The El Paso County Coliseum is at 4100 E. Paisano in South El Paso. The building has hosted thousands of concerts, rodeos and other events.

El Paso County Commissioners on Monday will consider tossing out all requested and submitted bids for the management and promotion of the County Coliseum.

This development follows months of discussions about not renewing the El Paso Sports Commission’s contract, which began in 2003 and expires next year, and instead entering into a new agreement, possibly with another entity.

Monday’s meeting will include a reassessment of the bidding process, a presentation by the county’s purchasing department and questions from commissioners, El Paso County Judge Ricardo Samaniego said.

“We’re going to be hearing a lot of feedback and probably will go into executive session to see if we could get a better understanding of how to be more successful,” he said.

In a text message, Commissioner Iliana Holguin said the request for proposals, or RFP, process is being reviewed “because we realized that we need to flesh it out a bit more,” adding that a full statement will be released Monday.

The future administration of the Coliseum has been divided into two RFPs – one for a “sports tourism promotion” contract with the county and another for the “management and operation” of the Coliseum.

Questions surrounding the county’s decision to open bidding for the Coliseum’s operations and promotions have been compounded by the latest decision to consider redoing the process.

The county has placed both items under the “consent agenda,” which is typically used for routine matters to be passed without discussion, unless a commissioner requests to discuss the item.

If approved Monday, the consent agenda item for the management and operation of the Coliseum will “approve and authorize the Purchasing Agent to close out and re-solicit” that RFP, which was not originally set to close until early September.

Similarly, the consent agenda item for the sports tourism promotion program will “approve and authorize the Purchasing Agent to reject all responses, close out, and re-solicit” the RFP.

The sports tourism RFP process has closed. Two bids were submitted and unsealed on July 16 – one from International Management Consultants, or IMC, and a proposal from the current Coliseum management team, the El Paso Sports Commission.

The commission is headed by Janet Vargas and its events director, Tony Rodriguez, who did not respond to inquiries for this story.

IMC is headed by former El Paso City Rep. Brian Kennedy, who had managed the Coliseum for 23 years as the original founder and previous director of the El Paso Sports Commission. After his time there, he won a seat on City Council, then lost a mayoral run in December 2024.

Brian Kennedy speaks with constituents at a community meeting in April 2024.

Since then, Kennedy has focused on his law career and building his new sports promotion and management company.

Kennedy said it is unusual for the county to consider interrupting two active bid solicitations for one of the county’s most high-profile operations. The decision leaves the bidders in the dark, he said.

“I bid it, and on the agenda, it says they’re rejecting all the bids. I’d like to know why they rejected my bid,” he said. “There was not a single question on the sports tourism bid. That raises an eyebrow.”

Kennedy, who said he is submitting bids for both the sports tourism and Coliseum management contracts, has been critical of the county’s bidding process.

He characterizes the county’s decision to open management of the Coliseum to competitive bids as “a backdoor way” for a faction of county government to bring in the University of Texas at El Paso as the Coliseum’s promoter and manager.

Rodriguez, of the El Paso Sports Commission, also has publicly expressed suspicions that UTEP was being positioned to take over the Coliseum’s management. The Sports Commission has been credited with maintaining a capable operation at the Coliseum, and the discussion to end its longtime contract was apparently a surprise.

Critics have raised two primary concerns about UTEP potentially becoming the Coliseum’s new management team. One is that the university could be brought in through an interlocal agreement, which sidesteps the public RFP process other bidders have been asked to follow.

The recent bids by IMC and the Sports Commission followed the County Purchasing Act, which includes adherence to competitive bidding through RFPs.

UTEP did not submit a sports tourism promotion bid through that process but may be relying on an interlocal agreement allowed by Chapter 791 of the Texas Government Code. Such an agreement does not require an RFP and would depend only on a decision from the Commissioners Court.

During a previous Commissioners Court meeting, Assistant County Attorney Erica Rosales Nigaglioni said the county “is not required to go out to bid for goods and services for contracts with another government entity, in accordance with Chapter 791, the interlocal law.”

Critics also have argued that UTEP has a spotty record managing recent large-scale events.

“There were a lot of problems with the BTS (concert). And we don’t want that to happen over there either,” said Dora Villanueva, president of the Valle Verde Neighborhood Association, referring to the Coliseum during a previous public forum.

In public statements, UTEP has acknowledged glitches at that Sun Bowl concert in May, attributing some of the problems to ticket-scanning issues on Android phones and a buildup of about 30,000 concertgoers at one gate.

UTEP declined to comment on whether it will submit a bid for the promotion and management of the Coliseum or if it is in discussions with the county about an interlocal agreement.

The Coliseum’s RFPs are on the agenda for the regular Commissioners Court meeting, which will start at 9:30 a.m. Monday at the El Paso County Courthouse.

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El Paso County may scrap Coliseum management bids, start over