Jeff Gibbs

Special for The Republic | azcentral.com

The recent spat between the Glendale and Phoenix regarding who will host the Arizona Coyotes reminds us that somehow we in Arizona have yet to learn how to do “regional.”

From its name, you would expect the Arizona Coyotes would be sponsored and embraced by the entire state. But such is not the case.

Rather, what we see are two cities in the same part of the state squabbling over who will serve as host city. Glendale accuses Phoenix of a “lack of regional leadership,” while it should be painfully obvious by now that Glendale is not, and has never been, in a position to be anything close to a regional leader.

Lack of regionalism like one-hand clapping

In fact, it is patently impossible for a single local government to pretend to be a regional leader without some sort of collaboration involving other local governments. It’s like one-hand clapping.

Glendale’s “grabbing the brass ring” in the first place has been an unmitigated disaster and its finances still look like a slow-motion train wreck. But where was everyone when the decision was made some 15 years ago to count on the little community of Glendale to take this on alone?

Do we have the willpower?

Now the Coyotes leadership is saying “the biggest issue this franchise has faced... has been uncertainty.” Well, we can address that if we have the willpower.

Instead of this unseemly squabbling, form an alliance among the parties that have an interest in keeping this franchise in the state.

It’s probably the case that no single entity in Arizona can afford to take on this fiscal responsibility by itself. And who has the stomach to build yet another multi-million-dollar state-of-the-art sports facility when we already have several?

ALLHANDS: Don't even think about more stadium cash

If we were truly interested in keeping the Coyotes in Arizona, the various parties would get together to form an intergovernmental consortium to support the franchise. One idea would be for the interested governmental units to come together in an arrangement to share its management – splitting the revenues and the costs in a predetermined manner.

Such an arrangement has already been accomplished in other parts of the country — most notably with the Cleveland area forming a “First Suburbs Consortium” to jointly undertake projects of this type.

Strength in numbers

By banding together, we can overcome the uncertainty that has been the biggest obstacle to the Coyotes' success. And once the franchise is on a more secure foundation, it’s only a matter of time before the Coyotes improve the product on the ice and Valley hockey fans return in larger numbers.

We can create a win-win solution — but we must work together to build that firm foundation.

Jeff Gibbs is a former Litchfield Park planning commissioner who has lived throughout the West Valley and now resides in Surprise. He writes weekly about growth and development issues in the West Valley and beyond. Reach him at jeffgibbs44@gmail.com.

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