Timeout to Consider Arena Alternatives : * Santa Ana Should Go Slow Now That Pressure to Build a Big Sports Facility Is Off

A developer’s retreat in Santa Ana from the high-stakes indoor sports arena competition in Orange County has left that city to regroup. But the only apparent setback is that it is a disappointment for a city that has sought for several years to be first on the block with a house for a professional hockey or basketball franchise. Santa Ana Mayor Daniel H. Young now says that the city wants to consider plans for a significantly smaller facility. The idea of a smaller facility instead of the planned 20,000-seat arena, to accommodate other events, may have merit. But the city should proceed with caution now that, in a sense, the pressure to be on the fast track is off.

The truth of the matter is the obvious “winner” of the competition to build a large sports arena--Anaheim--is not at all certain of what it has won for its status of having a $103-million arena that is nearly 50% complete and scheduled to open in the summer of 1993. From the beginning, it always has been problematic for both cities to proceed without the certainty of securing agreements with any professional sports franchise.

Developer Anthony V. Guanci, the leader of the private group in Santa Ana, has been very frank in recent days about the lack of interest in sports franchises serious about relocating in Orange County. As recently as two months ago, he was touting the Santa Ana arena as a going concern. But the sagging economy and costs of relocating have caught up with all these projects.

Anaheim has been very lucky indeed to get at least a nibble from the Los Angeles Clippers about playing a portion of their 1993-94 schedule in Anaheim. That city’s arena remains buoyant about attracting a sports franchise, and the arena plan has gone ahead.

Santa Ana has emerged without any expenditure of city money, although the redevelopment agency could, according to a memorandum of understanding approved two years ago, be responsible for reimbursing up to $500,000 to the developer in preliminary planning expenses if the project is deemed not viable.

Santa Ana wisely has held off without the commitment to build, and a realistic assessment has been made. But there are the other options for a smaller arena. Clearly, two new big arenas would not have made it. Anaheim is left now mostly racing against its own ability to bring in top college basketball teams for regional challenge matches. The best advice for Santa Ana for now, meanwhile, is “go slow.”