Upholding bet, El Paso mayor displays NMSU jersey during city council meeting

It could have gone either way.

Both the mayors of El Paso and Las Cruces took a gamble by entering into a friendly wager ahead of the Battle of I-10 on Sept. 22.

Ken Miyagishima of Las Cruces pitched the bet to El Paso’s Dee Margo, saying the mayor of the losing city would have to wear the winning team’s jersey at a council meeting.

“I think he’ll look great,” Miyagishima told ABC-7 the week of the game between UTEP (at the time 0-3) and NMSU (0-4 at the time). “We’ll go ahead and start ordering the shirt right now.”

It was hard to tell if Margo was as confident about how the bet would play out during the phone call with ABC-7.

“He gave me a whopping 2.75 point (spread). I don’t even know what the actual spread is, but I said I’ll take whatever I get,” Margo said.

The Aggies ended up winning their first game of the season against the rival Miners, 27-20.

On Tuesday, Margo (kind of) held up his end of the bargain by holding up an NMSU football jersey to his chest while the media snapped pictures and shot video.

“He told me I didn’t have to put it on,” Margo said as the crowd groaned and laughed.

Time will tell if Margo will get payback next year, as the Battle of I-10 heads to Las Cruces in 2019.