ATLANTA -- The Atlanta Hawks are planning a $192.5 million renovation of Philips Arena, with the city providing the bulk of the funding.As part of the deal announced Tuesday, the Hawks agreed to an 18-year lease extension to remain at the city-owned arena through 2046.The city will contribute $142.5 million toward the project, which will most noticeably alter the look of the luxury boxes stacked on one side of the arena. There will be new amenities, a variety of different-size suites, improved sightlines for basketball, a state-of-the-art video system, and connected concourses throughout the 17-year-old facility.Philips Arena originally was built to host both the NBAs Hawks and the NHLs Atlanta Thrashers. The hockey team moved to Winnipeg in 2011.Mayor Kasim Reed had pledged to contribute to an arena renovation when the Hawks were in the process of being sold by former controlling owner Bruce Levenson, who gave up the team after revealing that he sent a racially insensitive email. Tony Ressler wound up leading a group that purchased the Hawks and operating rights to the arena.Ressler said all along that he preferred to remain downtown rather than pursue a new facility, as long as Philips Arena was upgraded.We knew that a key part of producing a winning team, providing a superior fan experience and being a civic asset to the city of Atlanta required a renovation of our arena and a meaningful improvement to the downtown area of this city, Ressler said. Todays announcement with the mayor is a significant step toward this goal, and we look forward to this exciting transformation that will ensure that we provide the best fan experience possible now and for the next 30 years.Reed said the renovation was part of a long-range plan to transform an unsightly tract of downtown adjacent to the arena and the new $1.4 billion Mercedes-Benz Stadium, a retractable-roof facility set to open next year as home to the NFL Falcons and a Major League Soccer expansion team, Atlanta United.There have been talks about turning the area, known as the gulch, into a mixed-used development much like the highly successful LA Live complex next to Staples Center in Los Angeles. Reed said its part of a plan to connect the sports venues to popular tourist attractions around Centennial Olympic Park, as well as to one of the citys biggest development flops, Underground Atlanta.This is the first stake in the ground in transforming the critical corridor, Reed said. I want to thank Tony Ressler and the Atlanta Hawks ownership for committing to this deal that will keep the NBA in our city and help reimagine downtown for the millions of residents, visitors and tourists who come to Atlanta each year.Its another huge commitment by the city to a sports venue, though Reed stressed that no money from the citys general fund will be used and no new taxes will be needed.About $110 million will come from an extension of car-rental tax and the city will contribute $12.5 million from the sale of Turner Field to Georgia State University and a development company, a deal expected to close by the end of the year. The remaining $20 million from the city will come from a series of expected future land sales, the mayor added during a City Hall announcement.The renovation of Philips Arena comes on the heels of the city agreeing to spend at least $200 million -- and perhaps much more, some critics have argued -- for the Falcons new stadium, which will replace the 24-year-old Georgia Dome. In addition, suburban Cobb County put up some $400 million in public funding to build a new baseball stadium for the Atlanta Braves that opens next season.SunTrust Park, about 12 miles from downtown, will replace Turner Field even though that stadium is only two decades old. Georgia State plans to downsize the Braves former home into a 30,000-seat stadium for its football program.The renovations on Philips Arena will begin next summer and should be completed by the start of the 2018-19 season. The Hawks will continue to play at the arena during the overhaul, with much of the work being done over the next two offseasons. Cheap Nike Flex Shoes Online .com) - The Montreal Canadiens embark on their first road trip of the season as they head out west to battle the Calgary Flames on Wednesday night. Cheap Nike Flex China . Thousands of Southern California fans enveloped the Trojans to celebrate an improbable win secured by an interim coach, an inconsistent kicker and a thin defence that wouldnt break. http://www.cheapnikeflex.com/ . Roman Josi had a goal and an assist to lead the Predators to a 4-1 victory over the Dallas Stars on Monday night. Nike Flex Shoes On Sale . No. 13-seeded John Isner and No. 21 Philipp Kohlschreiber were among six players who dropped out of the tournament on Tuesday, joining No. 12 seed Tommy Haas and two other players who withdrew on Monday. 