Sacramento city officials have “recommended disbanding the Sacramento Sports Commission following the agency's default on a $400,000 loan, a stunning fall for the organization responsible for marketing the region to the world of sports,” according to a front-page piece by Ryan Lillis of the SACRAMENTO BEE. City Manager John Shirey “asked the City Council to abolish the 24-year-old commission at its Tuesday meeting and consolidate its marketing and event management duties into the Sacramento Convention and Visitors Bureau.” In a “rare move, Shirey's request was deemed urgent, bypassing a council subcommittee that typically debates changes to the city code before forwarding recommendations to the full City Council.” Shirey's recommendation “follows an internal auditor's report from September that determined that a foundation operated by the sports commission had failed to repay a $400,000 loan it secured from the city to help put on last year's World Masters Athletics Championships.” The loan, plus interest, was “supposed to be paid back by Oct. 1, 2011.” The audit also found that it was “impossible to verify whether the loan had actually been used on the masters event or on other sports commission operations.” The examination also discovered that the sports foundation's annual spending “had exceeded revenue for several years” (SACRAMENTO BEE, 11/16).
