HBO's Armen Keteyian examined the controversy over the
public funding of the $350M Bank One Ballpark and the role
played by D'Backs Managing General Partner Jerry Colangelo,
on last night's "Real Sports." Keteyian: "The [BOB] is the
house that Jerry Colangelo built, and it's unlike any
stadium on earth." Noting that Colangelo's booth is
protected by bulletproof glass, Keteyian explained, "The
extra protection is for Colangelo ... You see, when it came
time to pay for Jerry's Place, it was John Q. Public who got
stuck with most of the check." Colangelo, on the public
funding: "There was no way possible the ballpark would ever
have been built without it." Tom Rawles, the only member of
the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors who voted against
using taxpayer money on BOB: "It's not government's job to
take tax money by force from the citizens to build an
infrastructure for private, for-profit companies. If that's
government's function, then government ought to be building
Intel plants, Safeway stores and Burger Kings" (HBO, 5/19).
THE GREAT DEBATE: Colangelo: "Building this facility
was a $300 million economic benefit. ... On an annual basis
the impact will be over $250 million." Mark Rosentraub,
author of the book "Major League Losers," said that any
financial impact from a new park is simply "a redistribution
of money" rather than an influx of new money. But Colangelo
said, "Those aren't recycled dollars. Those are new
dollars. ... [S]ome of the development that is coming into
downtown Phoenix [are coming] because of what we've done."
But Keteyian noted that many AZ taxpayers are upset about
the public funding of BOB. In '89, Phoenix voters voted
"overwhelmingly" against using taxes to fund a new stadium.
However, in '90, the AZ legislature "transferred authority
over the stadium from the city" to the Maricopa county
government, effectively circumventing Phoenix's anti-stadium
vote and eliminating the possibility of all future public
votes." That county board OK'd the stadium deal.
Colangelo, who Keteyian called "perhaps the most visionary
owner in sports, king of the revenue streams," became
involved in '93 when local leaders approached him about
landing an MLB team for Phoenix. Colangelo agreed to pursue
a team, but only if he got a new stadium. Colangelo: "I
personally had no interest at all in going ahead if we had
to go through the efforts of getting public support."
Colangelo, on the lack of a public vote: "I maintain the
community had a voice with the state legislation. The state
legislators who were put in office by the public, those
legislators voted to put baseball on the books" (HBO, 5/19).
TOUGH TALK: Keteyian obtained a copy of a draft of
Colangelo's partnership agreement, and said that Colangelo,
who put up "between" $1-2M, "stands to pocket tens of
millions of dollars -- a windfall made possible only by the
local taxpayer." Colangelo: "The attitude I have about that
is very simply this: If we're able to make this successful,
you're entitled to make a profit on your investment."
Colangelo, when asked how much he will make on the deal:
"I'm trying to be responsive to you by telling you that
there's a salary taken out of the 3% of gross receipts."
Keteyian: "Do you want to reveal what that is?" Colangelo:
"I don't even think that's really important. You can look
at our revenues which are expected to be..." Keteyian: "3%
of $80 million..." Colangelo: "We're expected to do about a
$100-plus million dollars this year." Keteyian: "So that's
$3 million." Colangelo: "I mentioned to you ... You know,
this is bullshit. That's it." Colangelo walked out of the
interview. Keteyian: "Under Colangelo's math, he will have
been paid a total of $11 million in salary by the year 2003.
In addition, he stands to get a 14% cut of the Diamondbacks'
profits once his partners are paid off -- which could take
five to 15 years" ("Real Sports," HBO, 5/19).
RESPONSE: After the piece, HBO's Bryant Gumbel said to
Keteyian, "[Colangelo's] not doing anything illegal in this,
right? He was solicited in this, but he's done nothing
illegal." Keteyian: "Oh nothing illegal at all. This is a
great business deal for Jerry Colangelo and his partners"
(HBO, 5/19). In the ARIZONA REPUBLIC, Colangelo responded to
the HBO piece: "Number 1, [the $11M] isn't even close.
Number 2, it doesn't matter. Whatever the deal I made with
my partners, who trusted me with their investment, had
nothing to do with the [ballpark] tax" (AZ REPUBLIC, 5/17).
