West Valley leaders, as well as the cities of Mesa and Tempe, are upset over Phoenix business groups' aggressive move to bring the stadium to Downtown.

Resentment against Downtown is building from the outlying suburbs, in part because Phoenix submitted no official site prior to the Nov. 7 vote. They feel that it was a tactic for Downtown Phoenix business groups to lay low before the Nov. 7 election so that voters would pass the stadium measure, enticed by the idea that the stadium could be built in their own community.

"People of the West Valley voted for this because they wanted a fair shot," says Peoria Mayor John Keegan. "It makes a charade out of the electoral process."

Keegan suggests that there was "a preconceived idea where the stadium would go," and that's Downtown Phoenix.

Two Downtown booster groups along with sports mogul Jerry Colangelo, owner of the Phoenix Suns and managing general partner of the Arizona Diamondbacks, are pushing for a Phoenix location for the stadium.

Three sites are being studied by the city of Phoenix, but nothing has been officially proposed to the Tourism and Sports Authority, which will build and operate the stadium.

Downtown Phoenix wants to combine the development of the stadium with a $500-million expansion of its convention center, while the suburbs want the stadium for the revenue generated by the NFL and college bowl games and ancillary development of restaurants, bars, hotels and other amenities that are sure to surround the stadium.

The Authority will narrow the list of potential sites to two by mid-January and choose the winner in mid-February. Construction on the 73,000-seat, retractable-dome stadium will begin in August.

Instant Insights /

Suburban Contenders for Stadium Angry Over Downtown's Efforts to Take Over Project

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