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STEAM CORNERS, Ohio -- You could look at the Honda Indy 200 as a microcosm of the 2016 Verizon IndyCar Series season as a whole.?Simon Pagenaud and Will Power, the two main (Chevrolet equipped, sorry Honda) championship contenders, waged an intense duel over 90 laps at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course that ended in favor of the Frenchman.?The Team Penske teammates started alongside each other on the front row, and along with their respective crews, fought a clean and compelling battle that demonstrated why they have distanced themselves from the field this year.?In typical IndyCar fashion, the race could have thrown a surprise result, as Mikhail Aleshin and Conor Daly used alternate pit stop strategies to combine to lead more than half the laps.?But ultimately the eighth win of Pagenauds IndyCar career came down to hard, wheel-to-wheel racing -- with one of his teammates.?If anybody doubts how hard the man from Poitiers is willing to push in the quest for his first series championship, they should watch a replay of Lap 66 of Sundays race.?Lining up third behind an off-sequence Daly and Power for the restart, Pagenaud banged wheels as he tried to pass Power on the outside of Turn 4 on the entry to Mid-Ohios esses.?With Power suffering from rubber pickup on his tires, Pagenaud stayed glued to his teammates gearbox through the next four corners and got a run through Thunder Valley to try an audacious move into Turn 10 that got properly chopped. But Pagenaud stayed with it, ducking to the inside on entry to the Carousel.?The two Penske cars made contact again, but the No. 22 emerged ahead of the No. 12 through the sequence of corners and pulled away in the run to the finish. Pagenaud won by 4.16 seconds and stretched his championship advantage to 58 points over Power.?Compounding the joy from his fourth win of the season (and first since early May on the road course at Indianapolis), most of the other drivers in championship contention had bad days Sunday at Mid-Ohio.?Helio Castroneves and Scott Dixon came into the weekend third and fourth in the title sweepstakes but crashed out together in an incident that, again, was pretty much symbolic of the season as a whole.?While Pagenaud and Power separate themselves from the IndyCar field, everyone else self-destructs.?Pagenaud started the season with three wins and three second-place finishes, and he withstood challenges from Dixon and several others before Power emerged as his main contender.?An under-the weather Power missed the season opener, but he has bounced back with a championship-caliber season in any other year against any other teammate. As well as the Australian performed on Sunday, it wasnt enough to topple his teammate from scoring a very timely victory.?I just made a dogs breath of the bloody restart, which allowed him to get into the position to have a shot, Power said. And if you have a shot, of course you cant pass it up. Youve got to go for it, and he did.?I really put myself in a bad position, and I should have done a better job of just getting a jump on the restart. ?No question. Mid-Ohio is a notoriously difficult place to pass, so Pagenaud knew his only chance to pass Power would comme on a restart or soon after.dddddddddddd?When the opportunity came, Pagenaud struck with ruthless precision. When Power lagged, Pagenaud raced him hard and clean and was rewarded with a satisfying victory on a day when he wondered whether he could even make the start after tweaking his back in the Saturday morning practice session.?It looked like an excellent opportunity for Power -- or Castroneves, Dixon, or even Josef Newgarden -- to capitalize.?But serial blocker Castroneves took care of Dixon and himself, while Aleshin -- who had the race in the bag based on his midrace pace -- crashed out Newgarden in the pits.?That set up the Lap 66 restart showdown between Pagenaud and Power. And we know how that came out.?I knew that was my chance, Pagenaud said. On that restart, it was time to go. And it was a pretty interesting lap. That was fun driving like that.?Thats racing, he added. It was fair, it was clean. It was hard racing, and Im just glad I won.?Team Penske drivers arrived at Mid-Ohio ranked 1-2-3 in the IndyCar Series, and the order remained the same when they left.?But Castroneves is now 111 points behind Pagenaud with four races remaining, as Pagenaud and Power have turned the title chase into a two-man show.?Power started the season in a 40-point hole thanks to the concussion-like symptoms that held him out of the opener at St. Petersburg. And hard as he has tried -- matching Pagenaud win for win up through Sunday -- he just cant seem to make up that disadvantage.?It was a good clean battle and it was tough, but it sucks finishing second, Power said. Simon did a bloody good job. He saw an opportunity and he went for it, which he should.?Its turning into a pretty good battle, though the points have opened up, obviously, he added. We need to keep pushing.?With no team orders at Team Penske, Pagenaud and Power duked it out fair and square, and the fastest man won.?Thats the way it played out at Mid-Ohio -- and on the season as a whole.?Sundays race was the kind of clean, fair competition that Roger Penske relishes. In terms of intrateam championship battles, this one is far more authentic and realistic than the one being contested between Mercedes-Benz teammates Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg in Formula One.? ?Well look, those guys both want it, and I think thats the reason theyre both driving for us, Penske said of Power and Pagenaud. Fortunately it didnt cause a problem, but overall it was a little dicey.?A little dicey but nobody crashed. That next Penske team meeting will be a lot less awkward than it could have been.?Mid-Ohio, with big crowds lining the hillsides surrounding the old-fashioned road course, was a great showcase for the IndyCar Series. It summed up the whole season, in fact.?It was close racing but it was clean, to the limits, Pagenaud said. At the end of the day, we didnt crash. We did what we were supposed to do as top drivers. I thought it was a great battle, and it was fantastic for the fans, what happened.?I just saw a chance and I went for it, really. Didnt think much more of it. 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