Jerry Colangelo has a very simple rule for how he envisions professional sports in the Valley: All roads lead to downtown.

It was important for the team and its community benefits to be centralized, according to the figure who served as the Phoenix Suns’ first general manager before being instrumental in bringing two teams to the Valley, the Arizona Diamondbacks and then-Phoenix Coyotes.

It’s also the key reason he’s encouraged by recent developments in state legislature that have funding within reach for Chase Field renovations that would keep the Diamondbacks downtown.

“It’s very, very important (to keep the Diamondbacks downtown),” Colangelo said when he joined Arizona Sports’ Bickley & Marotta on Friday. “Way back when, we could’ve gone to some other locations, but I insisted it was going to be downtown. I believe that’s where the team should play. Why? Because all roads lead to downtown.

“Also, I was really concerned about other businesses and people benefitting from having the team downtown, the restaurants, the bars, the retail. Some owners opted to go in the suburbs and have their own piece of property. Who gained anything from that, other than them? And that was not my mindset, it was more about what’s good for the community, along with where we thought it would be best.”

The Diamondbacks await the Arizona House vote on HB2704, which was approved by the House Commerce Committee last week. It will now go to a vote in the House before moving onto the Arizona Senate and then the desk of Gov. Katie Hobbs, who has told AZCentral.com she backs the legislation.

D-backs president Derrick Hall said earlier this week he was not sure when the vote will occur, hoping it will commence in the next couple weeks. There have been amendments adopted by the Commerce Committee, including penalties for the Diamondbacks if they relocate. They would have to pay the $10 million if they leave the state by Oct. 1, 2035.

“Years take a toll on facilities, they just do. … And here, with the sun, the heat, etc., I think that time table moves faster. So there’s a lot of work to be done on the building. The building, I believe, still belongs downtown for the Diamondbacks,” Colangelo said on the final day of Newsmakers Week. “I’m happy that they’re making some progress. And all I know is what I’ve read and what I’ve heard, nothing on the inside, but I think there are some people who are amenable to making things happen for them, and I think that’s good for everyone.”

Colangelo added he still wishes the Cardinals had built their stadium downtown, as opposed to Glendale, where they are approximately 18 miles away from Chase Field.

What did Colangelo think about the Valley losing Coyotes he helped bring?

“I didn’t like the fact that we lost anything in terms of our community, and it’s unfortunate, the way the whole hockey thing … developed,” Colangelo said.

Similarly to how Colangelo led the charge for Phoenix to get an MLB expansion team, he was the key figure in bringing NHL hockey to the Valley, although this time it came as an already-existing franchise.

“I had interest in hockey before we built the arena, and I had conversation with (then-NHL president John Ziegler) and I said, ‘I need to know what’s the shot for NHL hockey in Phoenix?’ And he said, ‘Not in your lifetime.’” Colangelo retold. “If that’s not a possibility, I want to build the most intimate seating arrangement ever for basketball. Proximity to the court sells. Intimacy sells.

“As a result of what he told me, we were going to always put in an ice plant for the ice show and minor league hockey. So we go and build what we said we would do … and almost immediately we get a call from the NHL they want to play a few exhibition games, they liked it.”

Colangelo described how a connection to new commissioner Gary Bettman through their basketball ties led to then-owner of the Minnesota North Stars franchise asking what Colangelo could do for him while shopping the team to the Phoenix and Dallas markets. Upon hearing Colangelo’s suggestion of being his landlord, the owner took his team to Dallas instead.

Businessmen Steve Gluckstern and Richard Burke bought the Winnipeg Jets with the intention to have the franchise take the North Stars’ vacant place in Minnesota, but they were unable to reach a deal to share Target Center with the NBA’s Minnesota Timberwolves. The search turned back to Phoenix, where an agreement was reached with Colangelo.

Frustration arose when concerns were raised about obstructed viewing angles in the arena despite Colangelo saying he made the issues clear in the planning process, prompting the team to leave the downtown arena in 2003 for another in Glendale close to where the Cardinals would break ground on a home in the same year.

He noted the Coyotes had their heaviest fan support when calling downtown home.