TheWriter
05-01-2005, 11:15 PM
Opportunity to woo NFL team muffed by mayor
Vikings owner McCombs reached out to no avail
W. Scott Bailey
Mayor Ed Garza continues to seek support for his bid to attract Major League Soccer (MLS) to San Antonio and the 65,000-seat Alamodome.
And now Minnesota Vikings owner and San Antonio businessman Red McCombs says the mayor sought his support for an MLS team while ignoring a possible NFL opportunity.
Garza and the city have agreed through a memorandum of understanding with MLS to consider providing the league millions of dollars worth of facilities improvements, free Alamodome rent and various other incentives. That prompted the Business Journal to ask McCombs if Garza had come to him with any such proposal aimed at luring the Vikings or another NFL team to the nation's eighth largest city.
"No," McCombs says. Furthermore, he contends that he reached out to Garza on the NFL issue and was met with indifference.
"I went to Garza; he didn't come to me," McCombs says about a meeting the two had before he put the Vikings up for sale and before the MLS began to seriously consider the Alamo City. "I tried to interest him in (the NFL). He didn't have that as an item on his agenda list."
Although McCombs says there was no guarantee that his or any NFL team would set sail for San Antonio at the time, he adds, "We had a window, a short window for a few months that was a possibility."
But McCombs maintains that because Garza never acted on that meeting, the matter was dropped.
"There wasn't any use in me even beginning to pursue that unless you've got the leadership backing," explains McCombs. "It's hard enough with it. But without it, you don't have any place to go. So I didn't pursue it."
Asked to respond to McCombs' comments, Garza says, "I think when you compare 20 (MLS) dates to Red (McCombs), who probably would have wanted the whole dome for 365 days ... that's a different situation.
"Plus there is the upgrade to the facility. Everyone knows the Alamodome is not NFL-ready today, both in suites and seating capacity."
Political futbol
McCombs tried but was unable to get a new stadium for the Vikings in Minnesota. Some NFL observers believe that it was when those efforts became obviously unsuccessful that the window opened widest for San Antonio. But while McCombs has worked to bring pro football to San Antonio, Garza has chased after pro "futbol."
Garza is convinced MLS will work here. He also contends that he has never closed the door to the NFL.
"We're not ruling anything out," Garza says. "We want the NFL, any team, to know they are welcome here."
Garza says he has joked with Kansas City Chiefs owner Lamar Hunt that he should move his NFL team to San Antonio. Garza has met with Hunt more than once on matters related to MLS as he also owns the Kansas City Wizards.
"We think this relationship with the MLS, with Lamar Hunt, with the owner of the New England Patriots (Robert Kraft, who also owns the MLS New England Revolution), we're opening up eyes to other NFL owners about what San Antonio can offer," Garza says. "That's why I think soccer has to be successful here. I think that only helps our efforts for an NFL team."
McCombs says he doesn't understand why Garza did not act on his meeting about the NFL opportunity.
"I'm not saying it would have happened," McCombs explains. "But there was a window, and Garza didn't have any interest in addressing that at all."
McCombs is less confident about San Antonio's NFL chances now -- especially since he is working to close on a deal to sell the Vikings to an Arizona businessman. But the mayoral candidate he is backing, Phil Hardberger, remains hopeful.
"I have not given up myself on a professional football team," Hardberger says, adding that, if elected, he will work to set up a meeting with NFL officials within his first 100 days in office.
Hardberger's mayoral opponents have their own thoughts on the NFL equation.
"The challenge is that it's going to take us as much as $150 million just to renovate our dome," claims City Councilman Julian Castro.
Even less anxious to pick up the ball is City Councilman Carroll Schubert, who says, "I think the amount of money cities have had to ante up the last few years (to get teams) is too much."
Market demand
McCombs and Garza met over the city's MLS opportunities after their NFL meeting. The result was no more fruitful than their NFL discussion.
"The mayor came to me and asked if I would talk to some group about investing in a soccer team, and I told him no, there wouldn't be any interest at all," McCombs explains.
Why did he pass on MLS?
"I don't know that there is any known market in San Antonio for that product," McCombs says.
Although the sport of soccer has a passionate fan base and a growing base of interest, particularly among America's youth, it has yet to achieve mainstream or major league status on a level with the NFL, Major League Baseball or the NBA.
A 2004 ESPN sports poll of nearly 25,000 Americans revealed that 75 percent of those surveyed are "not at all" interested in MLS. Even among youth ages 12-17, a hefty 61 percent of those surveyed shared that same sentiment.
Garza believes San Antonio's large Hispanic population and its proximity to Mexico are two key reasons the city will successfully support an MLS team. But that same ESPN poll indicates that, among Hispanics, 63 percent claim to have no interest in MLS.
McCombs has owned a number of professional sports teams, including the San Antonio Spurs. And he freely admits that the Spurs, in their early ABA days in the since-demolished HemisFair Arena, were the beneficiary of some city perks that helped keep the team solvent.
