The Phoenix City Council voted 6-2 to approve a $230 million deal for renovations to Talking Stick Resort Arena on Wednesday.
“I commend the City Council for their leadership and courage in doing the right thing for the city. They heard the overwhelming support from the community and voted accordingly,” Interim Mayor Thelda Williams, who voted in favor, said in a statement posted to the city’s website.
The vote followed a raucous City Council meeting in December, where 90-year-old Phoenix resident Greta Rogers was catapulted into Twitter fame for her rant against Suns owner Robert Sarver. After the meeting, city officials delayed the vote on the proposed renovations until January.
The adopted plan will cost a total of $230 million, with $150 million coming from the city and $80 million from the Suns. Phoenix would pay for infrastructure improvements, such as plumbing, while the team would pay for improving fan experience with additions like beefed-up suites. The plan also extends the lease for five years to 2037, with an opt-in clause for the Suns to extend it five more to 2042.
The deal was pushed for due to an obsolescence clause in the original 1989 contract between the city and the Suns, which states that if the Suns determine the arena to be obsolete by July 1, 2019, they can leave in 2022, 10 years before their lease expires in 2032.
District 5 Councilwoman Vania Guevara added an amendment requiring the Suns to donate $10 million toward community endeavors and $2.6 million toward the city’s Head Start and preschool programs.
“The motion on the table will prevent thousands of working families in Phoenix from having to worry about losing access to preschool for their children,” Guevara said. “The deal isn’t perfect, but I’m happy to have found a deal that invests in education, our community, and city infrastructure.”
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The meeting took a truly bizarre turn early on when Larry Naman, who served 12 years in jail for attempting to shoot former Maricopa County Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox, spoke in opposition to the deal.
The gunman targeted Wilcox because of her support of a tax that helped fund the construction of Chase Field.
“You must let the public vote on this matter. If you go ahead and pass it, you’re crossing a line, and it’s equivalent to a bloody act of violence against the public,” Naman said.
Wilcox was also in attendance at the meeting, and Naman addressed her directly while recalling his attempted murder.
“When you’re an elected official, you have to do things sometimes that are risky,” Wilcox said. “But I really feel that it was the right thing I did. It was the right thing the City Council did. You get elected to move people forward, and that’s what happened today.”
Michael E. Johnson, a local community leader and former District 8 city councilman, spoke shortly after Naman. He and other speakers questioned why Naman was allowed to appear and speak at the meeting at all. Johnson voiced his support for the deal and highlighted its economic benefits for the city.
Johnson attributed the success of small businesses, hotels, restaurants and the downtown Phoenix community as a whole to the arena.
“We would not have the downtown area we have right now if it had not been for the Phoenix Suns and the Talking Stick Resort Arena,” Johnson said. “The arena is an anchor for downtown Phoenix, and we must support this anchor.”
Chris Coffman, the executive director of Hands for Single Moms, took to the podium to to explain the ways the Suns have benefited his charity.
“Because of the Suns, 230 of single mothers in my organization have graduated from college and are now working in the community,” Coffman said. “We’re just one of the nonprofits out of the 100 that the Suns have helped. I can say that the Suns are focused on the true needs of the city.”
There were also plenty of commenters who spoke in opposition to the deal, including the now-famous Rogers.
“This is a multi-million dollar amount of money that is going to be spent to upgrade and update and bring to present-day construction safety standards, this 30-year-old facility. I’m three times that old and my facilities are doing pretty well,” Rogers said.
Another member of the community that voiced his concern was Michael Pierce, who believes there are more pressing matters in the community that the council should be focusing on.
“I believe we should focus more on the areas of Phoenix that are in despair, rather than just downtown,” Pierce said. “In the midst of power, politics and wealth, we have shamed our city.”
Urban Phoenix Project President Sean Sweat also questioned the priorities of the Phoenix City Council and believes the funds should be allocated elsewhere.
“For the city council to suddenly have $200 million dollars to subsidize a rich professional sports team really speaks to the priorities of the council, which I don’t think are the same priorities as the residents,” Sweat said.
District 6 Councilman Sal DiCiccio, who was one of the only “no” votes along with District 2 Councilman Jim Waring, also believes there are bigger priorities.
“I don’t think it’s in the right financial sense for the City of Phoenix,” DiCiccio said. “I will say our next step is to focus on our streets, focus on our police and getting more officers on the streets.”
Although DiCiccio was not in favor of the deal, he explicitly expressed his appreciation to Jason Rowley, President and CEO of the Phoenix Suns.
Rowley emphasized his organization’s commitment to the city of Phoenix, stating that the organization is not only a professional sports team, but also a community asset.
“We believe in this partnership, we believe in this community and we believe that this agreement is in the best interest of our citizens,” Rowley said. “I am excited to stand here, hopeful and grateful, to continue this journey together. Our family includes the citizens of Phoenix.”
Contact the reporters at sbardfel@asu.edu and anardizz@asu.edu.
