BREAKING: County to consider selling Ford Park; horse racing group interested in buying

JEFFERSON COUNTY — BREAKING: Jefferson County to consider selling Ford Park Entertainment Complex; horse racing group confirms interest

Agenda for August 11 Commissioners Court meeting: (a) Consider and approve specifications for Invitation for Bid (IFB 20-023/JW) Sale of Ford Park Entertainment Complex.

KFDM/Fox 4 has confirmed a group that wants to bring horse racing to Ford Park is interested in buying the complex and has had discussions with the county for some time. Angel San Juan first reported on the group's interest in bringing horse racing to Ford Park and has done several stories on the subject.

Kevin Johnson is a spokesman for the group and one of the lead partners.

"We are interested in buying Ford Park," Johnson told KFDM/Fox 4. "We want to bring jobs and economic development. The horse racing track, that horse is already out of the gate. It's not so much the acquisition but the millions of dollars we would put into Ford Park to make it a successful property, to make improvements. We've met with the management company, Spectra, to talk about giving them the tools they need to grow the business. Our master plan is to bring a hotel to the property as well."

Jefferson County Judge Jeff Branick spoke with us about the process of selling Ford Park.

"I have mixed emotions about gambling," Branick responded when asked about the interest of the horse racing group. "I want to hear what citizens have to say.

There are pros and cons to selling Ford Park. The county will no longer control the facility. People can look at that however they want to. On the plus side, we'll save about $7 million a year on maintenance and operations, principal and interest. Any potential purchaser would have to provide financials to show they have the resources to make improvements and bring in entertainment. It'll become taxable and produce tax revenues. They would step into the county's shoes and must abide by all contracts with Ford, the YMBL, Spectra, the baseball academy. I'm also asking the County MSO to put a box on the county's website to ask people to vote 'yes' or 'no' on selling Ford Park. The bid opening date is set for August 28."

Branick says the item has been talked about long before now but the Purchasing Department and legal team had to work out language, legal issues, and make sure any successful bidder would honor contractual obligations, before putting the item on the agenda.

Commissioner Michael Sinegal says he's been working with the horse racing group.

"We've wanted to get the Request for Proposal to sell Ford Park on the agenda. "I've been thinking about the need to sell Ford Park even before I was on Commissioners Court. it's been costing taxpayers too much money. We subsidize Ford Park on the backs of the taxpayers. We've been working with the horse racing group on them possibly buying Ford Park, We had hoped to possibly bring horse racing to Pleasure Island but we don't have the infrastructure there."

"It is something being looked at, if all of the stars line up, it would benefit us and the taxpayers, if there are reasonable amounts of compensation to benefit the taxpayers," Commissioner Bo Alfred told KFDM/Fox 4.

County Auditor Patrick Swain says the complex should be paid off by 2025.

It cost about $75 million to build and the total payoff, with interest, is about $117 million.