New Arena Funding Plan Nearly Complete

The Louisville Arena Authority is expected to announce a new plan to finance the downtown arena this week.Funding for the project collapsed last month when Moody’s Credit Rating Agency warned that Assured Guaranty, the bonds’ insurer, could have its credit rating downgraded. Assured’s rating is still intact, and the authority’s new plan apparently calls for the agency to insure the sale of $329 million in fixed rate bonds.Moody’s has given the bonds their lowest investor-grade rating, but two more agencies have yet to issue ratings on the bonds. Mayor Jerry Abramson says he doesn’t expect the low rating to be a problem.“Assuming there’s not a complete change again on Wall Street as has occurred twice before, we feel pretty confident, pretty darn confident actually; very optimistic that there’ll be a chance for this to go forward, that we’ll be able to nail it down and that it’ll be in the context – in the framework – of the dollars we said it was always going to cost," says Abramson.The final deal could be in place for the Arena Authority’s meeting Thursday.