Lots going on this week, so let’s get right to it:
- The Arizona Coyotes owners responded to the city of Phoenix’s lawsuit against their Tempe arena plans for including apartments too close to an airport runway by filing a claim against Phoenix for breach of contract and demanding $2.3 billion in damages. The contract in question is a 1994 Intergovernmental Agreement on Noise Mitigation Flight Procedures, and a quick look confirms that only lawyers will have the slightest idea who has the winning legal arguments here. Tempe voters can still make the whole thing moot if they reject the arena plan in a special election on May 16.
- The Buffalo Bills owners and Erie County finally hashed out their final stadium agreement, which can all be found on the county’s website. No major changes from the original $1 billion public price tag, though it does include a community benefits agreement under which the team owners will provide $3 million a year to be spent on unspecified things as yet to be determined by a board that currently has no staff and no budget, which is a great way to design a benefits agreement that doesn’t benefit anyone, as is the case with so many of them.
- The Diamond Sports bankruptcy case trundles on, with the cable network, better known as Bally Sports under a naming rights deal, continuing to broadcast Cleveland Guardians, Minnesota Twins, and Arizona Diamondbacks games despite not paying rights fees for them. MLB lawyers have called this some kind of BS and sued to get either the rights payments or the rights themselves back; it’ll be up to a bankruptcy judge to decide what happens, but meanwhile, if MLB is so concerned about its “valuable intellectual property,” couldn’t it just, you know, not let Diamond crews into the broadcast booth? Maybe that wouldn’t be the legally binding way to address it, but I for one will not be happy until I see a tractor parked in the press box.
- Inter Miami is still hoping to build a soccer stadium on the former site of Melreese golf course, and is hoping to do so with the help of language helpfully titled “ordinance relating to airport zoning regulations in the incorporated and unincorporated areas; amending sections 33-331 and 33-333 of the Code; revising prohibited uses of the outer safety zone for Miami-Dade County Airports; revising definitions,” because that’s perfectly clear.
- Road work has begun for the Las Vegas Grand Prix in November, and nobody knows how much it will cost or who will pay for it, this is fine.
- Also in Las Vegas, former NBA player Jackie Robinson’s plan to build a privately funded arena for no actual sports teams still doesn’t have funding lined up or any construction work done, stop me if you’ve heard this before. Vegas officials say if nothing is in place by September they may pull the project’s permitting, but also they’ve given it extensions time and again before, so probably not.
- In non-sports giveaway news, the U.S. government is spending $39 billion on new private computer chip factories, and while it doesn’t require states to provide their own subsidies for these deals, states are letting chip companies double-dip regardless.
“…a benefits agreement that doesn’t benefit anyone…”
I bet it will benefit the members of the Board that divvies up the boodle.
I think you are off a couple of zeroes on the CHIPS act funding. Shouldn’t it be Billion and not Million?
Yep — thanks, fixed.
I was thinking “potato chip factory.”
That’s essentially just classic DoD pork, isn’t it?
By the words of a former independent presidential candidate, there’s some eCONomix involved here…
“You make more making computer chips than potato chips.”
— H. Ross Perot
I’m not sure that’s actually true. Frito Lay is very profitable for Pepsi.
Former pilot says the location of Tempe’s proposed entertainment district raises safety concerns
[W. David] Doiron said the proposed Tempe Entertainment District would put a group of buildings on the centerline of Arizona’s busiest runway. Pilots taking off on the airport’s east side would have to quickly gain altitude. And when a jet is low to the ground, it’s hard to turn it away from something.
“I can see the conditions and I see the risk. I’m afraid the wheeler-dealers and the famous people that signed onto this thing, they don’t see the risk,” said Doiron.
Doiron also said that Tempe did not seek input from its own aviation panel.
https://kjzz.org/content/1843506/former-pilot-says-location-tempes-proposed-entertainment-district-raises-safety
I suspect that maybe Phoenix is using the airport thing as a pretext to keep out a competitive arena, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t right about the safety issues.
I don’t quite understand the noise thing. If somebody wants to build apartments next to a runway, with the full understanding of how loud it is, then isn’t it *their* problem to figure out how to find people who will put up with the noise? Why would the noise-maker object to that?
