Phoenix sports & entertainment compared to other western metros (Glendale: rental car, foreclosure)

[Valley Native]

Sunday's Cards game against the Rams was the last time the Rams played at the L.A. Coliseum, and their new home will be a state of the art venue in Inglewood, CA. Ordinarily, I'm not an advocate for moving pro sports venues to a suburban location, but this is a good move for a couple of reasons: despite all the renovations, the Coliseum is old with limited seating capacity (77,500). The new venue will not only have greater capacity, it's in an established location with existing infrastructure: close to several freeways & near LAX. The new development will also include Hollywood Park which is similar to Westgate, only better because it includes office space & condos along with a large theatre, shops, and eateries.

In Las Vegas, the new Allegiant stadium is nearing completion for the Raiders to move in and begin playing soon. Another good location: right next to I15, close to the Strip, and McCarran Airport. Also, T Mobile Arena is the current home of the Vegas Golden Knights, which is located within walking distance of the Strip and close to practically everything.

Now, compare these facilities to what Phoenix has for our pro football & hockey venues: two big arenas and an entertainment facility (Westgate) plunked in the middle of what was once a cotton field (and cotton fields still exist nearby). There is no established infrastructure, except the close access to the 101 freeway, but far away from Sky Harbor, downtown, and where the majority of the population resides.

If that isn't bad enough, Westgate was a such a losing deal that it faced foreclosure several years ago, and was taken over by the city of Glendale, which turned around and shoved the cost onto the taxpayers. What was initially supposed to be the sports & entertainment center of metro Phoenix has become a huge financial boondoggle. The vacant land around Westgate (once envisioned to have massive office, retail, and residential development) has pretty much remained unchanged over the years.

One last thing to consider: despite the Rams and Chargers playing outside the city of L.A., both teams still call themselves the LOS ANGELES Rams & LOS ANGELES Chargers. The NHL & NFL teams in Vegas are called the LAS VEGAS Golden Knights & LAS VEGAS Raiders. Our pro sports teams area called ARIZONA Cardinals, ARIZONA Coyotes, and ARIZONA Diamondbacks. Other than the Phoenix Suns, this city has very little identity when it comes to sports, entertainment, and practically anything else.

[CAHLUV]

Medicare ownership of the sports teams imo...I haven't been here long but my mother has and outside of the Suns bad ownership is a consistent factor. I could be wrong about the Diamondbacks and Coyotes though.

[phx1205]

Originally Posted by Valley Native

Sunday's Cards game against the Rams was the last time the Rams played at the L.A. Coliseum, and their new home will be a state of the art venue in Inglewood, CA. Ordinarily, I'm not an advocate for moving pro sports venues to a suburban location, but this is a good move for a couple of reasons: despite all the renovations, the Coliseum is old with limited seating capacity (77,500). The new venue will not only have greater capacity, it's in an established location with existing infrastructure: close to several freeways & near LAX. The new development will also include Hollywood Park which is similar to Westgate, only better because it includes office space & condos along with a large theatre, shops, and eateries.

In Las Vegas, the new Allegiant stadium is nearing completion for the Raiders to move in and begin playing soon. Another good location: right next to I15, close to the Strip, and McCarran Airport. Also, T Mobile Arena is the current home of the Vegas Golden Knights, which is located within walking distance of the Strip and close to practically everything.

Now, compare these facilities to what Phoenix has for our pro football & hockey venues: two big arenas and an entertainment facility (Westgate) plunked in the middle of what was once a cotton field (and cotton fields still exist nearby). There is no established infrastructure, except the close access to the 101 freeway, but far away from Sky Harbor, downtown, and where the majority of the population resides.

If that isn't bad enough, Westgate was a such a losing deal that it faced foreclosure several years ago, and was taken over by the city of Glendale, which turned around and shoved the cost onto the taxpayers. What was initially supposed to be the sports & entertainment center of metro Phoenix has become a huge financial boondoggle. The vacant land around Westgate (once envisioned to have massive office, retail, and residential development) has pretty much remained unchanged over the years.

