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Facilities Venues

AMERICA WEST: DOCUMENTS SHOW ARENA PROFITS BACKLOADED

          Four years after the opening of the America West Arena
     in Phoenix, city documents reveal that the city has
     collected "only about $200,000, or less than two-tenths of
     one percent," of the total revenue promised according to
     Muller & Miller of the ARIZONA REPUBLIC.  When the arena
     opened, city officials "promised a big return," more than
     $128M in shared profits.  But in the renegotiated deal in
     '94, two "little-publicized" provisions of the contract
     state that $104M, 81% of the total, is slated to be paid in
     the last ten years of the Suns' 40-year lease, with $87M of
     that being paid in the final four years.  But, Muller &
     Miller note, the Suns "may be long gone" by then.  An escape
     clause allows the team to vacate after 30 years if the arena
     is deemed "obsolete."  Suns President Jerry Colangelo
     acknowledged that it is possible that the city never will
     get the full payout projected in the 40-year lease. 
     Colangelo: "You could build a strong case for saying, you
     know, because of this back load, this is something the city
     may never get."   But Colangelo said that the arena's
     success helped "spur the construction" of Bank One Ballpark,
     which will "pump hundreds of millions of dollars" into
     downtown: "This was a win-win" (ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 12/16). 

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