Group Seeks County Backing To Bid For C-USA Tourney
El Paso County Commissioners argued for nearly an hour Monday whether to financially support a bid to bring another Conference USA basketball tournament to the Borderland.
City Council has already voted to guarantee $850,000 in ticket sales for a bid to host the 2013 or 2014 C-USA tourney, up to half that it would be liable for in the event of a loss.
In order to move forward with the bid, the El Paso Sports Commission needs the County to guarantee the other half, or $425,000.
With UTEP, Sports Commission and Convention and Visitor’s Bureau officials before them, the court voted to delay the vote another week after a heated discussion about the availability of that money in the event there is a loss, since much of the county’s hotel-motel occupancy tax funds have already been committed for years to come.
“They try to be all things to all people, to include this,” Commissioner Dan Haggerty said. “And we haven’t got the money. We’re flat out broke. There is no money unless we cut somebody’s funding off because the revenues aren’t coming in.”
The 2011 C-USA tournament only came up $50,000 dollars short after ticket sales and the Sports Commission picked up the tab. A study showed the tourney generated $3 million in economic impact.
