Phoenix pumped to host All-Star Game

By: Paul CoroSource: The Arizona RepublicThe Las Vegas Strip.
2/28/08

New Orleans' Bourbon Street.

Downtown Phoenix's Copper Square.

The similarities among the city districts make for a short list, but Phoenix is following two of the nation's most famous entertainment areas in one way. Phoenix is next in line to play host to the NBA All-Star Game, a weeklong hoopapalooza that is as close as the NBA gets to Super Bowl week.

Much like downtown New Orleans underwent a makeover for the days up to and including Sunday's All-Star Game, downtown Phoenix will transform into an unfamiliar sight of activity and pageantry for next February's events, parties and games."Phoenix will be off the chain," said LeBron James, a Cleveland Cavaliers All-Star player. "I can't wait. I'll need some good weather."

The basketball bonanza will be equal parts showcase for the NBA's top talent and downtown Phoenix's new look, which will have light rail, Sheraton hotel and Phoenix Convention Center expansion completed by then.

"This is our red-carpet event," Phoenix Councilman Michael Johnson said after watching All-Star Saturday's shooting, skills and slam-dunk contests from a New Orleans Arena suite of Phoenix representatives. "This is our flagship event."

Downtown Phoenix will be transformed with block parties and "wallscapes" that cover the entire sides of the city's skyscrapers and buildings with photos of NBA players in ads.

The marquee events for 215 nations watching on television will be the 59th All-Star Game and the contests for All-Star Saturday at US Airways Center, where the large introduction stage will need to be carved somewhere into the lower bowl. However, most local residents are more apt to take part in NBA All-Star Jam Session, a family-themed fair that will be on two levels of the Convention Center with a 3,000-seat "Center Court" created for All-Star team practices. In New Orleans, tickets were $20 for adults and $12 for kids, seniors and military. "I think people are going to eat up Jam Session," said Suns public-relations director Jamie Morris, who spent her ninth day site-checking in New Orleans with a group that reviewed the events with local organizers Monday. "It's going to be so fun. Everybody I talk to here is so excited for Phoenix."

The Suns sent events, arena, security, community relations, marketing and information-technology staff to New Orleans to shadow their peers there. The city also sent high-ranking airport, police and fire officials as well as Steve Moore, president of the Greater Phoenix Convention and Visitors Bureau. Unlike this year's Super Bowl or college football bowls, Phoenix game organizers want to keep as much activity in downtown Phoenix as possible. Some spread is unavoidable, but planners will use various downtown buildings to house the social and corporate events, player appearances, a Technology Summit and parties that take up the week."We want them in a concentrated area," Johnson said. "You can't have a better venue to have an activity than the city of Phoenix downtown."

Our goal is to use as many venues in the Phoenix downtown area as possible to make sure that we're keeping most of the activity in downtown Phoenix."Crowds are expected to be much larger in Phoenix than New Orleans, where attendance problems with its conference-leading Hornets translated to empty seats at All-Star Weekend, as well."

It'll be great in Phoenix," said Tim Duncan, a San Antonio Spurs All-Star. "It's spread out. It's a great city. Warm weather. Never can beat that."

After horrible public-safety reviews for Las Vegas, New Orleans had an incident-free experience until a non-fatal triple shooting early Monday in the French Quarter. Police cars were parked on every block, and officers rode horses along Bourbon Street in a city that had just come off Mardi Gras. The All-Star Game attracts a younger party crowd for the week's social scene, and much of that could come by car from California. That happened in Las Vegas last year, as well, but the league did not have control of hotels like it will in Phoenix, which is expected to attract more of the corporate crowd seeking to pair up basketball with golf or spa experiences.

The Suns will be the first team to host the All-Star Game (and games for celebrities, NBA rookies and sophomores and Development League All-Stars) in three years. Las Vegas (2007) is not an NBA city, and the New Orleans' Hornets had been displaced to Oklahoma City at the time the city was awarded this year's game, so the New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau handled much of the planning.

Suns Managing Partner Robert Sarver and his family spent the weekend in New Orleans, taking in two days of Jam Session and the nighttime events with Sarver's mind trailing off to issues like traffic and pedestrian flow."

A lot of it has to do with moving people - egress, ingress and getting people into events quickly," Sarver said. "I think we're going to get a big crowd turnout. It's a tremendous undertaking, but everyone's excited to do it."There will be everything from street litter and counterfeit sales to TNT setting up shows along streets decorated with banners."It'll be a great time in Phoenix," said Joe Johnson, Atlanta All-Star and ex-Suns star. "The weather will be nice. The All-Star Game anywhere brings a different crowd and joyness to the city."

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