DeVos blames a limited number of skyboxes and expensive club seats, falling attendance and rising player salaries for the Magic's financial dilemma. The city says public sentiment isn't supporting the construction of a new $250-million basketball court and that, although the city doesn't want to lose the Magic, DeVos will have to solve his own money problems.

For example, the influential 5,000-member Central Florida Hotel Motel Association is adamant against using any part of tourist tax money for a new sports house. The hoteliers feel the tourist tax should be used to promote the hospitality business, not sports.

As for renovating, expanding and updating the existing arena, DeVos is willing to contribute only an amount comparable to what most other owners in the league have given in similar situations--between 11% and 29% of the cost. And that's the rub. Nobody yet knows what it will cost to put a new face on the TD Waterhouse Centre. A city-commissioned study is due in March, supposedly detailing expenses involved. The arena cost $110 million when it was built in 1989.