By james art TEMPE, AZ (SOA) — Owners of major league sports teams continue to ask for handouts from local and state taxpayers for stadiums for their teams to call home. However, those taxpayers are now debating whether the investment is worth it.
One city said no, and their leaders say others should take note.
Earlier this month, a National Hockey League franchise kicked off its season in Salt Lake City, hundreds of miles from the Arizona desert where it intended to be.
In Tempe, city leaders say their community killed a proverbial giant by saying no to Arizona coyotes.
Lauren Kuby is a self-proclaimed sports fan who lives in Tempe. Both of her dogs are named after star Phoenix Suns players, and she says she’s even attended a Coyotes game or two.
But when the Coyotes went to her mayor and city council and said they wanted to build an arena near an old dump, she couldn’t do it.
They were getting property tax breaks for 30 years that would have been over $500 million,” Kuby said. “That was our last big piece of land.
Kuby, a former Tempe councilman, was part of a grassroots coalition that was outbid by the NHL team, but still convinced voters to reject the proposal by a 12-point margin in 2023.
“You have to demand accountability from your elected officials,” she said.
The Tempe episode came after the Coyotes were kicked out and kicked out of another arena by Glendale City Manager Kevin Phelps, who is also an avid follower of the sport. His office is directly across the street from State Farm Stadium, home of the NFL’s Cardinals. He said his city is disappointed that it is subsidizing a franchise.
“To date, our city has spent more money per capita to build a professional sports team and arena than any city in the United States,” Phelps said.
He said Glendale earns more tax revenue with concerts and smaller events at the city’s arena, arguing the city makes more money without the Coyotes than with them. Phelps called the residence one of the “worst economic development tools I’ve ever seen,” saying the city invests nearly $20 million a year and receives less than $500,000 a year from sales tax, food, beverage and some hotel taxes on game nights.
“In our analysis, we only had to do 19 shows in the entire year at the arena to make up for the revenue that the arena generates from 41 regular season games, and usually I think there are about two preseason games. We only had to do 19 shows,” he told Spotlight on America, “It’s a testament to the fact that AEG, which runs our arena, has record revenue, and we surpassed our last gross last year by $13 million.”
Arizona’s public funding history is sparse.
Spotlight on America details how multiple cities and states have given away hundreds of millions of dollars to professional sports franchises in recent months, from Nevada to Oklahoma and New York to Tennessee.
Neil DeMause wrote a book called Field of Schemes and he studied them all.
“State legislatures vote on stadium subsidies and it passes 95 percent of the time, while the general public is closer to 50 percent,” DeMause said.
Coyotes rejected by Arizona cities moved to Salt Lake City this year. The team was purchased for a reported $300 million in 2019 and moved to Utah after being sold for $1.2 billion earlier this year.
Phelps believes Glendale should be a lesson to cities weighing similar proposals.
He cited Seattle and the relationship with late Seahawks owner Paul Allen as a model for the relationship between a city and a professional sports franchise. Allen invests his money in sports, philanthropy and science in the Seattle community.
“If you don’t have that kind of ownership, I would say, ‘Don’t go.’ I would say ‘Run,'” Phelps said.