Gov. Katie Hobbs praised the economic impact of major sporting events like college basketball’s Final Four but said she is concerned those types of events may steer clear of Arizona in the future if voters pass controversial border security legislation that will appear on the November ballot.
“There really was something for everyone and the economic impact was huge,” Hobbs said at a news conference announcing the economic impact of the NCAA Men’s Final Four that Arizona hosted in April.
According to a study produced by ASU’s Seidman Research Institute, the event had an economic impact of $429 million, attracted over 100,000 visitors and generated $21.2 million in sales tax revenue.
Hobbs said she is worried Arizona could lose out on those dollars in the future if voters approve Prop. 314. That measure, referred to voters by Republican lawmakers, would criminalize crossing the border outside of a port of entry in state law, allowing local police and sheriffs to enforce immigration law. It would also create new penalties for fentanyl dealing or using fake documents to obtain employment or public benefits.
Hobbs, who vetoed a version of that proposal that lawmakers sent to her desk in March, said she thinks the proposal could dissuade the NCAA from returning to Arizona.
“I've said that from day one when the bill was sent to my desk and I vetoed it, when this iteration was moving through the process,” Hobbs said.
Prop. 314 was inspired by a Texas law that is currently on hold pending a legal challenge from the Biden Administration, which argued immigration enforcement is the purview of the federal government.
“This will put Arizona in the worst negative spotlight nationally that we could possibly imagine, and it won't do anything to solve the issues, the very real issues at our border,” Hobbs said. “So it's unfortunate that this is how the Legislature decided they wanted to try to attack this issue.”
It wouldn’t be the first time Arizona lost a major sporting event due to the actions — or inaction — of the state Legislature. The NFL moved the 1993 Super Bowl from Arizona to California after lawmakers voted against making Martin Luther King Day a state holiday in 1990.
And the NCAA has proven its willingness to pull major events in response to controversial legislation.
In 2016, the NCAA relocated seven events out of North Carolina after lawmakers in that state passed a law that required people to use public restrooms that correspond to the gender listed on their birth certificate.
The NCAA did not respond to a request to comment on Prop. 314 or whether it would consider boycotting states in the future over controversial legislation.
Before the NCAA boycotted North Carolina, the NBA moved the 2017 All-Star game out of the state over the same law.
And, in 2021, Major League Baseball moved its All-Star game from Atlanta to Denver in response to a controversial voting law passed by Georgia lawmakers that year.
Arizona has hosted the Super Bowls and the WNBA All-Star game in recent years and is scheduled to host the NBA All-Star game in 2027. But House Speaker Ben Toma (R-Peoria), who sponsored the legislation that became Prop. 314, dismissed Hobbs’s concerns.
“That suggestion is both absurd and indefensible,” Toma said. “Like most Americans, Arizonans are fed up with the open border policies of the Biden-Harris administration. Proposition 314 presents voters with meaningful, commonsense reforms that will help protect our communities. Instead of resorting to fearmongering, the governor should be supporting these efforts.”
Hobbs acknowledged Arizonans are concerned about the situation at the state’s southern border with Mexico, but said Prop. 314 isn’t the right solution.
She touted her own efforts, which included sending National Guard troops to communities around the border, and President Biden’s executive order restricting asylum claims. Unauthorized border crossings reached a three-year low in the months after the executive order went into effect.
Hobbs said the 2024 Final Four study showed exactly what Arizona stands to lose if an organization like the NCAA decides to look elsewhere.
“It's a contrast to the harm that this proposition will cause if it’s passed,” she said.
Toma isn’t concerned about the whims of those organizations, though.
“The border crisis is more important than sporting [organizations],” Toma said. “To residents, that is.”
There is some evidence that shelf life of these boycotts is limited.
Both the NBA and NCAA brought events back to North Carolina after the state’s Legislature repealed the so-called bathroom bill. And, last year, MLB announced that Atlanta would host its 2025 All-Star game even though the voting law that prompted the league to move the game in 2021 remains in effect.
