[dropcap]S[/dropcap]et aside the argument about the discrimination of Senate Bill 6, known as the transgender bathroom bill, which would require people use the bathroom of their birth gender.
Instead, with those in control of the Texas House, Senate and Governor’s mansion saying they are ‘business friendly’, take a long, hard look at what’s happened to tourism in North Carolina, which passed a similar bathroom bill.
Sports tourism, a very big deal in North Carolina, went down the drain.
Let’s face it – college sports are big money. When the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) deciced to relocate to another state, North Carolina felt the financial pain.
Just in one North Carolina city, Charlotte, the local Chamber estimated that the metro region there lost approximately $285 million because of the bathroom bill.
And that’s just one city.
One just has to look down the road to San Antonio to see what could happen in Texas.
San Antonio hosts a lot of sporting events, and is a convention mecca – both nationally and internationally. The Henry B. Gonzalez Cention Center and the myriad of other venues in San Antonio are constantly busy.
What happens if the NCAA withdraws the 2018 basketball Final Four because Texas’ legislative “business-oriented” ignorants in Austin?
Look at the cities that have hosted the finals before. The city of Houston generated in the neighborhood of $300 million just from the Final Four.
If the NCAA were to pull out of San Antonio, the effects would just come on down the highway. Do we get residual tourism from San Antonio?
You bet. San Marcos and Kyle hotels would be booked and restaurants would be full. We’re talking money into local pockets here.
So, let’s look at local economics. We don’t need the transgender bathroom bill. What we need is common sense and less fear-mongering.
Flush the bathroom bill. We don’t need it.