One last thing to consider: despite the Rams and Chargers playing outside the city of L.A., both teams still call themselves the LOS ANGELES Rams & LOS ANGELES Chargers. The NHL & NFL teams in Vegas are called the LAS VEGAS Golden Knights & LAS VEGAS Raiders. Our pro sports teams area called ARIZONA Cardinals, ARIZONA Coyotes, and ARIZONA Diamondbacks. Other than the Phoenix Suns, this city has very little identity when it comes to sports, entertainment, and practically anything else.

Feel better now? Seriously though, whats your point?

[49erfan916]

Originally Posted by phx1205

Feel better now? Seriously though, whats your point?

+1. I agree.

[MN-Born-n-Raised]

Originally Posted by phx1205

Feel better now? Seriously though, whats your point?

He wants the teams to move closer to his house and call them the Phoenix Cardinals. Building Westgate infrastructure in 2006 when AZ had a MASSIVE recession was left out of his analysis. Details....

I say we keep the teams in Glendale: home of 226,000 residence. Then call the team the Glendale Cotten Fields. All together now: "Here we go Cotton Fields, here we go!"

[Valley Native]

Originally Posted by phx1205

Feel better now? Seriously though, whats your point?

Seriously, what's your point to even post a brief, but senseless and ignorant response? Move on to another thread or forum if you can't see the point, which is pretty obvious.

Originally Posted by MN-Born-n-Raised

He wants the teams to move closer to his house and call them the Phoenix Cardinals. Building Westgate infrastructure in 2006 when AZ had a MASSIVE recession was left out of his analysis. Details....

There's more to it than the location, and if you read any of the original post, you would understand this. Obviously, Las Vegas and L.A. have it mastered when it comes to pro sports, while Phoenix behaves like an oversized hick town. The cost of this boondoggle is outrageous ... but apparently you're not concerned that rental car taxes (among the highest in the nation) are subsidizing this massive failure, as well as Glendale being on the hook for millions of dollars which they're shoving onto taxpayers. To your other comment: there was no "MASSIVE recession" in 2006. You have the year completely incorrect.

[phx1205]

So you want the team names changed to “Phoenix” instead of Arizona? Or you want them to build new stadiums in a different part of town? Again, not sure what you are trying get at here.

[Valley Native]

Originally Posted by phx1205

So you want the team names changed to “Phoenix” instead of Arizona? Or you want them to build new stadiums in a different part of town? Again, not sure what you are trying get at here.

Yes, the team names should contain the Phoenix title, instead of Arizona. We're in the Phoenix metro area, not the Arizona metro area. Most other large metros have their pro sports teams named after the core city, not the state. It's all about identity and visibility among other things. Phoenix is one of the few cities with all four major sports franchises, which I think is a great benefit, but nobody would know it with practically everything being "Arizona this" and "Arizona that".

As far as stadiums being built in different locations: Westgate was a huge mistake, largely because of the location, but there are other factors behind it. At this point, there's not much we can do about relocating Westgate to a better area ... unless Glendale decides to completely cut the strings, allow Westgate to go under again, and somehow force the Cards & Coyotes to move elsewhere. That's not going to happen in the foreseeable future. But compare the ridiculous location of Westgate to the locations of the new facilities in Vegas and L.A. They had much better planning and organization than we did: close to major airports and existing infrastructure already in place, among other things.

Have you taken a serious look at the area around Westgate? It's pathetic. A huge sports & entertainment complex sitting in the middle of farm land and miles of vacant dirt lots. First of all, it's completely retarded to build something like this so far away from established infrastructure. Second of all, forcing taxpayers to foot the bill for this endeavor is even more retarded. If Westgate was truly successful on its own, there should have been numerous retail, hotel, office, and residential development surrounding it by now (which was in the initial plans).

[wase4711]

I'll agree with you on one point; its weird there isn't the word "Phoenix" in the name of any of the sports teams out here...although other teams around the country have a similar weirdness...."Florida marlins", "Texas rangers", "Minnesota twins","Utah jazz", "Colorado rockies" and so forth..

[Bondurant]

Originally Posted by Valley Native

Phoenix is one of the few cities with all four major sports franchises, which I think is a great benefit, but nobody would know it with practically everything being "Arizona this" and "Arizona that".

No one is confused as to which metro area the Cardinals, Coyotes and Diamonbacks play in.