Downtown arena could impact coliseum's future

In its 75 years of existence, the El Paso County Coliseum has seen its share of changes in the community.

Now, with the city’s plans to build a $180 million Downtown multipurpose arena, the County Coliseum faces an uncertain future.

In 2016, a draft of an economic development plan, which stated that completion of the Downtown arena would create direct competition with the coliseum, was presented to El Paso County Commissioners Court. The plan included redevelopment of the coliseum, which would include repurposing the facility or selling it and the land around it.

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The El Paso Sports Commission, which runs the El Paso County Coliseum, rejects the idea that it would be in competition with a new arena.

“The new arena is not in competition with us; we do two different things,” said Sports Commission CEO Brian Kennedy. “We like to say, ‘a lion isn’t an elephant.’ We’re two different animals. There’s a 12,000-seat arena in town right now. Another 12,000-seat arena doesn’t affect us, we do different things. We’re a community building, with smaller concerts.”

When the plan was submitted to Commissioners Court in 2016, the county’s chief administrator Betsy Keller requested an assessment of the coliseum from the public works department to determine the building's condition.

Keller could not be reached for comment.

County Commissioner David Stout said that no studies have been conducted because “it’s a moot point right now.”

The County Coliseum, located at 4100 E. Paisano, sits in Stout’s precinct.

“There’s nothing we can do with the coliseum or any changes we can make until 2021,” Stout said. “The current Commissioners Court can’t bind a future court to do something. Once the contract with the Sports Commission is up in 2021, I would think whoever is on the court at the time would have to look at the options.”

Options are what Kennedy believes El Pasoans need to improve quality of life.

Kennedy has been running the coliseum for 18 years, first as a county employee and then as CEO of the El Paso Sports Commission, which took over running the venue in 2003.

While the coliseum was initially built for rodeo and livestock exhibitions, it has long been used for more, including concerts, circuses, fairs, ice shows and hockey.

Kennedy and his staff have made additions and adjustments over the years to keep up with the changing entertainment industry.

“The size (of venue) people need has changed,” Kennedy said. “Now we can go from a 2,000 (capacity venue) to 7,000,” Kennedy said. “Also, the types of acts (has changed). We’re having foam parties in here; who would have thought that 20 years ago? We had to get creative.”

Part of that creativity was the creation of a pavilion for outdoor events and an events center, home of El Paso’s only year-round ice rink and the junior hockey team, the El Paso Rhinos.

“We’ve become even more of a community building,” Kennedy said. “We reach out to community events looking for a place, whether it’s Abundant Living Faith Center and their toy giveaway or the ice rink, which we built because El Paso didn’t have one. That (was built) within the last 13 years. They do 20,000 kids with free field trips throughout the year and we do about 3,000 people a week through there.”

The county spends “the lion's share” of its hotel occupancy tax revenues to run the coliseum, Stout said.

Under its contract with the Sports Commission, the county allocates up to 83 percent of its hotel tax revenues to the coliseum. The contract runs through 2021.

“It’s difficult for us, because there’s a lot of other projects we may want to work on; we’ve been taking a look at doing things when it comes to historical preservation and heritage tourism,” Stout said.

“HOT funds can only be used for certain purposes. Some of those projects would be perfect for HOT funds but we don’t have a lot because the majority of HOT funds go to the coliseum," Stout said. "That’s another reason I’d be open to looking at different options; just to make sure we are getting the most bang for our buck when it comes to making sure we use the funds in the best manner.”

The coliseum has an operating budget of $4.3 million for fiscal year 2017, including $3.7 million in anticipated hotel occupancy tax revenue, according to county budget records. That’s an increase from the previous year, when its budget was $3.54 million, $3.5 million from hotel revenues.

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Kennedy would not divulge how much the El Paso Sports Commission makes each year from coliseum revenues. But he said, it brings in about $700,000 in revenue annually for the county.

The venue is booked about 200 days a year and that the number of events has gone up over the past five years, Kennedy said.

Kennedy is confident that once the arena is built and all is said and done, the El Paso County Coliseum will remain a venue for concerts, community events, and other entertainment options.

“I think this has been such a great part of El Paso and having options is important,” Kennedy said. “More options are better. I feel confident that once everyone sits down and takes a look, they will realize we are an important and vital part of the entertainment community. When you look at San Antonio, their coliseum is right next to the AT&T Center (which seats up to 19,000). They share a parking lot. The did that because they needed the option of those types of buildings.”

Dave Acosta may be reached at 546-6138; dacosta@elpasotimes.com; @Chuy_Vuitton on Twitter.