The Ector County Coliseum could be sold to a national company headquartered out of Florida with properties across the country.
The agenda for Tuesday’s Ector County Commissioners Court lists an action item to approve a broker contract between the County and J.L. Herriage/Copper Key Realty.
Herriage on Friday said they would be a for profit business and that he was contacted by company and that the company thinks Odessa needs more entertainment. He said the company would honor the Chuck Wagon Gang lease. If someone purchases the property they would honor the current leases. He said they would honor contracts with possibly small increases in following years for recurring contracts.
He said they see a great opportunity to bring in more events and festivals possibly once a month and plan on adding an indoor soccer group and outdoor amphitheater and upgrade the sound system. He declined to name the company on Friday but said they hope to do it in the next six months.
He said the company would keep the current staff. Nothing is finalized and Herriage would represent the county but he stressed nothing is finalized until commissioners make a decision.
The meeting, scheduled at 10 a.m. Tuesday at the Courthouse Annex, follows a recent executive session where commissioners were reportedly offered between $20 and $25 million for the facility that has always been a County complex and is home to the Jackalopes, the Permian Basin Fair & Expo and the Sandhills Stock Show and Rodeo.
There has been no public discussion of selling the Coliseum.
GOP County Judge Elect Dustin Fawcett, who won’t take office until January, said he believes public discussion is critical and that “folks need to hear the pros and cons” of any. potential sale. He said it is not a money maker for the County but that it does bring in activities and economic activity.
He said it would be important to iron out details that maintain the SandHills, the Tejano Car Show, Merry Marketplace, the Fair and the Oil Show. “We would, I think, need to make sure we still have a stake in those things…how much would be enough for the Coliseum? For me that’s what I would do.”
He said there would need to be guarantees that whoever purchases the building and lands would not flip it to someone else who would not be obligated to maintain contracts for the yearly events – like the Fair and Merry Marketplace – that are important to the community.
He said a private company might be able to bring in more events and promote it. “But I don’t have many details,” he said.
“There should be public discussion,” he said.
