Homeless in Arizona

Maybe you should invest in some tar and feathers. I suspect 10 gallons of tar and a couple pillow cases full of feathers will be enough to cover all your city council members and that shouldn't cost more then $200 for the whole city.

Sure lynching city council members is illegal, but I doubt if any jury of Glendale residents would convict you of anything.

Source

Glendale has few options on Jobing.com Arena

With or without Coyotes, taxpayers will pay millions

by Lisa Halverstadt - Aug. 8, 2012 11:06 PM

The Republic | azcentral.com

Two months after Glendale officials voted to spend $324 million over 20 years to help a proposed buyer keep the Phoenix Coyotes in the city's Jobing.com Arena, the sale of the hockey team has yet to go through.

And the question remains: Is the city better off financially with or without the team?

The truth is, either option will cost Glendale taxpayers a lot of money.

If the team stays, the city estimates it will cost about $12.2 million a year, or $54 per resident, when costs and revenue are factored. That's in addition to the roughly $13 million a year to retire the debt on the arena in about 20 years.

But the city says it would face even steeper financial challenges without the Coyotes.

If the team leaves, Glendale will still be on the hook for the arena debt. But the city also projects it will then need to come up with millions of dollars a year to pay an arena manager and other expenses if there is no anchor tenant for the arena. The city estimates that would cost $15.8 million, or $70 per resident.

With that in mind, Glendale projects it would save about $3.5 million annually by keeping the team.

The savings could be greater if sales-tax revenue generated at the arena is factored in, as well as the sizable sales-tax hauls from fans who flock to the neighboring Westgate City Center on game nights.

Whether the team stays is out of Glendale's hands. City leaders did their part, approving the deal in June.

Speculation abounds about whether Greg Jamison, a longtime hockey executive, can secure investors to meet the National Hockey League's widely reported $170 million asking price.

Last week, Glendale and the NHL agreed to a third 31-day extension for the league to manage the city-owned arena in hopes the additional time will allow Jamison to close the deal.

Ambitious plans

More than a decade ago, Glendale had big ambitions when developer and Coyotes owner Steve Ellman agreed to build the Westgate shopping, restaurant and office complex and bring professional hockey to the city. At the time, city officials said they would come out ahead financially without costing taxpayers a cent. The team would cover its own expenses and sales taxes from the arena, while Westgate and another development would pay the arena debt.

Instead, by 2009, the Coyotes had been sold, declared bankrupt and taken over by the NHL, leaving the city with its huge arena debt and a shredded blueprint for remaking the city.

The city and the league have spent more than three years searching for a permanent owner. Glendale has twice committed $25 million to the NHL to cover arena costs as potential owners have come and gone.

Hopes were buoyed last summer when Jamison expressed interest. He is known for his success as the chief executive of the San Jose Sharks, one of the Coyotes' Pacific Division rivals.

The Glendale City Council in June approved the 20-year deal that includes annual $10 million to $20 million payments to Jamison for arena operation.

It's a new cost for Glendale, but the team's bankruptcy changed the rules, said Councilman Manny Martinez, who voted to build the arena.

Each potential buyer has included arena-management fees or other incentives in their bids. Those costs previously were borne by team owners.

"We never expected to be in the business of operating an arena or having to pay for it," Martinez said.

But he and others now agree to pay those costs -- $324 million over 20 years -- to Jamison. It would be offset somewhat by about $79.5 million in rent, ticket surcharges and naming rights the city anticipates collecting.

City leaders say they have to look beyond the price of the deal, to the costs of life without the Coyotes. Glendale owns the arena and would have to hire someone else to book events and concerts.

Cost analysis

Scottsdale-based economic consulting firm Elliott D. Pollack and Co. analyzed those costs for the city, using numbers provided by Glendale.

The analysis showed the city would save about $3.5 million annually by keeping the Coyotes.

Without the team, the report assumed the city would pay $12 million for arena management and see that cost rise through the years to as much as $19.2 million and pay a third more for arena maintenance and capital costs.

The city assumed the arena, which is a popular concert venue that has hosted Taylor Swift, Bon Jovi and other acts, would hold about 50 events annually.

