Quote:
Originally Posted by fawd
1) Even though the Suns paid half of the original construction costs in the early 1990s, the Phoenix Suns do not own Talking Stick Resort Arena. They are contractually obligated to remain a tennant through 2022. Any expectation that the Suns should pay for all the renovations on an asset they do not own, isn’t realistic.
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This is also known as a subsidy. If they owned the arena like any other private entity owns commercial property, they'd pay massive state and local property taxes on it.
Making it sound like the Suns didn't get anything out of the original deal is malarkey--their entire business is dependent on heavy city involvement.
Maybe an actual ownership stake would be worthwhile if they got an adequate share of other revenue (concerts, arena football, Mercury, etc) but I don't know where I could find the information to make that judgment.
I'm going to just blame Jerry Colangelo and the desperate Phoenix leadership of the 1990s that gave in to his every whim and desire. The Suns Arena was built as a basketball-only facility and I'm sure he was happy to see the Coyotes and the concerts leave for Glendale. It's an astounding lack of foresight on his and others' part that gave Phoenix the bum deal it's trying to tread water around.