City, Global to present update Tuesday

City staff and representatives from Global Entertainment Corp. will give a presentation to the Yuma City Council Tuesday on the status, future and possible financing options for a proposed 6,000-seat arena.

"I think it's going to be a life-to-date history of the entire project," said Steve Bielewicz, president of Global properties.

The briefing will take place during the city's regular work session scheduled for 4:30 p.m. Tuesday. The presentation will cover the final half of Global's $62,500 study of the arena project's future in Yuma.

The first half, presented in October, dealt with architectural and engineering issues. How this project will be financed has not been addressed yet, however.

Projections show it would cost approximately $53 million to build the arena. Another study, done independently by land-use planning firm Economic Research Associates, showed the arena would probably make a profit of about $1 million a year after operating costs were taken into account.

The city has been exploring plans for an arena north of the Yuma Palms Regional Center since March. It would form a public-private partnership with Global, a company that has created several similar facilities across the nation.

The proposed arena would be anchored by a Central Hockey League team and provide a venue for trade shows, concerts, family shows, festivals and other events.

Global would guarantee the price of construction, Bielewicz said. If there were a cost overrun on the construction or the arena failed to meet revenue projections, Global would absorb the difference.

"No facility like this has been built, in the history of the world, without public financing. These are economic generators," Bielewicz said. "It's really a decision for the city and the municipality ... We will provide certain assurances to minimize the risk to the city."

Other venues have been financed through various methods. Corporate-naming sponsorship covered some of the costs of the Tim's Toyota Center in Prescott Valley, while bonds also financed the project. Federal funds, corporate sponsorship and a loan taken out by the city of Youngstown, Ohio, built the Chevrolet Center there. A countywide sales tax, passed in 1999 to pay for the entire Larimer County Fairgrounds Complex, helped put the Budweiser Events Center in Loveland, Colo.

Bielewicz added that all the dealings Global has had with the city of Yuma are open to the public.

"The only way this process works is everything we do, every contract we write, is open-book. What hurts us in this project is misinformation. That's the single biggest issue," he said.

Information and contacts for Global can be found online at globalentertainment 2000.com.

IF YOU GO

-WHAT: CITY COUNCIL REGULAR WORK SESSION

-WHERE: CITY HALL

-WHEN: 4:30 P.M.

-WHO: GLOBAL ENTERTAINMENT GROUP AND CITY STAFF

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Sarah Reynolds can be reached at

sreynolds@yumasun.com or 539-6847.