LOCAL ELECTIONS: ANAHEIM MAYORAL RACE : Foes Accuse Hunter of Leap of Faith in His Crusade for a Sports Arena

Mayor Fred Hunter may be borrowing the story line of the popular movie “Field of Dreams” in his support of a $100-million sports arena for the city:

If you build it, they will come.

In campaign speeches, he says the deal to bring an existing National Hockey League franchise to occupy the yet-to-be-built arena has been locked up. He also says one of three National Basketball Assn. teams is on the way.

But some of Hunter’s council colleagues say Hunter may be promising more than he can deliver. They believe that Hunter’s claims are merely the product of election-season rhetoric, a bid to make the arena project more palatable for the voters.

“If the mayor is aware of a commitment from a professional sports team, he hasn’t shared that with me or the other members of the council,” said Councilman Tom Daly, a supporter of the arena project. “In professional sports, teams do not make commitments years in advance. They prefer not to make a commitment until an arena or stadium is under construction or completed. It’s another example of Fred not being a team player.”

City officials, particularly Councilman Irv Pickler, who is challenging Hunter in this year’s mayoral race, have been questioning the status of the city’s effort to lure sports teams to Anaheim since Hunter announced in a debate last week that a deal to get a hockey team had already been sealed.

Of critical concern to Anaheim voters and the political well-being of the city’s elected officials is a clause in the arena operating agreement that, according to city officials, would require the city to pay $2.5 million per year for the facility’s first eight years if hockey and basketball teams cannot be found to occupy the proposed 20,000-seat arena.

After last Thursday’s debate with Pickler at Anaheim High School, Hunter said he could not reveal the name of the hockey franchise because of the potential losses in ticket sales that team could suffer if its plans to move were known to the public. He said the negotiations were being handled in secret under the direction of Los Angeles-based attorney Neil Papiano.

“Do we have a team or don’t we?” Pickler asked Wednesday. “I think it’s a bunch of bull, a bunch of hogwash. Sure, there are names (of sports teams) out there. I think it’s a lot of hot air.

City Manager James Ruth, who said an agreement with arena developers requires them to inform him of deals reached with sports teams, said this week he did not know of an agreement.

“He (Hunter) may know something I don’t know,” Ruth said. “My personal knowledge is that we’re in negotiations with several franchises in the NBA and NHL.”

Daly said the city manager’s statement was an “accurate summary of the situation.”

Papiano, working as an agent for arena developers Ogden Corp. and the Nederlander Co., said “intense discussions” were ongoing and that he was “happy and confident about the situation.”

“There are a lot of teams,” Papiano said. “We are certainly actively pursuing all available courses.”

He declined to confirm or deny the existence of an agreement with an NHL team or name the teams involved in the negotiations. He also would not comment on whether Hunter was involved in the negotiations. Of Hunter’s previous statements about an agreement, Papiano said: “I would not call it just rhetoric.”

NHL spokesman Jerry Helper said he was unaware of a deal to bring an NHL franchise to Anaheim. He said: “I would be surprised that you could get that far along in the game without involving others.” Ruth said he expects the interest of professional sports teams in Anaheim to increase after the city breaks ground on the project, scheduled for Nov. 8 on Douglass Road. The project is expected to be completed by October, 1992.

The race to bring professional indoor sporting events to Orange County includes Santa Ana, where officials are planning to sell luxury suites next month for that city’s proposed $75-million facility.

The 20,000-seat Santa Ana arena is expected to be at Lyon Street and Edinger Avenue on the southeast side of the city. It will be privately built and owned by King-Guanci Development Inc. of Newport Beach and its partners. The Spectacor Management group will operate the arena with bookings to be handled by MCA Entertainment Inc.

Times staff writer Mark Landsbaum contributed to this report.