Hello, will they be going?
Possible D-Day looms in Phoenix for Cards, Coyotes
Posted: Monday March 15, 1999 08:50 AM
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Coyotes president Shawn Hunter insists that moving the team out of America West Arena will keep it in Phoenix for the long term. Vincent Laforet/Allsport |
PHOENIX (AP) -- A critical day looms in the near future for the Arizona
Cardinals and the Phoenix
Coyotes, sports franchises searching for permanent homes in their
adopted city.
Votes on new stadium proposals for both teams are scheduled this
spring and neither is sure to pass, which could leave both teams feeling
trapped in situations they've been trying to escape.
The Coyotes are unhappy with their limited revenue stream at America
West Arena, a $90 million facility built for the NBA's Phoenix Suns in
1992. They want to build their own 20,000-seat venue on the site of a dying
mall in suburban Scottsdale as part of 92-acre shopping, dining and
entertainment complex.
However, the $624 million Los Arcos redevelopment project has been met
with stiff opposition from surrounding homeowners, merchants and residents.
They bemoan the estimated $219 million needed from public funds plus the
threat of increased traffic, noise and crime in their neighborhood.
The plan would not raise the tax rate, but rather tap into existing
state tax revenues.
A public referendum is scheduled for May 18. If the deal is defeated,
it would beg the question: Could the former Winnipeg Jets become vagabonds
again?
"We are playing to win on Plan A," said Coyotes president Shawn
Hunter. "A new facility will keep us here long-term and keep hockey growing
in a very important part of the country."
On the football side of the coin are the Cardinals, who relocated from
St. Louis in 1988 and have played the last 10 seasons at Arizona State
University's Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe.
They are the only NFL team still using a college facility and have
long complained about the open-air stadium's lack of amenities and adequate
shade for fans.
The Cardinals hope to build a 67,400-seat stadium with a retractable
roof as part of $1.8 billion project that would also include a world-class
convention center, hotels, parks, shops and golf courses on 650 acres in
nearby Mesa.
More than $1 billion of the so-called Rio Salado Crossing would come
from private financing with the Cardinals pledging $75 million more. But
the project is facing some roadblocks, particularly because it includes a
20-year, quarter-cent sales tax increase for Mesa residents to help pay the
city's $500 million share of construction costs.
If voters turn down the deal May 18, rumblings will start anew about
the Cardinals possibly moving, although vice president and general counsel
Michael Bidwill said the team is "absolutely" committed to staying in
Arizona.
Bidwill, whose family has owned the franchise since 1932, believes the
project will get done.
"Of the 15 referendums on new sports facilities around the country
that have gone to a public vote the past three years, 13 have passed," he
said. "Based on that track record and the fact that we're investing more
money than any other team... it makes us optimistic."
The Arizona Cardinals are the only NFL team using a college facility. George Rose/Allsport |
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In the middle of all this is Jerry Colangelo, president and CEO of
both the Suns and the Arizona Diamondbacks, the major-league baseball
expansion team that started play here last season.
The Diamondbacks play in the state-of-the-art $365 million Bank One
Ballpark in downtown Phoenix, just two blocks from America West Arena.
Ironically, it features the same retractable dome that the Cardinals seek.
In fact, Cardinals owner Bill Bidwill had a falling out with Colangelo
and starting seeking his own stadium deal when it became apparent the
ballpark would be baseball-only and not multi-use.
Colangelo -- a power-broker in this city for more than 30 years -- is
not a hockey fan, yet he was instrumental in bringing the Coyotes here in
December 1995, making Phoenix one of just 11 U.S. metro areas to have NHL,
NBA, NFL and major-league baseball franchises.
Colangelo acts as the city-appointed landlord to the Coyotes at
America West Arena. He and Coyotes owner Richard Burke have become enemies
over the Coyotes' five-year lease which limits their revenue stream on
luxury box sales, signage and concessions.
Burke said his team is losing $10 million per year at the arena and
the losses could total $50 million by the time their lease expires in 2001.
"The fact is, we did give them a sweetheart lease. We've done
everything we could to make it a good home for them," Colangelo said.
"Their rent is actually half of what the Suns pay in rent. We pay all the
operating expenses for the building. They don't."
Still, there's the continuing problem of 4,283 obstructed view seats
for hockey games in the upper north end at America West Arena. Arena
officials are finalizing a plan to renovate the north end and use
collapsible riders to fix about 2,500 of the seats that keep fans from
seeing most of the ice below.
Burke said he feels the plan comes too late and staying at America
West Arena makes no financial sense.
"Los Arcos has been our single focus for the last six months," Hunter
said. "That's the only viable option for us long-term. We want to do
whatever it takes to keep the franchise in Arizona and make it successful."
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman is a backer of the Coyotes' new arena
plan and says an All-Star Game could be forthcoming if the project reaches
fruition.
A similar carrot is being dangled by NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue,
who says the Phoenix metro area could get the 2004 Super Bowl if the
Cardinals get their stadium built.
Sun Devil Stadium was host to the 1996 Super Bowl, which pumped about
$300 million into the local economy.
Those scenarios make May 18 "an important day -- for sports teams and
sports fans in the Valley," Hunter said.
All concerned know two defeats at the polls could eventually make
Phoenix a two-sport town again.
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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