The Phoenix city council votes tomorrow on the city’s proposed $168 million Suns arena renovation plan, and the Arizona Republic’s Jessica Boehm took the opportunity for a deep dive into the history of people hating stadium and arena subsidies, and found that yep, people sure do have a history of hating stadium and arena subsidies:
Sports deals have never been wildly popular. In 1997, a disgruntled man shot former County Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox in the back and claimed it was justified because of her support of a tax hike to build the Diamondbacks ballpark…
“Slowly, over time, we’ve seen more and more of these deals and more and more economic studies showing that they’re not productive for cities,” said Neil deMause, co-author of Field of Schemes: How the Great Stadium Swindle Turns Public Money Into Private Profit and a companion website that critiques professional sports deals…
With three of the four major sports teams searching for a new opportunity, it’s a lot for a community to handle, [University of Michigan sport management professor Mark] Rosentraub said.
“If they had come at different times it may have been easier to swallow, but it’s difficult to swallow everything at once,” he said.
Also, the Suns are terrible, and sports teams are even more fabulous money-makers than in the past, and you know the drill (and also I don’t to quote Boehm quoting me more). Plus, Boehm confirms that while the public money that would go into the arena project would come from the Phoenix Sports Facilities Fund, not the city’s general fund, the city absolutely could spend that money on other tourism needs, thus saving general fund money, if it told the Suns to go pound sand.
Of course, the one thing that Boehm’s story doesn’t address is that regardless of whether Phoenix residents still hate the deal or have been swayed by city leaders’ incessant repeating that no, no, really it’s a good thing, it doesn’t much matter, because the fate of the bill is going to depend on whether the holdout councilmembers who delayed the plan’s approval back in December now say okay, we talked about it and nobody yelled too loud at the public hearings so fine, go ahead or not. Public opinion isn’t what matters here, it’s public officials’ perception of public opinion, which is a far murkier thing.
Also, late last week Phoenix revealed the breakdown of the planned arena costs, and while the biggest share — $99.58 million for new mechanical, electrical, plumbing and communication systems — genuinely sounds like an upkeep issue, the next-biggest line item — $26.37 million for “furniture, fixtures, and equipment” plus upgrades to food service areas — uh, really does not. It would certainly make the arena nicer and potentially more profitable, which nobody is arguing, but then wouldn’t it make sense for the Suns (or concessionaires) to pay more to use the upgraded facilities? Is anybody on the Phoenix city council going to ask this question? I know the probable answer to this, don’t I?
Phoenix Councilman Sal DiCiccio – Video Statement and Analysis of Current Suns Deal
https://www.facebook.com/DiCiccioSal/videos/396176137854449
DiCiccio has been opposed since the beginning, though. If we’re tea-leaf reading, Nowakowski and Mendoza are the keys, right? If either of them votes no, it’s dead?
From Everything you should know about the Suns arena deal before the Phoenix City Council votes:
Mayor Thelda Williams and Councilwoman Debra Stark have said publicly that they support the deal. Vice Mayor Jim Waring and council members Sal DiCiccio and Vania Guevara have said publicly that they won’t.
That leaves three key votes in Wednesday’s meeting: Council members Michael Nowakoski (who is facing a recall election), Felicita Mendoza (who is an interim member) and Laura Pastor.
The deal needs five “yes” votes to pass.
https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/phoenix/2019/01/23/everything-you-need-know-phoenix-suns-arena-deal/2609816002/
The $235 million proposal to renovate the Phoenix Suns arena will pass Wednesday’s City Council vote, said a councilman who will be deciding against the deal.
“They’ve got the votes, they’ve got it all locked up right now. It should be a 5-3 vote,” Councilman Sal DiCiccio said on KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Arizona’s Morning News, hours before the meeting.
http://ktar.com/story/2407452/phoenix-councilman-will-vote-no-on-suns-arena-but-thinks-it-will-pass/
Ah Democracy… or his he just psychic and knows what the vote will be hours or days before hand?
Why Phoenix absolutely must keep the Suns at Talking Stick Resort Arena
https://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/editorial/2019/01/23/phoenix-suns-stay-talking-stick-resort-arena-approve-deal/2655476002/
“Because the sports page is the only thing that keeps us in business.” Oops, not supposed to say that.
Live Feed of the Phoenix City Council Meeting
https://www.phoenix.gov/phxtv?FilterCategory=Title&FilterValue=PHXTV%20Live%20Stream&
Tweets of Note:
https://twitter.com/MattGalkaFox10/status/1088183343311511553
https://twitter.com/MattGalkaFox10/status/1088185818697482240
Passed 6-2, as former No vote from Mayor Williams, changed to a Yes.
Sorry about that, Vania Guevara changed her vote from No to Yes.