El Paso Sports Commission offers $12M Coliseum investment amid UTEP talks

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- The El Paso Sports Commission has approached county leaders seeking a 30-year contract. The commission, which currently manages the Coliseum and sports tourism for the county, submitted an unsolicited proposal after learning that officials were in talks with the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) about managing the Coliseum.

At Monday’s Commissioners Court meeting, Janet Vargas, president of the El Paso County Sports Commission, said the commission is willing to invest $12 million of its own funds into the Coliseum. El Paso Rhinos owner Cory Herman also attended to bolster the proposal, stating that he would build a new ice rink attached to the events center and, once completed, a new field house—all at his own expense.

Tony Rodriguez, director of events for the El Paso County Sports Commission, said the unsolicited bid was prompted by concerns over rumors about the Coliseum’s future management. Rodriguez said he heard from multiple sources that UTEP was expected to take over operations. “When you hear from one or two people, it’s different. When you hear the same thing from four people, it’s not a coincidence,” Rodriguez said. He added that the persistent rumors created an unfair environment and made the Sports Commission’s proposal necessary.

Rodriguez says its contract with El Paso County started in 2003, and it currently has five full-time employees and six contracted maintenance workers. He noted that the Sports Commission also hires others as needed for events.

Assistant County Attorney Anna Schumacher and Chief Administrator Betsy Keller addressed the court's procedural questions regarding discussing the unsolicited bid.

Schumacher stated that since a Request for Proposal (RFP) has not yet been published, “it seems that there isn’t a procurement violation yet to discuss.” She clarified that legal questions could be addressed in an executive session under specific legal codes.

Keller expressed concern that an open discussion could reveal the county's evaluation positions for upcoming RFPs. “So, I think the issue would be is if we discuss it in open, we would revealing some of the, um, positions of us for evaluation RFPs that would come in and I don't think we would want to do that,” Keller said.

County Judge Ricardo Samaniego inquired if the court's lack of prior knowledge about the proposal.

"Anna, the fact that we didn't know anything about it and it's out there, um, is that something we can discuss in executive because that sort of throws us off to say if there's been a discussion about that, but it's never come through Commissioners Court," Samaniego said.

Schumacher responded that a broad discussion would not qualify, but specific legal questions would. Commissioner Holguin then confirmed she had legal questions regarding the “RFP that's being developed.”

The Commissioners Court voted to take up the matter in executive session. However, Schumacher with the County Attorney’s Office confirmed afterward that the item, which pertained to the proposal, was not discussed. She said it will be posted for executive session next week.

County Commissioners Iliana Holguin and Sergio Coronado said they were told last year by Chief Administrator Betsy Keller that UTEP was interested in managing the venue. They added that this was the first time they had heard of any update or “promise” of the contract to UTEP.

ABC-7 asked Commissioner Coronado whether Keller’s discussions with UTEP would disqualify the university from the bidding process; he said he did not know. Coronado noted that the RFP would be released soon. He also said that Keller had told him in March that a bid would go out to manage the Coliseum.

ABC-7 reached out to UTEP on Monday to ask whether it had been discussing management of the Coliseum with county leaders, but did not hear back until Tuesday.

UTEP officials provided the following statement, noting it is their only comment on the matter:

“UTEP routinely engages in exploratory conversations with community partners, including El Paso County, to identify ways to enhance the region’s quality of life. The university considers potential opportunities for collaboration as they come up. Any specific inquiries regarding the El Paso County Coliseum should be directed to the County.”

On April 20, ABC-7 filed an open records request with several county leaders—including Chief Administrator Betsy Keller and Executive Director of Operations Melissa Carrillo—as well as all county commissioners and the county judge—seeking communications with Jorge Vasquez, executive director of the Office of Special Events at the University of Texas at El Paso, and Heather Wilson, president of the University of Texas at El Paso, regarding discussions about management of the Coliseum and sports tourism.

On May 1, the County sent ABC-7 a letter seeking clarification of the request, asking whether it was requesting all information on the topic or only communications between specific individuals.

ABC-7 responded that its original request was clear and that it was seeking the information as described.

So far, we have not heard back on that request. 

ABC-7 also filed a similar open records request with UTEP.

We have also reached out directly to County Judge Ricardo Samaniego and Chief Administrator Betsy Keller for comment on the matter. We have not heard back.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to include additional information from Monday’s meeting and a statement from UTEP.