Dustin Gardiner, and Craig Harris

The Republic | azcentral.com

Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton is expected to announce Tuesday that he supports pursuing a deal to build a new downtown sports and entertainment arena that would be shared by the Phoenix Suns and the Arizona Coyotes.

According to sources who have reviewed the mayor's planned remarks, Stanton will outline his vision for building a new taxpayer-funded arena during his fifth State of the City speech. The mayor is scheduled to speak before a crowd of hundreds of business and political leaders at the Sheraton Grand Phoenix hotel in downtown about noon.

Stanton will use his most visible stage of the year to make it clear that he prefers the arena be a joint-use facility shared by the National Basketball Association and National Hockey League teams, those sources said.

His speech comes amid swirling speculation about the future of several of Arizona's professional sports teams. The Coyotes are looking to exit their tumultuous relationship with the neighboring suburb of Glendale. Meanwhile, the Suns want a new home to replace the city-owned Talking Stick Resort Arena, among the oldest in the NBA.

While the concept of a joint-use arena has been debated for months, Stanton's declaration would be his first explicit statement pushing the NBA and NHL franchises to negotiate. However, many details of a potential arena deal, including the cost, remain unclear.

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Sources familiar with the mayor's speech said his support for negotiating an arena deal will be contingent on two guiding principles:

The arena bring more events and people downtown than the existing Talking Stick Resort Arena, formerly known as US Airways Center and America West Arena, which opened in 1992. The city owns the facility and the Suns have a lease to operate it.

No taxes be raised to support its construction. Phoenix has a permanent tourism tax on hotel and motel stays and car rentals, which was created to fund construction of then-America West Arena. The city could potentially use revenue from that tax to help construct an arena.

But the mayor's aspirations for an arena deal could face significant hurdles. It's unclear where the Suns stand on the idea of sharing an arena with the hockey team, and the concept of another arena in the Valley is likely to draw strong opposition from groups opposed to taxpayer subsidies for major-league sports.

Even without a tax increase, the city would be required to hold an election to secure voter support for arena funding.

Suns spokeswoman Maria Baier, a former city councilwoman, declined to comment on Stanton's anticipated announcement. The basketball team has expressed its desire for a new facility and could potentially leave downtown Phoenix by around 2022 under its lease agreement with the city.

"Our comment is 'No comment,' " Baier said.

However, interviewed at an event held by The Arizona Republic on Monday evening, Suns owner Robert Sarver said he's not opposed to anything in terms of sharing an arena with the Coyotes. However, he said the NBA team is in its facility for at least five more years.

Coyotes President Anthony LeBlanc, on the other hand, has been vocal about the hockey team's sense of urgency in building a new facility. The team is looking at a few potential locations, including downtown Phoenix and Arizona State University's property in Tempe.

At the same event, LeBlanc told The Republic that the deal would have to allow for equally shared revenues, in which each team would keep the revenue they generated and that both franchises would share non-event revenues, such as naming rights and advertising. The Suns currently have control over revenue at Talking Stick Arena.

"The Coyotes have had multiple conversations with the city of Phoenix and we continue to have detailed discussions," LeBlanc said in an earlier statement. "However, as we've consistently stated, we also continue to have discussions with other Valley locations. It would be premature at this point to indicate a selection has been finalized."

At a press conference last week, LeBlanc said the team expects to announce plans regarding an arena "in the next couple of weeks," but no specifics have been released.

In its quest for an arena, the NHL team also recently asked state lawmakers to approve a bill that would allow the creation of a municipal taxing district that would give the team a new arena. But that proposal hasn't gotten traction at the state Capitol this session.

But the Coyotes might not be the only new player in a potential arena.

Sources familiar with the mayor's State of the City announcement said while a joint-use arena with the Suns and Coyotes is his first preference, other partnerships that bring more events to the arena are a possibility. They said another potential partner is ASU athletics.

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Key details of a possible arena deal, including how revenue would be shared and where it would be located, remain unclear. Many have suggested the arena be built on the site of the city's south convention center building, on Jefferson and Third streets.

Another unknown is how such a deal might impact the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Major League Baseball team leases nearby Chase Field from Maricopa County, but the team and the county are at odds over who should pay for stadium renovations.

Diamondbacks Chief Executive Derrick Hall has said the franchise wants the city to replace the county as Chase Field's landlord. A swap could give the Diamondbacks an opportunity to have the ballpark renovated or to get a new facility by taking advantage of the city's municipal bonding authority.

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On Monday, Diamondbacks owner Ken Kendrick said he envisions a "sports mecca" in downtown Phoenix that would include his baseball team and a nearby new arena shared between the Suns and Coyotes. He said it would take a "grand vision for the next level of an urban center."

However, Stanton isn't expected to address the Diamondbacks' situation in Tuesday's speech. The mayor has said the city has no additional money it can add to the baseball equation, though it is willing to discuss the team's proposal.

"If there is a positive role we can play in helping to find a solution, we are open to being a part of those discussions," Stanton said in a recent statement.

Stanton's speech begins at about noon and will be held in the ballroom at the Sheraton downtown hotel, 340 N. Third St. Tickets to the luncheon, hosted by the Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce, are sold out. The public can attend the speech portion of the program for free, or watch live coverage of the speech exclusively on azcentral.com.

Share your reactions to the speech on Twitter using the hashtag #phxSOTC.

Republic reporter Paul Giblin contributed to this article.