Clock Running Out for Anaheim and Westdome

Backers of Anaheim’s much-touted proposal for a $40-million sports arena are behind schedule and racing to meet an April 22 deadline that will affect a bid to bring Orange County its first professional basketball team.

If the Westdome Partnership, the developers proposing the 20,000-seat arena, cannot get financial backing by April 22, the chances for a basketball team for Anaheim are nil in this round, National Basketball Assn. authorities said. April 22 is the day the NBA Board of Governors meets to decide which city or cities will get a team.

The proposal faces another hurdle at a divided Anaheim City Council, whose members have expressed varying degrees of support for the arena. One council member now suggests that the city, itself, should build the arena--without the Westdome firm.

City officials said they have been approached by other developers interested in the project, and the city will not wait indefinitely for the Westdome partners.

“I’m not saying we’re giving up on Westdome,” city spokeswoman Sheri Erlewine said. “(But) at some point we’re going to say: ‘Listen Westdome, we like you and we want you, but we can wait (only) so long.’ ”

Alan Durkovic, one of the developers in the four-member Westdome Partnership, responded: “That always happens. There are people who follow a project of this nature and (later) throw their hats into the ring.”

Asked if the prospect of such competition worried him, Durkovic said, “I don’t have time to worry about that.”

Recently, Durkovic said, he and his colleagues have been working to line up financing for a bond issue and are seeking backing from a bank by the deadline. But he declined to elaborate on the dealings, saying, “this is a delicate time.” But he added that he was confident “that we can do it. . . .”

The addition of a major indoor arena would be a significant boost to Anaheim, which already is home to Anaheim Stadium, a large convention center and Disneyland, city officials are fond of saying.

For its part, the city, under the current proposal by the Westdome Partnership, would be responsible for acquiring the land for the arena. The city has said it would consider selling municipal bonds to buy more than 10 acres southwest of Anaheim Stadium and to relocate the businesses already there to make way for the proposed arena.

But members of the City Council, which must approve such an acquisition and a bond measure, have recently expressed caution.

“I can’t predict how I would go on that (Westdome),” Mayor Ben Bay said. “There are other people around who are interested in the franchise. There are other people around who are interested in Anaheim.

“There is no question the city would like to have an arena. There is no question that the city would like to have an NBA franchise” as well as an ice hockey team, more trade shows and so on, Bay said. But beyond that, Bay said the questions become: “Well, how far would we go? What risk factor would we take? There is always the risk of (the city being) involved in financing. What would be the return on our investment? What share of the whole thing would we get. . .? “

Bay--who opposes bond issues for non-revenue-producing functions, such as a police station--said there isn’t enough information yet available on Westdome for him to cast a vote.

Councilman Fred Hunter said another option is being considered. “The thinking going on is (that) we might build our own stadium. We may not need Westdome.

“I think they’re having big problems getting the package together because of financing,” Hunter said in reference to the Westdome partners. “There is more than a possibility, but a probability, that we would build our own arena.”

Doesn’t Like Option

Councilman Irv Pickler said he had not heard of that option and added that his gut reaction to it was, “I don’t like it.”

Mayor Pro Tem Miriam Kaywood said she would support building an arena with or without a major basketball team--a sport Anaheim has been talking about attracting for at least 10 years.

But Hunter said he could not agree to building an arena unless the NBA approves a basketball team for Anaheim. His support, he said, all hinges on winning the franchise.

“No franchise, no arena,” Hunter said. “I could not see us building an arena without a franchise.”

Durkovic, of the Westdome group, said the partners are trying to complete the financing deal by the NBA deadline of April 22, when the league votes on awarding franchises.

Even if they aren’t able to do so by the deadline, Durkovic said the Westdome project could still go ahead as an arena for other major sports. “We’re talking with indoor major soccer and major hockey leagues,” he said.

Planning for NBA Team

But council members were still thinking only in terms of an NBA team. And if the project proponents--Westdome Partnership and the City of Anaheim--can’t guarantee a place for a team to play, the Anaheim bid will have a rough time competing against other cities that can, NBA officials said.

“It almost has to be that way. If there is no clear possibility that they will have a place to play, then as far as being included in this round of expansion, that wouldn’t be possible--because they don’t have a place to play,” said Bill Jemas, NBA assistant general counsel.

Other cities competing for a franchise are Miami, Orlando, St. Petersburg, Minneapolis, Charlotte and Toronto, said Brian McIntyre, NBA public relations director. Owners of the league’s existing 23 teams will decide April 22 on awarding at least one, and possibly up to three franchises for the 1988-89 and 1990-91 seasons.

Should Anaheim not be chosen this time, the city could try again in future expansion rounds, league officials said, although there is no estimate on when the league board of directors might consider it again.

Jemas also discounted the contention of some city officials that Anaheim was “promised” a franchise as soon as it built an arena.

“They haven’t had any such promise,” Jemas said, adding that league Commissioner David J. Stern “is not in a position to make that promise, because that decision is made by the board of governors.”

Still, Jemas said, Anaheim--home to the California Angels and the Los Angeles Rams--is a lucrative area for sports attractions. Despite the presence of the Clippers and the Lakers basketball teams in Los Angeles, there is room for another team because of the “sheer size of the market,” he said, adding that Anaheim is “an excellent market.”

Nick Mileti, who has posted a $100,000 fee to bring a professional basketball team to Anaheim, agrees.

Mileti declined to say how he would arrange financing if the NBA chooses Anaheim for a team. He also declined to reveal how much his investment would be or how much he believes an expansion team will cost. Estimates from officials attending the NBA owners’ recent meeting in Phoenix ranged from $25 million to $35 million.

Mileti, the former owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers, made his presentation before the NBA board in Phoenix on Oct. 20. Four days earlier, the city made a hasty announcement about the proposed arena and a basketball team to fill it in order to make the deadline for consideration at that NBA meeting.

So when Mileti, the developers and a team of city officials showed up in Phoenix for the presentation, it caught many by surprise. Some still thought they were talking about the City of Santa Ana, the site of the original Westdome arena proposal. (Last year, the Westdome proposal was rejected for two Santa Ana sites after neighborhood groups expressed opposition.)

But even after some NBA officials expressed doubts that Anaheim would be given a franchise, the city remained undaunted.

“Clear-headed, intelligent people will select Orange County,” former Anaheim Mayor Don R. Roth said after his city’s last-minute pitch at the NBA meeting, where many viewed Anaheim as a distinct dark horse in the race for expansion teams.

Opposition Not a Factor

When the Westdome developers switched from Santa Ana to Anaheim, they did not encounter the same neighborhood opposition, said Ron Bates, Anaheim assistant city manager.

“The Westdome Partnership has finally found a home,” Durkovic said during the press conference announcing the switch to Anaheim.

When the project was first announced, there was reluctance from some of the people who owned parcels of the property slated for the arena. The city has not yet gone back to those property owners to discuss details because the environmental reviews, among other things, have not yet been done, Bates said last week. But although environmental impact reviews frequently take a year or more to complete, it was not expected to create problems since there was little or no opposition from neighbors in the area that already is home to Anaheim Stadium.

The council had expected to consider financing environmental reviews and authorizing staff members to negotiate with property owners for the land by December.

“It’s probably been a little slower than we had originally expected,” Bates said.

Allan B. Hughes, executive director of the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce, agreed that the process has been slower than “when it’s first announced (and) everyone gets excited about it.”

But the “hard money and all the details that go into this” take time, Hughes said.