Andrew Zimbalist, a sports economist and professor at Smith College who gave a sworn statement during the Coyotes' 2009 bankruptcy case on behalf of a buyer who wanted to move the team to Canada, was critical of the Pollack report.

"The information that was available was very incomplete and, in many areas, questionable and inconsistent," Zimbalist said. For example, Zimbalist said, it's unrealistic to assume maintenance costs would increase without a team.

A Glendale spokeswoman defended the report, noting that the arena must compete with others in the Valley. "The arena needs to be maintained as a first-class facility in order to continue attracting special uses," spokeswoman Julie Frisoni said.

Dan Rascher, a sports economist at the University of San Francisco, supported the city's position. "There are lots of fixed costs that will be there with or without a team," he said.

But Rascher questioned whether the deal with Jamison is reasonable for a city of Glendale's size. The city might consider a special tax at Westgate or the arena area to lessen the burden on its roughly 227,000 residents, Rascher said.

This year, the deal will cost the city about 5 percent of its $347.7 million operating budget.

But, ultimately, the economist said, Glendale has an arena and is left with few choices. "You're stuck with two not-great plans, and you have to pick the best one, and that's having the team," he said.

The Westgate factor

Any speculation on life without the Coyotes must take into account Westgate, the glitzy complex next door.

On a recent weeknight, families gathered as children in bright-colored swimsuits ran through a water feature in a plaza near a movie theater. Young professionals bantered inside restaurants. The bars were mostly empty.

On game nights, the complex fills with Coyotes fans.

City figures show that spending at Westgate helped generate roughly $3 million to $5 million in annual sales-tax hauls from 2006 through 2010.

No one can predict with any certainty what would happen to Westgate without Coyotes fans.

Even with the team, the center has not grown to occupy the 223 acres originally anticipated. The 33-acre development fell into foreclosure last year and was taken over by iStar Financial.

Tanger Outlet Center, set to open later this year at Westgate, could change the dynamic. Tanger expects to draw more than 5 million shoppers in its opening year.

If they lost the Coyotes, city officials fear, businesses would close and be replaced by less-desirable ones, or not be replaced at all.

However, business owners who spoke to The Republic said they believe their shops and restaurants could survive the loss of the Coyotes.

Kelly Roberts, co-owner of sports-clothing and -memorabilia store Just Sports, said that hockey fans make up about 9 percent of his business but that Tanger may soften the blow if the team leaves.

Bob Walin, co-owner of piano bar the Shout House, said the outlet mall is likely to provide more consistent business than Coyotes games, where the attendance can vary based on the team's success.

Longtime developer Mark Stapp, a professor at Arizona State University's W.P. Carey School of Business, was more skeptical of Tanger's ability to replace customers if the Coyotes leave. The shopping center will likely draw crowds, but it's a block away from Westgate and there's no guarantee people will go there.

Stapp believes the right manager for Jobing.com Arena may have a stronger impact.

"If you get somebody who can stabilize that team and the experience and you can raise that attendance, it's going to have a tremendous positive effect," he said. Groundwork for the future

Glendale Councilwoman Joyce Clark, one of the biggest proponents of the city's deal with Jamison, said keeping the Coyotes would lay the groundwork for additional expansion at Westgate once the economy recovers.

Several developers envision more shops, hotels and entertainment venues. Clark said the city's sports and entertainment plans, including the Coyotes and the Cardinals, factored into developers' decisions to invest in Glendale.

Economists dispute whether professional sports teams boost a city's bottom line, but Clark and others cite benefits, tangible and intangible.

Thousands visit Glendale each year to watch the Coyotes or Arizona Cardinals play, often trying out local restaurants or staying in area hotels. And Glendale is frequently mentioned on national television.

Professional sports franchises also build pride and community. But losing a franchise can leave long-lasting wounds. More than 50 years later, some New York sports fans still mourn the Brooklyn Dodgers' move to Los Angeles.

"If the Coyotes are gone, the city has sent a strong signal that they no longer believe in the vision they created," Clark said.