportsCentury bio, which aired in 1999.

NBCs Olympic hosts from London will be Bob Costas in prime time, Al Michaels and Dan Patrick on daytime shows and Mary Carillo in late night. Ryan Seacrest, John McEnroe and Bela Karolyi will return as contributors. … NBA games on ABC this season averaged a 3.3 rating with 5.4 million viewers, up from 3.0 and 5.1 million, respectively.

david.barron@chron.com

Tags: Sports Entertainment

MARKHAM-

Town councillors gambled Thursday night on the success of a proposed $325-million sports and entertainment complex by agreeing to borrow half the money.

In an 11-to-2 vote, the 13-member council voted to borrow $162.5 million for 20 years, with development partners bankrolling an equal amount and agreeing to give the centre to the town which would profit from a lease-back deal, plus ticket sales and parking fees.

Sports entrepreneur W. Graeme Roustan and real estate billionaire Rudy Bratty pledged to bankroll the remaining $162.5 million for the proposed 20,000-seat, 600,000-square-foot Markham Sports, Entertainment and Cultural Centre also called the GTA Centre.

This is an exciting opportunity for Markham, Mayor Frank Scarpitti said after the last public delegate finished speaking at 10 pm, and before councillors addressed the meeting prior to the 11:16 pm final vote.

Reminding councillors that they were briefed during in-camera meetings over the past 18 months, Scarpitti said council only agreed to the shared financial partnership deal.

In future months, as more steps in the project are proposed, council can reject subsequent stages they find unacceptable, he said.

This is far from the end of the process, Scarpitti said. Were quite a ways from getting a shovel in the ground … there is a lot of work to be done.

He predicted the exciting proposal would attract more business, sports and housing construction near the site as part of a major expansion in an area called Markham Town Centre.

Additional residential surcharges levied on new condominiums and apartments would offset a major portion of the towns 20-year-loan, but a builders group representative told council her members regard the extra fees as unfair.

Scarpitti said property values will increase with new construction near the site, and developers will profit proportionately.

The two holdouts, York Regional Councillors Jim Jones and Joe Li, opposed the town financing the project, saying it should be a privately-financed, privately-run facility, like other large sports and entertainment complexes.

Li criticized councils decision to hold in-camera meetings and urged colleagues to be more transparent and open future discussions to the public.

Scarpitti defended the private talks, stiffly reminding Li that council adheres to Ontario Municipal Act guidelines, to avoid lawsuits and offered to give him a copy.

I dont think weve done anything inappropriate, the mayor said.

Roustan told reporters he and his partners hope to start construction near Kennedy Rd. and Hwy. 407 late this summer or early fall, with the complexs opening predicted for the fall of 2014.

Town CAO Andy Taylor said even if costs rise and the complex fails to meet expectations for concerts, sports, art shows, an art gallery, plus public events, households would pay only $160 each over five years to cover the loan.

As councillors and about 150 gallery visitors listened to his presentation earlier — with some residents expressing doubts about elected officials having time to properly digest details — Taylor predicted no tax rate increase related to the building of this facility.

He said additional public transit bus routes and parking would be provided and more than 600 jobs would be created for construction of the complex.

One of the big draws for the complex would be a second National Hockey League team for the GTA, but Roustan, CEO of GTA Sports amp; Entertainment, and Bratty, head of the Remington Group of developers, insisted their plans do not rely on landing a second franchise.

The developers said Live Nation, a partner in the project, will book events that are expected to attract 780,000 annual paying visitors.

There has been overwhelming support from the community, Roustan told reporters.

At the first public meeting last Friday, he promised to work non-stop to bring the 2015 World Junior Hockey Championship to Markham, which would stand a good chance if the complex is finished the previous fall.

His assistant on Thursday gave reporters a copy of Hockey Canada president and CEO Bob Nicholsons letter to Roustan last Oct. 17, which promised to consider his new facility when the 2015 word Junior Championships venue is being considered and welcomed the project.

Several local sports leaders lauded the project.

Bruce Jackson, president of the 50-year-old Markham Waxers Junior A hockey team, said his group is excited … at the prospects of a facility like this, which will enthuse young players.

This is a fabulous thing, he said.

There will be three more public meetings to discuss the next stages of the project, with councils motion asking staff to keep reviewing plans and consider applications from other investors.

Tags: Sports Entertainment