A breakdown of what the City brings in from the Chihuahuas and the ballpark

The El Paso Chihuahuas third season at Southwest University Park doesn’t officially begin until April 15th, but with fans turning out for Thursday’s exhibition game versus the Padres, ABC-7 wanted to find out how much the City is actually making in new revenue from the ballpark and the team.

Remember, the City originally pitched in $64 million to build the ballpark. Later, the City made a debt payment of more than $4.3 million for the construction in 2015.

So here is a breakdown of what was brought in:

The City gets 50 cents for every ticket sold, which totals to $262 thousand.
The City gets half of the money from game day parking, which equaled $126 thousand.
The Chihuahuas paid $533 thousand in rent.
Remember, the City also makes money from the sales tax when patrons buy items like food and gear. That total came out to $237 thousand.

All together, the grand total is more than $1.1 million in income.

Now, the voter-approved increase in the Hotel Occupancy Tax (HOT) is added, which is nearly $2.9 million in 2015.

With that, the shortfall comes out to $257 thousand.

The City’s Chief Financial Officer Mark Sutter confirmed that shortfall is paid for through the general fund and it’s factored into the budget ahead of time.