Time To Pay Up

The Athletic Department will be making a pitch tonight to the Board of Alderman concerning funding of the expansion of O-U Stadium. The stadium was originally built with funds from the Oxford tourism tax. They pay roughly $200,000 a year towards the note on the stadium which will be paid off in 2007. U.M.A.A. will be asking for the Board to continue to fork over money, which will go towards the new expansion. When the stadium was built, the tourism revenue was no where near where it is today. I would venture to say it is almost ten times as much today as it was when the original tax was issued. The town of Oxford owes this to the University. This summer alone is evidenced of how much money U.M.A.A. brought the businesses of Oxford with the hosting of regionals and super-regionals. There is no reason why the Board of Alderman should shoot this down. Voting against this, will not be a good move by the Alderman.