Anaheim: If We Build It, They’ll Come : Arena: First the facility, then the franchise, say officials who believe the city’s already established sports teams and other attractions ensure it of attracting a tenant.

City officials bristle at the mention of the Suncoast Dome in St. Petersburg, Fla.

They don’t care to hear how that city endured massive cost overruns and years of political turmoil only to lose its bid last month to attract a major league baseball franchise.

And try not to mention how the domed sports palace’s main tenant, Arena League Football, must bring its own playing surface to the games and roll it up after the final gun because there is not enough money left to carpet the stadium floor with Astroturf.

They say Anaheim is different from any other city that has wagered millions in hopes of attracting or expanding its offerings of professional sports.

Different from St. Petersburg; different from Memphis; different from San Antonio; different even from neighboring Santa Ana.

“We have the population, the climate and the plan,” Mayor Fred Hunter said last week. “When people see this thing, they are going to go nuts.”

Even with all fingers pointing to the debt mounting around the empty stadium on Florida’s Gulf Coast, Councilman Bob D. Simpson believes strongly that his city is following the right course: The arena must come before the team.

“Anaheim has proven itself as a professional sports town with the Los Angeles Rams and the California Angels,” the councilman and former city manager said. “The only way we are going to attract a hockey or National Basketball Assn. team is to prove that Anaheim is committed to building an arena that would attract a team.”

On Wednesday, that commitment is set to become rock solid as the first yards of concrete are scheduled to flow into the foundation for the city’s 19,200-seat sports and entertainment complex.

Although the $103-million arena project is backed with a letter of credit from private interests Ogden Allied Services and the Nederlander Organization, the city of Anaheim has had already invested about $11 million to buy the arena property. The city could also be liable for losses up to $2.5 million each year for the first eight years of operation if the arena fails to attract any professional teams.

It is a deal others have described as a dangerous gamble.

“The cities go out on a limb on these things and just lose a fortune,” said Thomas W. Hazlett, a professor of economics and public policy at UC Davis. “The taxpayers ought to have a cartel agreement that they aren’t going to get involved (with) these things. If any politician breaches that agreement they should be made to go to jail.”

Jerry Oliver, general manager of the Suncoast Dome, which is expected to cost the city of St. Petersburg nearly $2 million next year, says simply: “If you build a stadium thinking you’ll automatically get a franchise, you better be careful. If I were a mayor, I’d want the franchise in hand before I’d build the facility.”

Hunter said he has heard those cautions before and overcame criticism of his support for the project during his successful reelection campaign last fall against Councilman Irv Pickler.

“I’ve got people coming up to me saying, ‘Hey, let me know when I can buy a suite,’ ” the mayor said, referring to the 82 luxury boxes planned for the arena. “That’s why I’m almost cocky on this issue.”

Like Simpson, Hunter said his confidence is based on Anaheim’s reputation as a home for professional baseball and football and as a tourist destination with Disneyland.

Another reason for the mayor’s unbridled support, he said, is the presence of Los Angeles lawyer Neil Papiano, who is working with Anaheim officials to lure a sports franchise to the city. Hunter said Papiano has been in league expansion discussions and talks with basketball and hockey clubs about the possibility of relocating their franchises to Anaheim.

Neither Hunter nor Papiano would identify the teams on Anaheim’s list, although past discussions about relocating the Los Angeles Clippers to Anaheim were made public two years ago.

Papiano said last week that he has also talked with the NCAA about locating the Western Regional Finals of its Division 1 college basketball tournament in Anaheim. However, a tournament official said all playoff sites have been committed through 1994 and decisions on 1995 locations will be made in December.

Anaheim, the official said, can not be considered for selection until its arena is open for business. City officials say opening day is expected sometime in September, 1993.

“We have talked to them,” said Bill Hancock, the NCAA’s director of the Division 1 Men’s Basketball Championship. “We’re excited by the possibility, but the facility must be operational at the time of selection.”

Officials of neighboring Santa Ana also want to build a sports facility but say they will do so only if a franchise can be obtained first. They say Anaheim is on the same track that derailed the city of St. Petersburg.

“We will build a building when we have a franchise secured,” said Tony Guanci of Santa Ana’s Orange County Arena Partnership. “We’re doing what today’s economy dictates as the proper way to go forward. Look at the (financial) problems cities and states are having these days.”

He said Anaheim officials are making a further mistake by highlighting the city’s reputation as a tourist destination and home to two other professional sports franchises.

“Tourists don’t buy season tickets or luxury boxes,” Guanci said, adding that sports franchise owners also don’t like to compete with other owners for the ear of local politicians. “When you are the only sports team in town, you are likely to get the mayor’s ear pretty quickly.”

In the race to win a franchise, Guanci said his representatives are “knocking on the same doors as Anaheim.”

“When we approach people about buying a luxury suite, we won’t be asking them to buy a suite to watch the circus, the Ice Capades or high school graduations,” Guanci said. “We’re saying put down a $10,000 deposit on a 10-year lease, and if we don’t have a franchise . . . you get the money back with interest.”

But Santa Ana and Anaheim are not the only ones taking the gamble on professional sports.

In Memphis, the city has spent $25 million to add 40 luxury boxes and enlarge the capacity of the Liberty Bowl to 64,000, hoping to lure the National Football League.

“I think it was important to make the statement to the NFL that we were willing to make the commitment,” said Paul Gurley, the city’s director of legislative affairs. “It was a big one to make, but now we’re in a position to attract other events to book into the stadium.”

Gurley said he believes that the city is one of the top two on the NFL’s expansion list. While banking on professional football, Gurley said the stadium will continue to host the college football Liberty Bowl game and Memphis State University home games.

San Antonio, which sold its $177-million Alamodome project to the taxpayers as a sure way to attract the NFL and win consideration as a major league convention city, now has a World League of American Football franchise. Also, the Houston Oilers recently announced that they will use the city as a summer training site, and municipal officials--with the dome expected to open in 1993--are seeking to establish the city as a center for amateur sports.

Already the city has been selected as the site for the 1993 Olympic Festival.

But the thought of continuing the Anaheim project without a team keeps Councilman Pickler voting no on every arena issue.

“I’m a sports nut as much as anyone,” Pickler said, “but it’s not going to be an easy row to hoe even if we get an expansion team. I hope it’s a success, but they’ve (Santa Ana officials) got an idea to go out an get a team, too. What’s to prevent them from getting a team before us?”