Thatcher — The state’s newest agency, which focuses on six counties in the South, held its regular monthly meeting in Graham County on Thursday.
The Southern Arizona Department of Sports, Film and Tourism has plans to serve all three economic sectors: Graham, Greenlee, Cochise, Pima, Pinal and Santa Cruz counties.
“I think we are in the right place to build a strong foundation,” said the agency’s executive director, Blake Eager. “I think I heard at today’s meeting that we can launch some events in our county that are major events.”
These events include the return of horse racing to six counties through an agreement with the Rillito Downs and a spring training baseball game between Major League Baseball clubs and Mexican League teams in Tucson in 2024. It is included. Eager said he could join one or two Japanese clubs in later years.
In January, the agency’s board of directors decided to spend $50,000 in sponsorship of the Arizona Bowl college football game in Tucson.
However, there is one nasty problem. The authorities do not have the funds yet.
When the legislature established the Authority, it approved $750,000 in funding from the General Fund. The money was paid to the Arizona Department of Tourism, but has not yet been transferred to the agency.
Eager said he expects these funds to reach the bank accounts of the regulator within the next week or two.
Another issue discussed was helping develop film and television soundstages in southern Arizona. One of them was proposed by Carpe and Zen Productions, a Graham County-based film production company that sponsors the Gila Valley Film Festival each April.
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