Bowling blocks other events from Convention Center

The 2015 United States Bowling Congress Open Championships is in El Paso next year.

Expect tens of thousands of visitors and multi-millions in economic impact!

So how could that be bad news?

That bowling tournament will tie-up the El Paso Convention Center from January until August, for more than half the year! And that’s left organizers of other annual events at the Convention Center scrambling to find other venues.

“We have an opportunity to highlight El Paso as a destination for sports tourism,” said Bryan Crowe, General Manager of Destination El Paso, which manages the El Paso Convention Center. “Obviously, the total number of events will be down. We consider the bowling event to be one event, but it’s an event that brings 60,000 people and $75 million to our community. So it’s definitely a good thing to have.”

“The best place to have this type of event is at the heart of El Paso, Downtown, which is the Convention Center,” said Nacho Cubillos, public relations director for the third annual Sun City SciFi Fan Expo, which in years past has been held at the Convention Center, until the bowling tournament booked it. “It basically does conflict with what we’re planning again in the Spring. We’re working on ways to make it work.”

Cubillos sais they are still looking, since it is not easy to find a venue of that size.

“The Camino Real (hotel) only holds like about a thousand people,” he said.

While booking the bowling tournament for several months at the Convention Center can hurt some local events and businesses, it also helps a lot of local businesses, like hotels, because ultimately, Crowe says, it’s about putting heads in beds.

“The venue exists in order to be able to draw the highest economic use and its intended to put heads in beds,” Crowe said. “A large national tournament of this nature is going to come first and we do our best to be able to accommodate all of our clients.”

Park University has also been searching for an alternate site for its annual graduation ceremony, which previously had been held at the Convention Center.

“I think it’s best for the community overall,” Crowe said of booking the bowling tournament. “We haven’t hosted a tournament that size since 2010, in five years, so I think it’s the right thing to do.”

Some organizers say hosting the USBC Open Championships is bigger than hosting the Super Bowl, because the Super Bowl is just a single weekend and the bowling tourney lasts for six months.