“I suspect that maybe Phoenix is using the airport thing as a pretext to keep out a competitive arena”
I’m not sure about that, really. Phoenix doesn’t have an arena that can support hockey without significant upgrades. The Footprint Center (where the Suns play) is not suitable for hockey. The Veterans Memorial Coliseum would need significant upgrades and, of course, it’s 58 years old.
It’s not the hockey games that would concern Phoenix, it’s the other (true money making events -ask Glendale) such as concerts that would be in competition with the Suns arena.
With competition from Chase Field and State Farm Stadium (Taylor Swift) and Desert Diamond Arena, in addition to multiple Indian casino venues Phoenix will never make much money from Footprint Center with or without a Coyotes Arena. The Coyotes won’t make money either. Rental cars, uber fees, airport concessions, more flights with larger planes, air freight etc are the issues that Phoenix is concerned about.
Not for hockey, but other events. It’s well-established that no other existing arena can support an NHL team except, perhaps, the one in Glendale that kicked them out.
The airport as noise-maker would object because people will complain and sue even after they are informed that their residence is directly in the flight path of a major airport. A development like this could also make it difficult for the airport to expand at a later date.
An example of this is in Tempe is the Shady Park music venue and the senior community that opened after the music venue. Residents sued because the music was too loud. This temporarily prevented the venue from hosting concerts. Looks like both parties agreed to settle with Shady Park implementing additional noise mitigation measures.
The most laughable part of this whole thing is the idea that the Coyotes organization (which cannot even pay their taxes on time and sues cities for $2.3 billion) would honor any indemnification agreement to protect the airport against lawsuits related to the development.
I guess the part that I don’t understand is how people could sue the airport for being too loud after they willingly rented an apartment or bought a house within sight of the airport.
Airports are not a new thing, relatively, so I would imagine this is a well-established area of real estate law. I would think that anyone who lives in that area would have to sign away their right to sue over the noise.
But perhaps that would just be too straightforward and sensible.
I don’t understand how the airport could expand to the east. There’s a river and an interstate in the way, isn’t there?
Tempe made a deal with Phoenix 30 years ago that forces Phoenix to send out flights single file when using eastbound departures. Tempe has been building apartments closer and closer to Sky Harbor and now clearly want to break through the 65db boundary. If it’s OK to build apartments at Priest and Rio Salado then it’s OK for planes to turn at Priest and cross over Tempe. Mayor Woods, you opened up the airport issue when you started playing with the laughingstock of “professional” sports, the Arizona Coyotes, and now Tempe will pay the price when Phoenix wins in court. A franchise that has operating losses north of $1 billion in 27 years isn’t professional.
That’s not really fair. The coaches and players are professional and, with some exceptions, behave as such. It’s not their fault that the people that own the team can’t really afford to do so.
Besides, the current Coyotes would probably not make the top 10 or even top 20 in a list of worst-run major league franchises in North American history.
Based on some recent reports from the NFL and NBA, it’s not even clear that the Coyotes are the worst-run sports franchise in Arizona.
Stand at the corner of Rio Salado and Priest from 6am to 7am and you will clearly hear who has the winning argument.
Southwest Airlines 737 wins big time!
The Tempe Aviation Commission advises the Mayor and City Council and assists City departments regarding matters related to the impact of aircraft and airport operations on Tempe residents; the monitoring, implementation, and enforcement of agreements made between the City of Phoenix and the City of Tempe concerning the operations of Sky Harbor International Airport; studies conducted of local airports and their potential impact on Tempe residents; and, land use measures that could mitigate the impact of aircraft and airport operations.
www.tempe.gov/government/city-clerk-s-office/boards-and-commissions/active-boards-commissions-committees-and-other-public-bodies/aviation-commission
That “All Net Sports Arena” from Jackie Robinson has been “in the works” for well over a decade. With Tmobile, Mandalay Bay, MGM, Thomas and Mack amung other venues I do not understand what else would play there besides his hypothetical expansion basketball team.
And Oak View is planning on building a new one to house an eventual NBA team.