The Arizona Coyotes may be gone, but the team's former owners remain, and amazingly enough, if they can tax fans to fund $3 billion in hockey entertainment development, they'll make another He said he would provide a team.
Alex Meruelo, who just started negotiations to take his hockey team to Salt Lake City for $1 billion, is now looking to buy a new expansion team and a glitzy 110-acre piece of prime state land on Loop 101 west of Scottsdale. We are working diligently on new developments. road.
“This cannot happen without the cooperation of the city,” he told Corinna Vanek of the Arizona Republic.
Every time you hear these six words from a sports team owner (in this case, the owner of a team that doesn't actually exist), clutch your wallet tightly.
Meruelo wants a theme park district
Meruelo is touting plans to build “the first privately funded sports arena and entertainment district in Arizona history.” But then he uses his three magic words that comfort the hearts of sports team owners around the world, at least in Arizona.
Theme park district.
Meruelo told Vanek he plans to ask the city of Phoenix for help creating a theme park district.
For those who don't follow billionaire team owners and their constant schemes to line their pockets, the Arizona Legislature expanded the definition of theme park districts to include sports facilities in 2021 .
This law was updated specifically for the Arizona Diamondbacks, giving the team the power to tax fans for stadium improvements that had already been taxed for construction.
Under the law, developers who obtain theme park status can create special tax districts.
He can then borrow on the city's credit rating to finance development with low-interest government bonds and impose a sales tax of up to 9% on anything sold within the district. In this case, it would probably apply not only to hockey tickets and tickets, but also to TT shirts. Not just shirts, but everything sold at 400,000 square feet of stores, offices, restaurants, hotels and theaters within the 110-acre development.
This levy of up to 9% will be on top of the 8.6% sales tax collected to fund government operations.
Why is this not a public subsidy?
Oh, and there's also this.
“Property acquired, leased, or constructed by a school district, the school district's activities in the maintenance and management of that property, and the funds derived by the school district from the operation of that property are exempt from state and local income and property taxes,” the law states. has been determined. .
In other words, if the land goes up for auction on June 27, Mr. Meruelo wins the right to buy it, and the city agrees to the theme park scam, state income taxes, city, county, state property may be exempted from payment. tax.
From what I've read in the law, only his hotel is subject to the tax.
Coyote leaves:because we are worthless
Considering bids for that prime land start at $68.5 million and Meruelo wants to build a $3 billion sports entertainment district, that's quite a bit of tax we can waive.
Why isn't it a public subsidy?
Of course, it's a different story if it's land that no other developer wants and therefore wouldn't incur taxes on anyway.
The coyote is gone. Will this get us another team?
Does anyone think that's the case with prime state land located along a freeway on the expensive north Phoenix-Scottsdale border?
who?
Oddly enough, Meruelo never mentioned any of that in his sales pitch about what it would take to bring hockey back to the Valley. Instead, it would look like this:
Meruelo announced his plans earlier this month, saying, “My family and I are committed to winning this land auction and building the first innovative entertainment district in Arizona history that requires no taxpayer funding.'' “I'm here,” he said.
Back when there was still a hockey team.
Is anyone buying what he's selling at this point?
who?
Contact Roberts at laurie.roberts@arizonarepublic.com. Follow her on X (formerly Twitter). @Laurie Roberts.
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