Burge departs Sports Authority

And another local icon leaves the scene.

Billy Burge, who played a major role in building Houston's three professional sports venues, will not be reappointed to the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority.

Burge said he had served long enough on the authority -- 10 years -- and Mayor Bill White said he wanted to inject new blood into the authority.

[...]

"Last week, I visited with (Burge), and he said he wanted to move on," White said. "I think it's good for boards and chairs to turn over from time to time."

I'm going to borrow a page from Norbizness and simply note that Billy Burge:Harris County-Houston Sports Authority::Jordy Tollett:Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau. Now I'm wondering - if these things come in threes, who's next to go? Leave any speculation you might have in the comments.

Left unsaid in the story is, um, just what exactly it is the Sports Authority does these days, given that we're (mostly) not in the stadium-building business any more.

White said he would like the authority to better coordinate with the Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Harris County Sports and Convention Corp. to attract sporting events.

Commissioner Steve Radack said he would like the sports authority to cede marketing responsibilities to the convention and visitors bureau. The authority should scale back and focus solely on paying off the bonds issued to pay for construction of the sports venues, he said.

I've got to agree with Commissioner Radack here. You could maybe convince me that a subset of the Sports Authority might be usefully merged into the GHCVB for the purposes of attracting sporting events to Houston, but I don't see the need for a separate, autonomous entity for that. Beyond that, pay off the bonds and be done with it.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on August 22, 2007 to Local politics