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Sunday, January 11, 1998
Voters consider Dallas arena for Mavericks,
Stars
By CHRISTY LEMIRE / Associated Press Writer
DALLAS (AP) -- Ross Perot Jr. and Tom Hicks have a vision.
Where others see an old utility plant near a contaminated patch
of land, the multimillionaire owners of the NBA Dallas Mavericks
and NHL Dallas Stars see a $230 million sports complex.
They see gleaming hardwood and shimmering ice, a hundred plush
skyboxes and a replica of Times Square on the west end of downtown
Dallas.
Dallas voters will decide Jan. 17 whether to increase taxes
on hotels and auto rentals to raise $125 million toward the vision.
The proposal calls for the teams to invest the remaining $105
million for construction and pay $132 million in rent over 30
years.
If the measure fails, Perot and Hicks appear ready to move
their teams to a suburb, leaving the nation's ninth-largest city
without any teams in the four major professional sports.
The race is too close to call, although many residents simply
can't get past the idea of buying an arena -- and likely a highly
profitable one -- for people who are already rich.
A Dallas Morning News poll released Saturday showed 54 percent
of voters in favor of the arena proposal and 40 percent opposed.
Six percent of the 508 voters polled said they were undecided.
The margin of error was plus or minus 4.5 percent.
"I resent the attitude of the mayor and the wealthy team
owners," said 33-year-old Julie Richey, who posted a sign
from the "It's a Bad Deal!" committee in her front yard.
Under the ballot measure, the money would come from a 2 percent
tax increase on hotel stays and a 5 percent tax hike on car-rental
fees.
The Dallas City Council in December voted 12-2 favor of the
plan, even though the 50-acre location -- an idle TU Electric
plant -- ranked last among 13 sites studied three years ago.
Because the arena site has been used for more than 100 years
as a power plant and rail yard, the soil is contaminated by diesel
fuel and oil. The teams have agreed to clean up the land before
turning it over to the city, said Carol Reed, a consultant on
the Yes! For Dallas campaign.
Building there would mean Reunion Arena -- home of the Mavericks
and Stars -- would skirt the wrecking ball and remain available
for concerts and other events.
Proponents say the arena will spur hundreds of millions of
dollars in downtown development and create thousands of jobs.
Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk appears in a radio ad warning residents
that the lost money will instead be shoveled to the suburbs.
Said Reed: "Arlington, Grand Prairie and Garland have
made offers that are even better than the deal that was put together
here in Dallas for the owners."
It's a Bad Deal! founder Sharon Boyd argues that the surrounding
cities couldn't lure the teams because they lack the corporate
base to support such a huge project.
"This is an absolute no-brainer. We lose at every level,"
Boyd said. "If the Mavericks and Stars go someplace else,
we'll still have a very good concert facility and we'll still
have a facility circuses will want to use."
The only ones who benefit from the deal, she says, are Perot
and Hicks, who announced Wednesday he's buying the Texas Rangers
baseball team and land surrounding The Ballpark in Arlington.
Proponents say the purchase makes Arlington even more of a
threat should the arena deal fail. Opponents, meanwhile, question
why Hicks needs help paying for a facility for his hockey franchise
when he's spending $250 million for the baseball team.
"What this is about is not the need for a new arena for
a pretty good hockey team and a mediocre basketball team,"
Boyd said. "This is about a real estate deal. This is about
grabbing a hold of very valuable land that's only going to be
more valuable with time."
Kirk says the voters will approve the arena because the opposition
bases its argument on emotional scare tactics and unfair attacks
on the owners.
"They have no argument for the underlying premise that
it is in the city's best economic interest to invest $125 million
one time to get $6 billion in revenue for 30 years," he said.
The arena has some high-profile supporters, including Kirk
and former mayors Steve Bartlett and Annette Strauss. Southwest
Airlines Chairman Herb Kelleher appears in a 30-second television
spot promoting the plan, and a radio ad features former Dallas
Cowboys quarterback Roger Staubach.
There's something about the arena debate that has stirred fear
and frenzy in Dallas residents. Perhaps it's the competitive nature
of sports itself.
Many residents displaying yellow-and-black "It's a Bad
Deal!" or "Yes! Let's Build It" signs on their
lawns say they don't usually get so involved in campaigns.
Carla Bolner and her husband, Anthony, a member of the Dallas
Real Estate Council, distributed pro-arena signs all over south
Dallas last weekend, and they've also placed one in front of their
home.
"We think it's a great idea. It's great for the city and
it's great for jobs," Carla Bolner said. "Plus, we're
sports people."
Despite her enthusiasm, Bolner says she's afraid the measure
will fail. "I've seen more 'It's a Bad Deal' signs than good
deal signs."
Moses James thinks it will pass, but he plans to vote no. The
51-year-old believes it would cost less to renovate Reunion Arena
than erect a new building.
"But people are excited about having a new arena with
luxury boxes," James added. "Maybe it'll help the teams."
Kirk says Reunion Arena is still in good shape after 18 years,
but it's obsolete because it has no luxury seating or concourses.
If the measure fails, Dallas will be one of a series of cities
where residents have said no to multimillion-dollar sports complexes.
In November, voters in Pittsburgh overwhelmingly rejected a
tax boost to build two stadiums for baseball's Pirates and football's
Steelers.
The same day, a large majority of Minneapolis voters approved
a change in the city charter that will require a citywide vote
before more than $10 million in taxpayer money is spent on a sports
project.
Several privately funded arenas, however, have opened recently
or are in the works.
The $200 million MCI Center, which opened in December in Washington,
D.C., was built entirely with private money. Washington Wizards
and Capitals owner Abe Pollin said he paid for the arena himself
because of the city's financial difficulties.
To help foot the bill, however, ticket prices have gone up
25 percent. The new facility has 110 skyboxes, compared with just
40 in the old USAir Arena.
Columbus, Ohio, is breaking ground this spring on an arena
for an NHL expansion team. National Mutual Insurance Cos. will
own 90 percent of the building.
Winning or losing stadium proposals hinges on the quality of
propaganda, said Jim Andrews, vice president of IEG Inc., a Chicago-based
sports marketing consulting firm.
"The opposition has done a very good job of getting their
side out," Andrews said of other cities' stadium and arena
deals.
"They're saying, 'For the amount of money we're being
asked to put into this as taxpayers, we're not going to get that
much back. Most of this is going to end up in the pockets of the
wealthy people who own the teams.' "
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