By Richard Ruelas | Arizona Republic
Bell Bank Park, the massive Mesa sports complex that opened to much fanfare in January and was funded through bonds issued by an arm of Arizona government, lost an average of $880,000 in its opening months, according to its financial records.
Chad Miller, the CEO of Legacy Sports USA, the entity that runs the facility, said in an interview with The Republic that the shortfalls were due to myriad reasons, including COVID-19 and construction issues.
Miller said that Bell Bank Park was not in danger of defaulting on its bonds. Better days were ahead, he told The Republic, with a full slate of events in the fall and winter that will fill the fields and facilities.
When Miller made a similar statement to investors on a June call, one banker told him to stop with what he termed “hyperbolic comments” about the future of the facility and be more specific in the face of dire numbers.
