Talk:Evan Mecham

Lost right to host Super Bowl

Does anyone have a better reference to Arizona losing a Super Bowl than the Jeffery Scott webpage? I have been looking through old newspaper archives in an attempt to find more information and am starting to think that any Super Bowl that was lost had to have occurred when Mecham was not in office.

The most obvious candidate for lost hosting rights was Super Bowl XXV which was awarded to Tampa Bay on 20 May 1987 ("Tampa Awarded 25th Super Bowl". New York Times. 21 May 1987. p. D27. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)). The problem with this possibility is Super Bowl XXV had no Arizona city was among the list of candidates that submitted a bid for hosting the game (The original list of candidates were San Diego, Los Angeles, Pasadena, San Francisco, Anaheim, Dallas, Miami, New Orleans, Tampa, Jacksonville, and Houston with Seattle also considering a bid — "Simms Receives Rewards as M.V.P.". New York Times. 10 February 1987. p. D31. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)). Super Bowls XXI, XXII, XXIII, and XXIV were all awarded to cities outside of Arizona before Mecham was elected to office and are thus not candidates for the lost Super Bowl either. ("Saints Reportedly Up for Sale". New York Times. 25 May 1984. p. B12. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help) — "N.F.L. Sets Sites Of 2 Super Bowls". New York Times. 15 March 1985. p. A18. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)).

So this leads to the question, If none of the Super Bowls that were awarded before Mecham took office and played after he was inaugurated were move from Arizona, and there were no Arizona cities seeking the Super Bowl hosting rights that were being discussed while Mecham was in office, how could he have been personally responsible for the state not receiving a Super Bowl? If no one can find a better reference stating which Super Bowl was lost and giving attribution for the loss to Mecham, I am going to chalk this up as an urban legend and remove the claim from the article. --Allen3 01:43, 14 January 2006 (UTC)

Expanding my search a little more turned up the following articles:

• Thomas George (14 March 1990). "Phoenix Gets '93 Super Bowl if King Holiday Goes Statewide; '93 Super Bowl to Phoenix If King Holiday Wins Vote". New York Times. p. D27. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
• Thomas George (22 March 1991). "Cardinals' Owner Unhappy With Vote". New York Times. p. D27. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

These two articles indicate that Super Bowl XXVII was conditionally awarded to Phoenix in 1990 and moved to Pasadena because the ballot initiative to create a paid MLK holiday was not passed by the voters. As these activities took place well after Mecham was out of office, it would appear to clear him of having lost the state a Super Bowl. --Allen3 ^talk 02:27, 14 January 2006 (UTC)

As there have been no comments one way or the other about Mecham's involvement in loosing a Super Bowl, I have removed the information about the loss from the article. I have also removing the estimate of $500 million economic as it includes the loss of the 1993 Super Bowl making the estimate as much about the state's MLK Day as it does with Mecham. --Allen3 ^talk 13:01, 16 January 2006 (UTC)

The loss of the Superbowl should probably be mentioned, but I agree with you that the wording that was there was probably not terribly good. The Super Bowl XXVII page has the event accurately depicted: since AZ (in 1990) was the only state without MLK day, due to pressure the NLF moved Superbowl XXVII. Mecham gets blamed since he canceled the MLK holiday that had been created by Executive Order.

As a resident of AZ at the time Mecham was in Office, I remember that losing the Superbowl was a distinct concern when he canceled it, but I'd like to find a better reference than my own memory before putting that in. I'll have to check through my stacks of old New Times and Tribunes to see if I can find something. -- Kaszeta 14:10, 16 January 2006 (UTC)

Having grown up in Tucson, and even having signed one of the recall petitions, I have similiar memories to yours. I do not have a problem with a mention of the Super Bowl XXVII move from Phoenix as long as there are some good sources (try the two Thomas George for a starting point). Let's just try not to smear Mecham with any negatives that he does not deserve when there are so many that he does deserve;-). --Allen3 ^talk 15:20, 16 January 2006 (UTC)

• I have included some new information about the post-Mecham MLK Day controversies in the Evan Mecham#After office section. Is there anything else about this that needs to be added? --Allen3 ^talk 17:28, 19 January 2006 (UTC)