The Phoenix Suns: On Fire or Fizzling Out?
An in-depth take on Phoenix's most popular sport team.
On the court.
The Suns have not been to the playoffs since 2010, which gives a bit of insight as to how they are on the court. Something that is quite recent would be the Suns firing their head coach Igor Kokoškov, a step that could possibly be in the right direction. This past season has been the second worst for the team in franchise history, ending their season with a record of 19-63. They have stayed consistent as ranked 15th in the West Conference for their last three seasons. Victory, something they do not see much has not been as apparent for the team since the 2009-2010 season when they went 54-28, ranked 3rd in the West. The team has stayed pretty inconsistent on a rollercoaster in terms of winning.
In the house.
In the instance of housing Phoenix's beloved Suns, the Talking Stick Resort Arena is not exactly up-to-par. It is no lie that this arena is a bit outdated. As everything seems to look exactly the same from its opening as America West Arena back in June of 1992. However, new plans were released at the start of 2019 regarding a brand new practice facility with renovations. This is a total of $230 million worth in renovations that was approved by the Phoenix City Council in January. With a brand new practice facility that is offsite, it leaves room to remove the current practice facility located inside of the arena, in order to add something else in its place to modernize the area.
In terms of pros and cons of renovations, an added on plus would be a boost in the economy. Renovations come with new job opportunities, which would be beneficial in the sense of business. On the other hand, where does the money come from? Taxpayers. You and me. And why would people that are not interested in sports want their tax money going toward something that may not necessarily be the best, but is not broken? When looking at the grand scheme of things, $230 million is a lot of money, but compare that money to what is given to the actual people playing on the court.
In the stands.
In a fairly recent article that was published by SB Nation, statistics show that the Suns may have the lowest attendance in the last century for the franchise. The decline was starting to show back in the 2012-2013 season with their attendance at 83.8 percent. It was only a decade ago that the team was one of the five teams to still have the arena filled to its full capacity. Why pay money to see a team that is most likely not paying playoffs?
Not that this detail plays a huge factor in attendance, with the arena being right on a college campus during a rough patch does not help. For instance, you will not find many college students that will take so much time out of their life just to make it to a lot of games. It just does not fit with a typical college schedule and nobody will go if the team is not doing very well.
On the marketing trail.
The Suns have a complete section of their website for their promotions for fans to check them out online before coming to the game. The franchise partners with a lot of popular brands such as Baked Bear, Papa Johns, Great Clips and many more. One plus of having a college campus within walking distance would be the great marketing ideas that would bring in more eyes to see. Something another marketing team does would be having dollar ticket nights as the Arizona Diamondback games. They are constantly having marked down ticket prices, which will bring in the broke college kids.
The NBA is actually known as the most active sports league on social media, which means the Suns need to stay up-to-date with the times. The Suns official Twitter page actually posted an entire thread on Twitter comparing teams to candy, just to end the entire thing with comparing the Lakers to dog food. One of the most important things in today's society would be staying in the loop and posts like this help keep a consistent audience.
In the digital age.
While the Suns are not exactly what everyone is talking about, it means it is even harder for the media to produce . Something that is very common to see is the media honing in on one or a few specific athletes; it's something people can see with any team. Westbrook and PG13 to Durant and Curry, for the Suns franchise it is Devin Booker and Kelly Oubre Jr. In my opinion, the media does not love nor attack the Suns... Unless it is Stephen A. Smith, but he does that to everyone. The Suns just are not good and the media shows that. Some people take that as a hard hit to the gut because they are fans, but when the media says these things it is completely objective and truthful.
There is not much to say in the sense of where the Suns are going. As mentioned before, their play is extremely inconsistent; even having Devin Booker under their belt. Not making the playoffs for nearly 10 years shows a lot about a team. In my opinion, the Suns are just mediocre and will most likely stay that way for a bit. Especially since firing their coach, it will take time for the new person to get adjusted with the team.
However, if something doesn't change soon, there will be fewer and fewer eyes to watch, which means less money coming in.
There will always be die-hard fans, but in reality, people want to be entertained. When watching the Suns, there is no entertainment because people know they will lose. Staying 15th in the West is not helping and the SB Nation article confirmed that people are getting bored. Having the second worst season record of franchise history just will not cut it.
Tara Shultz and Lauren Hernandez
Lauren Hernandez and Tara Shultz
Lauren Hernandez and Tara Shultz
Lauren Hernandez and Tara Shultz
Lauren Hernandez and Tara Shultz
Lauren Hernandez and Tara Shultz
Lauren Hernandez and Tara Shultz
The South Central Extension map of its future location in Downtown Phoenix.Valley Metro
Artwork design idea for the Central & Lincoln stop. Valley Metro
Celia Contreras explains that the biggest issue is the design of the future light rail. 
Lee speaks of his business and explains the devastation of the light rail's 4-lane design.
Levisee thinks the light rail extension will help the city of Phoenix. 
