Will Major League Sports Invoke The “Phoenix Precedent”?

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The National Football League yanked the Super Bowl in 1992 from Tempe's Sun Devil Stadium because the state refused to recognize Martin Luther King Day, a holiday that was first celebrated nationally on a state-by-state basis in 1986. The Super Bowl & Arizona Politics – The New York Sun:

Initially, NFL owners had no real interest in Arizona politics because the league didn't have a team in the state. Former Arizona Governor Bruce Babbitt had also declared that Arizona would celebrate the holiday in 1987, even though the state legislature failed to pass legislation to officially recognize the holiday. However, newly-elected Governor Meacham rescinded the holiday in 1987 because it was "illegally created." Again, this was no major concern for the NFL as it had no business interests there other than having its games aired on both radio and TV within the state.

In 1987, St. Louis Cardinals owner Bill Bidwill struck out in his four-year bid to get St. Louis to build a new facility for his football club and decided to move to Tempe because the Arizona State University's stadium had a much larger capacity than St. Louis's Busch Stadium, and he preferred the warm climate of the Southwest. It was then that the NFL was forced into the Martin Luther King Day holiday controversy. Bidwill's Cardinals bombed at the gate in their first season and in March 1990 the NFL decided to give Bidwill a boost by awarding Super Bowl XXVII to Tempe. NFL owners knew that Arizona was not celebrating the King holiday but were given assurances by Arizona business and political leaders that the state would change its stance and recognize the federal holiday. They also knew that there was an economic boycott of the state and that they were going to get involved in a politically sensitive issue in the state.

After Governor Meacham canceled the King holiday in 1987, performer Stevie Wonder announced that he would boycott performing in Arizona, and convention planners also bypassed the state. The battle was on. In 1989, the state legislature passed legislation to create a state holiday honoring King but opponents managed to get enough signatures to get voters in the state to decide on whether or not to honor King in November 1990. Arizona voters overturned the legislature's decision and the NFL pulled Super Bowl XXVII from Tempe and moved it to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.

But that was not the end of the story. NFL owners along with the National Football League Players Association stepped up the pressure on the Arizona legislature and told local politicians that the league would never consider playing a Super Bowl in the Phoenix area unless the state recognized the holiday.

The January 1996 Super Bowl became available, and the NFL was making noises that it was interested in going to Tempe if Arizona finally said yes to Martin Luther King Day. In 1992, Arizona voters had another chance at passing a referendum recognizing the King holiday, with a vote of 62–38, and approved the establishment of the holiday. About four-and-a-half months later, in March 1993, NFL awarded Super Bowl XXX to Tempe. The Arizona State College of Business claimed that the 1996 Super Bowl had a $305.8 million impact on Arizona and supposedly created 6,040 jobs.

The NFL is now faced with invoking its "Phoenix Precedent" once again in the wake of SB 1070, Arizona's "show me your papers" anti-immigrant law. On March 6, 2008, one month after hosting Super Bowl XLII at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, the second Super Bowl held in the Phoenix metropolitan area, the Arizona Super Bowl Host Committee led by Committee chair Mike Kennedy formally announced their intentions to bid for another one.

Other major league sports are being asked to invoke the "Phoenix Precedent" as well. Keith Olbermann on his Countdown program on Friday evening called for a boycott of Major League Baseball Cactus League Spring Training in Arizona in the wake of the passage of SB 1070.

This is impractical and is legally and logistically impossible for Major League Baseball teams in the Cactus League. But there is a symbolic demonstration that Major League Baseball can make against SB 1070 by following the example set by the National Football League and invoking the "Phoenix Precedent": the Arizona Diamondbacks are scheduled to host the 82nd Major League Baseball All-Star Game on July 12, 2011 at Chase Field. 2011 All-Star Game Major League Baseball needs to make a decision about yanking the All-Star Game from Phoenix and awarding the game to another city.

28.7% of Major League ballplayers are of Latin American decent. And the Major League Baseball Scouting Bureau recently announced it is expanding its operations in Latin America. MLB Scouting Bureau expanding operations to Latin America – SI.com Major League Baseball is heavily invested in Latin American ballplayers and both Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association can be expected to take a position on the "Phoenix Precedent."

Phoenix recently hosted the NBA All-Star Game in 2009. Phoenix is hoping to be awarded the NHL All-Star Game in 2012 or 2013. Phoenix Coyotes hoping to host NHL All-Star Game in 2012 or 2013