^^Well, how do the other 10 instances of situations like this handle it?
Boston
MSG
Barclays
Philly
Chicago
Dallas
Denver
LA
Toronto
Washington
And at first blush you might say "yeah but all of those are bigger, better markets", but...um...Denver? They've got Kroenke, yes they do, they've got Kroenke, how 'bout you?
To add some to JA's post.....
In Denver, the Nuggets were there first, in the old arena, called McNichols. Their ownership purchased the Nordiques and move them to McNichols. Approximately 5 years later, Pepsi Center opened in Denver. It was built by the owners of the teams. NOT by the city. City gave the typical tax breaks, amounting to an estimated 15M (all information gathered from wikipedia).
To apply such a situation to Suns/Yotes....Sarver would have to purchase the Yotes and then, with his own money, build a new arena. How likely is that?
The other situations where NBA was there first?
1- Barclay's situation in New York. As mentioned above, Barclay's made a deal with Islanders in which the Arena Company paid the team for their presence, in return for all the sales from game nights. In other words, Barclay's took over selling tickets and everything in the arena from the Islanders. There is a large thread on this on the Islanders' board, and let's just say that the arrangement isn't working well, and there is real hope that the Isles will build their own arena elsewhere in NY.
2- Verizon Center in Washington. In this case, the owners of the NBA team purchased the NHL expansion franchise, and both teams have played in the same arena since. As the old owner became disabled due to age, Leonsis acquired, first, controlling interest in the hockey and WNBA teams, and then the Wizards later.
3- Dallas. NBA was there first, with the Mavericks, playing in old Reunion Arena, which had NO luxury suites. The arena was city-owned. When Norm Green (still sucks - sorry - we Minnesotans have bad feelings about that) moved the North Stars to Dallas, he moved from a similar situation in Bloomington. I say that because I want it clear that moving into Reunion and paying rent was not a large a hardship was it would be these days. When American Airlines Center was built, it was built jointly between city of Dallas, the Mavericks, and the Stars, with the teams promising to cover cost overruns. The Center is owned by City of Dallas, and it's operated by a management company which is co-owned by the 2 teams. So, this situation is a complete partnership.