The City of Fort Worth is preparing to transfer management of the Will Rogers Memorial Center to a management agency formed by three nonprofits that have invested millions in the historic complex over the years.
Gendy Street Management, itself a nonprofit, will include Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo; the Bass-backed Event Facilities Fort Worth, which led in getting Dickies Arena built; and Dickie’s manager, Trail Drive Management Corp.
City Council discussed the agreement with Gendy Street at Tuesday’s afternoon work session. If it passes next week, city officials and Gendy Street executives said the agreement will combat the city’s rising operating costs in running Will Rogers, help address a backlog in needed capital improvements as the 90-year-old facility approaches its centennial, and take pressure off of the city’s culture and tourism fund, currently tapped to fund expansion of the Fort Worth Convention Center.
Any budget savings the new management group generates will go back to Will Rogers, assistant city manager Jesica McEachern told City Council members. She touted a list of public-private partnerships in Fort Worth said to have significantly elevated the enterprise, including the Fort Worth Zoo, Cowtown Coliseum, Fort Worth Herd, and Fort Worth Botanic Garden.
After years of studying options for Will Rogers, the city concluded it needed to outsource management. McEachern said during the session that the question became “who will care for it as much as we have and who will really elevate it into the future?”
“We really do believe that this helps take it to the next level,” Matt Carter, the Stock Show president and general manager, told council members.
Will Rogers has 55-60 city employees who will have the option to work for Gendy Street with guaranteed pay and benefits. Full-time status for those workers — if full time — will be guaranteed, city officials and Gendy Street executives said.
Employees within five years of retirement can choose to stay with the city. Employees who aren’t close to retirement but want to remain with the city can choose to be reassigned, city officials said.
The agreement would go into effect Oct. 1 if approved by City Council.
Council member Macy Hill, whose west side district includes the historic facility, complimented the city staff and Gendy Street executives.
“You all have taken into account the history of Will Rogers and improving the customer experience” in coming up with the agreement, she said.
Based on feedback she’s heard from community members, she said, “I feel like there’s a lot of opportunity for improvement, so I look forward to that.”
She also lauded the protection of employees.
The 120-acre Will Rogers is home to the Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo, as well as numerous equestrian and other animal shows.
McEachern said the city’s operating costs for Will Rogers surged after the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, required city processes for procurement and contracting added an extra layer of costs and delays as the list of needed capital improvements continues to grow.
Will Rogers is running close to a $10 million operating deficit, city staff said. Shifting management to the nonprofit is expected to save money that can then be reinvested into the facility.
“The whole goal is that we can grow revenues, reduce the expenses, and all those dollars stay at the facility (and are) put back into the facility on a continual basis,” Matt Homan, president of Trail Drive Management, told the Fort Worth Report.
As for capital needs, “we’re working with the city right now on a facility assessment, what that looks like for both everything from mechanical engineering to structural to understanding the facility's conditions, and what has been neglected over years and what needs to be improved,” Homan added.
Will Rogers is currently short-staffed as hiring slowed while the city studied its options, McEachern told council members. The facility needs to have 75-80 employees, Homan said.
“They have an established great employee base now, but we look to grow that employee base to make it fully staffed to create some more operational efficiencies,” he said.
Under the agreement with the city:
- Gendy Street will manage day-to-day operations.
- The city will operate under federal law and continue to be responsible for any operating deficit.
- Gendy Street will update the city monthly on financial performance.
- Gendy Street will prepare its proposed annual budget and submit it to the staff for approval, including capital projects.
- The city will approve $2 million in transition funding.
- Gendy Street will be paid a management fee of $10,000 per month.
- A Fort Worth assistant city manager and the district’s City Council representative — currently Hill — will serve on the organization’s board.
The city was able to sidestep state law requiring competitive bidding because the law allows exemptions for vendors with a history of significant investment into the entity they’re being hired to manage, McEachern told council members.
The Stock Show and Event Facilities have contributed $77 million over the years to Will Rogers, staff said. Event Facilities, with Ed Bass as chairman, committed to capping the city’s costs of building Dickies Arena at half and raising the remainder. Trail Drive runs Dickies at “no net cost to the city,” McEachern said.
The nonprofits "absolutely meet that criteria of significant financial and other investment,” McEachern added.
Scott Nishimura is a senior editor for local government accountability and a Fort Worth City Hall reporter at the Fort Worth Report. Reach him at scott.nishimura@fortworthreport.org.
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