"Suns President Rick Welts wanted to make one thing clear: He'd talk about the nature of the Phoenix sports market and its fans, but not in reference to a possible trade of point guard Steve Nash.

"That's ridiculous," he said.

From a basketball standpoint, that can be argued. Nash is 37. The Suns no longer are a championship contender. Why not trade him while he still has significant value and begin the rebuilding process?

From a business perspective, however, there is no debate. Trading Nash would be disastrous.

This isn't Green Bay, Pittsburgh or Boston. Irrelevance here is a death sentence.

"Phoenix can be a tough market," Welts said.

For evidence, the Suns need only look at their immediate neighbor to the east. The Diamondbacks are playing their best baseball in years, fighting for first place in the National League West and fans are responding - by not going out to Chase Field.

The Diamondbacks' average attendance through 33 home games is 22,910. Last year, when Arizona won a measly 65 games, the average home attendance was 25,394.

Part of that is timing. Season-ticket packages were mailed out after the miserable 2010 season - not exactly the best time for a sales pitch - and not surprisingly, renewal rates dropped about 12 percent.

For the same reason, the Cardinals' 53-game sellout streak at University of Phoenix Stadium likely will expire this year because they are coming off a 5-11 season, Kurt Warner isn't coming back and the months-long lockout has turned off the populace."