Tucson Choices

College basketball revenue: Duke first, Arizona 4th, ASU 43rd

Phoenix Business Journal by Mike Sunnucks, Senior Reporter

Date: Thursday, October 13, 2011, 2:50pm MST

Duke University and Durham Convention & Visitors Bureau

Duke University, which plays basketball in Cameron Indoor Stadium, is the top revenue producer in college basketball.

College basketball’s March Madness is all about underdogs and Cinderellas busting brackets. But it’s the big boys of college hoops that dominate the “moneyball” aspects of the sport.

The University of Arizona ranks fourth among Division 1 school when it comes to men’s basketball revenue, Read More

After a week of getting hammered by a coordinated GOP attack following the release of a congressional map, the Independent Redistricting Commission approved its draft map of the state’s 30 legislative districts this afternoon in Tucson.

“We have a draft legislative map,” said IRC chairwoman Colleen Mathis. “And there is no question that we’ll be entertaining a lot of Read More

Quick, how many Pima County communications staffers does it take to put out a press release?

The short answer is 10. The long answer is one to write the press release, one to Tweet it, one to post it on Facebook, one to make a brochure, one to update the website, one to take photos, one to make the video and one to post it on the blog. That still leaves two staffers to fill in the cracks and manage the message.

At a time when local media are diminished – a downsized Star and defunct Tucson Citizen are just two examples – and Read More

Why the US was downgraded…

• U.S. Tax revenue:            $2,170,000,000,000
• Fed budget:                          $3,820,000,000,000
• New     debt:                          $1,650,000,000,000
• National     debt:                 $14,271,000,000,000
• Recent budget cut:              $ 38,500,000,000

Let’s remove 8 zeros and pretend     it’s a household budget:

• Annual family income:                                                     $21,700
• Money the family spent:                                                  $38,200
• New debt on the     credit Read More

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This is 24/7 Wall St.’s list of Nine American Cities Going Broke.

9. Camden, NJ
> Credit rating: Ba2
> 2009 revenues: $181,257,000
> 2009 debt: $103,284,000
> Median household income: $25,418

Camden suffers from high unemployment, high poverty, and a weak tax base. The city’s median household income is less than half that of the national median income and is Read More

On Wednesday, we laid out a vision for a business-friendly Tucson region. It was part of a forum put on by radio station KVOI 1030-AM and the “Tucson Needs Business” campaign spearheaded by the station’s president, Doug Martin.

While some progress has been made, there are plenty of ways to improve the environment for business in Tucson and Pima County.

Here is what we are proposing:

1. Pima Read More