<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Orlando leaders needled Magic basketball executives Monday to reveal the team's private cash pledge to build a new arena and used their strongest language yet to press them to keep their home court downtown and not move it to the county's tourism corridor. "I smell a rat here," City Commissioner Patty Sheehan said. "It's really wrong to play the city against the county. Are they the Orlando Magic or are they the Orange County Cheap Trick?" The Magic presented their proposal for a new $385 million arena to Orlando commissioners as part of formal review of all three public projects, which includes a new downtown performing-arts center and an upgraded Florida Citrus Bowl. They did not reveal how much they will contribute, saying only the amount will be "significant." City and Orange County leaders are trying to cobble together tourist-tax revenues, property taxes and other resources to pay for all three projects at once. The Magic say they will reveal their contribution when negotiations are further along. But as city and county leaders remain divided over how to pay for the projects, county leaders are openly courting a proposal by a pair of International Drive developers to move Orlando's only professional team next to the Orange County Convention Center, outside the city limits. Such an I-Drive deal could leverage more money by surrounding the arena with restaurants and shops that would pay into a special taxing district to help fund its construction and operations. After 20 years of loyalty to the team from the city and its residents, Sheehan said she was upset the Magic would consider moving to an area tailored to vacationers and conventioneers. "Is this for the residents who live here or is it for the tourist industry?" she said. "We're playing a lot of games here, and it's not basketball." Magic leaders so far remain uncommitted to a site. "If we can make all three of these facilities work, while pushing a downtown site, that would be, probably, the optimal issue here," Magic Chief Operating Officer Alex Martins said after the meeting. "But our position is all three of these things need to be done and we're willing to do, and listen, to whatever possibilities exist, both downtown or in this community." Martins said fans have been sending phone and other messages making it clear "there is overwhelming support for the facility being downtown." But Martins said the team has not seen the complete details of an I-Drive proposal. He stressed there are no secret negotiations or any attempt to play city and county officials against each other. "There's no dirty politics at work, as it relates to our organization," Martins said. "There's certainly no backdoor dealings or whatever it may be on our behalf." The Magic faced the stiffest grilling Monday, but commissioners had questions about all three projects. City Commissioner Phil Diamond questioned whether there is enough money available to complete all three projects and singled out the Citrus Bowl in particular. He asked whether the economic benefits of a renovated football stadium would be big enough to justify the $252 million expense, which would amount to more than $20 million a year in debt payments. Diamond also pointed out that although Orlando Magic executives have said they will contribute more than teams in comparable markets, teams that have paid most or all of the cost of new arenas have been left off the Magic's comparison list. County leaders expect to be briefed on the potential local economic benefits that the projects bring today. The next possible turning point comes Oct. 3, when the point man for the I-Drive proposal -- developer Marc Watson -- makes his pitch to county leaders to move the Magic out of downtown. Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer told commissioners the tourism industry supports building all three venues downtown and downplayed talk of putting an arena near International Drive, stressing it's coming from Watson alone.</div> Source