But McCombs says the concessions MLS could get from the city are "a very, very eyebrow-raising deal." He adds, "You would think there is a degree of sophistication (at City Hall) that would understand the value of an NFL franchise."
http://www.bizjournals.com/sanantonio/stories/2005/05/02/story1.html
Vikings owner McCombs reached out to no avail
W. Scott Bailey
Mayor Ed Garza continues to seek support for his bid to attract Major League Soccer (MLS) to San Antonio and the 65,000-seat Alamodome.
And now Minnesota Vikings owner and San Antonio businessman Red McCombs says the mayor sought his support for an MLS team while ignoring a possible NFL opportunity.
Garza and the city have agreed through a memorandum of understanding with MLS to consider providing the league millions of dollars worth of facilities improvements, free Alamodome rent and various other incentives. That prompted the Business Journal to ask McCombs if Garza had come to him with any such proposal aimed at luring the Vikings or another NFL team to the nation's eighth largest city.
"No," McCombs says. Furthermore, he contends that he reached out to Garza on the NFL issue and was met with indifference.
"I went to Garza; he didn't come to me," McCombs says about a meeting the two had before he put the Vikings up for sale and before the MLS began to seriously consider the Alamo City. "I tried to interest him in (the NFL). He didn't have that as an item on his agenda list."
Although McCombs says there was no guarantee that his or any NFL team would set sail for San Antonio at the time, he adds, "We had a window, a short window for a few months that was a possibility."
But McCombs maintains that because Garza never acted on that meeting, the matter was dropped.
"There wasn't any use in me even beginning to pursue that unless you've got the leadership backing," explains McCombs. "It's hard enough with it. But without it, you don't have any place to go. So I didn't pursue it."
Asked to respond to McCombs' comments, Garza says, "I think when you compare 20 (MLS) dates to Red (McCombs), who probably would have wanted the whole dome for 365 days ... that's a different situation.
"Plus there is the upgrade to the facility. Everyone knows the Alamodome is not NFL-ready today, both in suites and seating capacity."
Political futbol
McCombs tried but was unable to get a new stadium for the Vikings in Minnesota. Some NFL observers believe that it was when those efforts became obviously unsuccessful that the window opened widest for San Antonio. But while McCombs has worked to bring pro football to San Antonio, Garza has chased after pro "futbol."
Garza is convinced MLS will work here. He also contends that he has never closed the door to the NFL.
"We're not ruling anything out," Garza says. "We want the NFL, any team, to know they are welcome here."
Garza says he has joked with Kansas City Chiefs owner Lamar Hunt that he should move his NFL team to San Antonio. Garza has met with Hunt more than once on matters related to MLS as he also owns the Kansas City Wizards.
"We think this relationship with the MLS, with Lamar Hunt, with the owner of the New England Patriots (Robert Kraft, who also owns the MLS New England Revolution), we're opening up eyes to other NFL owners about what San Antonio can offer," Garza says. "That's why I think soccer has to be successful here. I think that only helps our efforts for an NFL team."
McCombs says he doesn't understand why Garza did not act on his meeting about the NFL opportunity.
"I'm not saying it would have happened," McCombs explains. "But there was a window, and Garza didn't have any interest in addressing that at all."
McCombs is less confident about San Antonio's NFL chances now -- especially since he is working to close on a deal to sell the Vikings to an Arizona businessman. But the mayoral candidate he is backing, Phil Hardberger, remains hopeful.
"I have not given up myself on a professional football team," Hardberger says, adding that, if elected, he will work to set up a meeting with NFL officials within his first 100 days in office.
Hardberger's mayoral opponents have their own thoughts on the NFL equation.
"The challenge is that it's going to take us as much as $150 million just to renovate our dome," claims City Councilman Julian Castro.
Even less anxious to pick up the ball is City Councilman Carroll Schubert, who says, "I think the amount of money cities have had to ante up the last few years (to get teams) is too much."
Market demand
McCombs and Garza met over the city's MLS opportunities after their NFL meeting. The result was no more fruitful than their NFL discussion.
"The mayor came to me and asked if I would talk to some group about investing in a soccer team, and I told him no, there wouldn't be any interest at all," McCombs explains.
Why did he pass on MLS?
"I don't know that there is any known market in San Antonio for that product," McCombs says.
Although the sport of soccer has a passionate fan base and a growing base of interest, particularly among America's youth, it has yet to achieve mainstream or major league status on a level with the NFL, Major League Baseball or the NBA.
A 2004 ESPN sports poll of nearly 25,000 Americans revealed that 75 percent of those surveyed are "not at all" interested in MLS. Even among youth ages 12-17, a hefty 61 percent of those surveyed shared that same sentiment.
Garza believes San Antonio's large Hispanic population and its proximity to Mexico are two key reasons the city will successfully support an MLS team. But that same ESPN poll indicates that, among Hispanics, 63 percent claim to have no interest in MLS.
McCombs has owned a number of professional sports teams, including the San Antonio Spurs. And he freely admits that the Spurs, in their early ABA days in the since-demolished HemisFair Arena, were the beneficiary of some city perks that helped keep the team solvent.
But McCombs says the concessions MLS could get from the city are "a very, very eyebrow-raising deal." He adds, "You would think there is a degree of sophistication (at City Hall) that would understand the value of an NFL franchise."
http://www.bizjournals.com/sanantonio/stories/2005/05/02/story1.html