Laurie Roberts

opinion columnist



Stop me if you’ve heard this one before.

The Arizona Coyotes want a couple of hundred million dollars in tax subsidies in order to build themselves a shiny new hockey arena.

Which is not to be confused with the couple of hundred million dollars in tax subsidies the Phoenix Suns will soon want in order to build themselves a shiny new basketball arena.

Which is not to be confused with the couple of hundred million dollars in tax subsidies the Arizona Diamondbacks will, no doubt, be angling to get to build themselves a shiny new baseball park to replace Chase Field, which evidently is fast turning into a broken-down piece of junk.

Which is absolutely, positively not to be confused with the couple of hundred million dollars the taxpayers of Glendale still owe on a hockey arena that has lost its shine.

Another hockey arena? That's what we need

And the most astonishing thing about this astonishing story?

The Arizona Legislature is considering a proposal to provide a massive public subsidy to the Coyotes so they can build yet another place to play hockey.

Jim Norton, the Coyotes' lobbyist, says the team wants to be either in downtown Phoenix or the east Valley, closer to its fans.

“It was the wrong decision to move the team to Glendale. It just has not worked,” he said.

MORE: Plan to move Coyotes to Tempe is dead

So on Tuesday, the Senate Transportation Committee voted 6-1 to approve Senate Bill 1149 – which, conveniently, could be used by any team to snag a massive tax subsidy, provided they get cracking on their new digs before 2019.

Under the bill, the Coyotes are proposing that $225 million in public funds go to help pay for a new $395 million, 16,000-seat arena. The team would kick in $170 million. The state’s portion ($170 million) would come from half of the sales taxes and hotel taxes generated within a 30-acre “community engagement district” that includes the arena, a separate 4,000-seat ice arena, a hotel and retail. The remaining $55 million would come from the host city.

What the Coyotes couldn't explain

The Coyotes sprinkled rainbows and roses as they pitched the deal, waxing on about vast new streams of revenue that would come washing into the state treasury, if only our leaders approve this bill.

“There is no use of existing state funds,” the team’s financial adviser, Mitchell Ziets, told the senators.

Curiously, neither he nor the rest of the Coyotes team could pinpoint how much the state would lose in tax revenues if the team leaves Glendale.

ROBERTS: A(nother) subsidy for the Coyotes? Really?

Or offer any assurances that the Valley can support three sports arenas.

Or explain how moving from point A to point B results in masses of “net new revenue.”

Or explain persuasively why this isn’t a loss to the state’s general fund.

Possibly because it is, unless you believe that whatever site they select would otherwise be left a perpetual dust bowl in this, the 12th largest metropolitan area in the nation.

Can't fund schools, but we can build arenas

Take away the rainbows and roses and you are left with a project that commits $170 million in future state funds and $55 million in city funds to another hockey arena. This, in a state that can’t adequately fund its schools.

“Fundamentally, what you are doing is you are going into the state general fund and you are appropriating dollars to a private concern,” said Sean McCarthy of the Arizona Tax Research Association.

He’s right, of course, but in the end it didn’t matter. The bill sailed through the committee, 6-1.

Cue Sen. Bob Worsley, R-Mesa, who is running the bill: “I feel for this organization, that they have the right to vote with their feet and do what they think is right for them and their fans.”

Me? I feel for the citizens of Glendale, who are still on the hook for $145 million for a hockey arena.

No more white outs. Just one massive white elephant.