Doesn't Fit but what news--"Border Raiders"
March 20, 2006
El Paso-Ciudad Juarez-New Mexico News
Mega-projects: The Kick-Off of the "Border Raiders?"
Divided by a border, elected officials from the Paso del
Norte region are joining together for a common project:
bringing professional football to the border. At a Ciudad
Juarez meeting this month, New Mexico Governor Bill
Richardson and Chihuahua Governor Jose Reyes announced the
establishment of a binational commission to explore the
feasibility of landing a United States National Football
League team in the Paso del Norte border region within the
next 5 to 6 years. Joining Richardson and Reyes in the
cross-border initiative are El Paso Mayor John Cook, Ciudad
Juarez Mayor Hector Murguia Lardizabal, Las Cruces Mayor
William Mattiache and Mayor Ruben Segura of Sunland Park,
New Mexico.
Boosting the project in Santa Fe, Gov. Richardson promoted
a new NFL team as an economic development tool. Speaking in
Santa Fe, the Democratic governor contended a professional
football franchise "could create good jobs and new
opportunities for business in our state." Although a clear
plan is far from being presented, comments by elected
officials indicate that each of the cities interested in
the project will try to draw some benefit from it.
According to Gov. Richardson and Mayor Mattiace,
Albuquerque could the headquarters of an eventual
franchisee while home games might be played in El Paso or
Ciudad Juarez and spring training conducted at New Mexico
State University in Las Cruces.
Also, Gov. Richardson and the other officials behind the
border football project are attempting to tweak the
interest of the private sector in investing money on a
dream team. Businessmen from Ciudad Juarez attended the
closed meeting where the proposal was presented. Although
few of the attendees were publicly identified, one name
mentioned was Ibarra, a family prominent in the
construction industry and the current owners of the Indios
de Ciudad Juarez professional soccer team.
A prime mover of the sports mega-project, Gov. Richardson
has been working on interesting a football team in New
Mexico and the border region for some time. He's met with
representatives of the Dallas Cowboys and other teams,
conferred with NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue and hired
California sports consultant Dan Barrett to study the
project. Upwards of $500,000 dollars in tax dollars from
New Mexico have been earmarked for the pilot study.
The big issues surrounding the project are, of course,
costs and benefits for local governments and economies. In
2001, Denver's Invesco field where the Broncos play opened
for games with a price tag of $400 million dollars. In
recent years, governments in many US cities have granted
public subsidies for the construction of sports complexes
used by privately-owned teams.
A 2000 review of previous experiences in some US cities by
Oklahoma economist Dr. Daniel Sutter found a very modest
economic impact from publicly-subsidized stadium sports.
Dr. Sutter noted that claims of job creation were overblown
in some cases, while spending on other forms of
entertainment like movies and amusement parks decreased and
shifted to professional sports. Restaurants close to
stadiums cashed in but eateries near theaters lost out,
according to Dr. Sutter.
The "Border Raiders" project is already drawing criticism,
especially from members of New Mexico's Republican Party.
New Mexico state Senator Joe Carraro, for instance,
attacked the state-funded pilot study as "frivolous."
Rejecting the notion that a pro team would relocate to New
Mexico, Senator Carraro contended that the state
expenditure on the study was "money (taken from) kids going
to school."
A possible National Football League franchise is the latest
in a series of publicly-supported mega-projects that are
emerging as future economic locomotives of the Paso del
Norte border region. El Paso is slated for a major
expansion of Fort Bliss, while the Southwest Regional
Spaceport, bolstered by subsidies from the New Mexico State
Legislature, is sited for the desert north of Las Cruces.
Officials from both Mexico and the US are pushing the twin
city of San Jeronimo-Santa Teresa planned for the New
Mexico-Chihuahua border as the locus for much of the
manufacturing industry in the future.
While the Fort Bliss and Spaceport projects are moving
ahead with little controversy, organized opposition to the
San Jeronimo-Santa Teresa is picking up steam in Ciudad
Juarez because of fears that tax dollars needed for
pressing social needs will be instead spent on subsidizing
the new border city.
(Editor's Note: Frontera NorteSur will spend the remainder
of the month on office business and gathering new stories.
The news will resume as usual in April. See you then.)
Sources: El Diario de Ciudad Juarez, March 19, 2006.
Article by Lorena Figueroa. Norte, March 17, 2006. Article
by Adrian Ventura Lares. El Paso Times, March 17, 2006.
Article by Louie Gilot. Albuquerque Tribune, March 16,
2006. Article by Kate Nash.
Frontera NorteSur (FNS): on-line, U.S.-Mexico border news
Center for Latin American and Border Studies
New Mexico State University
Las Cruces, New Mexico
My smidgen of a claim to fame is that I have had so many really good friends. By Bernie Swaim December 2007
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