Local representative kills a potential boon for I-Bowl
Murphy’s Law is an adage that is typically stated as: “Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.” Is it just me or does Murphy’s Law always seems to apply to the sports scene here in Shreveport- Bossier City?
I’m not trying to sound like “Negative Nancy” or “Doomsday Debbie,” but just when you think things are getting better and positive things are on the horizon for our local sports scene – Whammo! We get smacked back down.
The most recent example of this scenario played out a couple of weeks ago in the Louisiana Legislature. Rep. Henry Burns (R-Haughton) introduced a bill (HB179) that would let governmental bodies in Caddo and Bossier parishes determine if they would impose a hotel-motel tax, which would help fund the newly renamed AdvoCare V100 Bowl as well as the Shreveport-Bossier Sports Commission. Burns’ legislation originally called for a 2.5 percent tax; however, the bill was amended by Rep. Roy Burrell (D-Shreveport) reducing it to 1.5 percent and removing the SBSC, whereas all of the revenue would go to the 37-year-old bowl game.
One might speculate that one of the representatives in the Acadiana region like Rep. Joel C. Robideaux (R-Lafayette) would still be upset with the bowl after the University of Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns were snubbed back in 2008. You might remember that many of the South Louisiana legislators vowed to reduce any state funding of the bowl because the Cajuns weren’t invited to play the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs. That was my original inkling when I saw Times sports editor Roy Lang III’s Tweet about the bill being killed.
HB179 was killed in a House committee, but don’t bother looking South for someone to lay the blame upon. Instead, we all should be looking in our own backyard, because it was Rep. Barbara Norton (D-Shreveport) along with some help from casino representatives and hoteliers who summarily killed Burns’ bill.
Generally speaking, I tend to vote against any new taxes because I think we, as a society, are already overtaxed. However, I was behind Burns’ bill wanting to increase the hotel-motel tax. Many cities and regions across the country and even in our own state have similar taxes, which help fund events such as bowl games, entities such as the SBSC and projects such as stadiums and arenas.
The AdvoCare V100 bowl is the biggest event in this community and brings a tremendous amount of revenue to the Shreveport-Bossier City area. With AdvoCare fully engrossed as the bowl’s title sponsor, its Chief Executive Of cer Richard Wright wants to elevate the status of the bowl. With the ever-changing landscape of college football, there’s only one way to make “our” bowl game a destination for fans, and that’s by increasing its funding. HB179 would’ve gone a long way to helping this happen.
Credit local sports talk radio show host Tim Fletcher with pursuing Norton to try to nd out why the Shreveport legislator would kill this bill. You can hear Fletcher’s 20-minute interview with Norton on his website http://thetim etchershow.blogspot. com/. Her initial reasoning behind killing HB179 was, “There was nothing in there for the little people.” Norton was referring to there being no revenue or wage increases for hotel-motel workers in HB179.
After hearing Norton’s initial statements, I was completely dumbfounded, thinking she can’t truly be serious. The more I listened, the more I became outraged over what was your basic, garden-variety, homegrown ignorance and stupidity.
Norton killed a bill, which would help fund the biggest revenue-producing event in our community because it didn’t give a miniscule or, as she put it, a “little” group of people a handout. Forget about the millions of dollars this bill would generate for Shreveport-Bossier for many years to come as well as keeping those people employed. Norton couldn’t vote for it because the “little people” weren’t getting a freebie. I was quickly reminded of my two biggest pet peeves – stupidity and hypocrisy, followed closely by a disdain and distrust of politicians.
There’s a long list of sports events, entities and franchises that have come and gone in Shreveport-Bossier City. When the AdvoCare V100 Bowl suffers the same fate as those before them, you can either chalk it up to Murphy’s Law or you can blame the “voice of the ‘little people.’”
Charlie Cavell may be reached at ccavell12@hotmail.com.
