I was looking at Google News for a report on whether the Cowboys won their game today (they lost) and came across news that they are moving their training camp out of San Antonio to Oxnard, California. Here's what the San Antonio Express News said on October 25:
But those hopes were dashed last week when the team learned the city wanted it to pay up to $320,000 annually to use the dome. When negotiations began after this year's camp ended, the Cowboys said all they wanted from the city was a new turf field. The team spent nearly $400,000 last summer to place a state-of-the-art synthetic grass field in the dome.The Cowboys "were pretty upset last week when they heard about the rent," a source close to team owner Jerry Jones said. City officials in Oxnard "were very opportunistic. They said to (Jones), 'Why do you want to get beat over the head by the San Antonio City Council?' Why not come here?"
But, it appears that the $400,000 was originally paid by San Antonio to the Cowboys. Here's more:
The city paid the Cowboys $400,000 last year to return to the dome for a second straight year, but it took in just $129,371 from camp operations.
And here's a sober assessment by city council members:
Councilman Chip Haass said while he has been a Cowboys fan all his life, the city's financial interests had to come first."We're not going to sacrifice fiscal responsibility in order to get them here," said Haass. "If they can find a better deal somewhere else, more power to them."
Said Councilman Richard Perez: "The bottom line is we need to cover the costs of the facility. What we proposed did that."
Perez said the public viewed the hosting deal provided the Cowboys this year as a "giveaway."
Said Perez: "We're not going to get into that situation (again)."
So, it looks like the arrangement had been a money loser for San Antonio. Too bad.
The first year they trained here the city made money, but I guess the novelty wore off last year.
Posted by: Redman | October 27, 2003 at 11:30 AM