Battle of I-10 game brought eyes, dollars to the Borderland
EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- People across the country tuned into the rivalry football showdown between UTEP & New Mexico State on the ESPN family of networks Wednesday night. The 100th edition of the I-10 rivalry has an economic impact of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
"Millions of viewers see our beautiful Sun Bowl," José Garcia, CEO for Destination El Paso, said. "[The] kickoff, and just the great vistas we have of downtown and [of0 the Franklin Mountains. It's one of those things where people say, 'look at how beautiful El Paso is. I want to go visit El Paso, I don't know a lot about the desert southwest, and I want to go see what El Paso's all about.'"
At kickoff, the temperatures were in the upper 80s on a beautiful, calm, mid-October night.
"Think about the Midwest and back East," said Garcia, "It's gloomy and cloudy. It's already cold, and we have a Destination El Paso day."
In addition, on the live ESPN broadcasts, both the University of Texas at El Paso and New Mexico State University have commercials promoting their institutions, and cities, that air in front of millions of people.
"We've seen the promotional videos from UTEP, and they're perfectly done," said Garcia, "They see our amazing city."
In addition to the people who watched the broadcast from other parts of the USA who now may inclined to plan a visit to El Paso, tens of thousands of dollars more are brought into the borderland economy through visitors who make their way to the game from Las Cruces and other parts of Southern New Mexico. Those visitors, spend money gassing up at El Paso convenient stores, spend their money at borderland restaurants, and in some occasions, stay at the local hotels. It's all extra money coming to the El Paso economy after a big rivalry game like the UTEP-NMSU showdown.
