Officials with the San Antonio Sports Foundation and the Big 12 Conference have a common goal. Both envision San Antonio as the home of the Big 12 Women's Soccer Championship into the new century.
Sports foundation Executive Director Susan Blackwood said the foundation is pursuing an agreement to keep the three-day tournament in San Antonio for the next three to five years.
"We certainly are looking for a long-term agreement with them," Blackwood said.
"We would like for [the Big 12] to think of San Antonio as a town that could embrace the tournament and continue to make it grow."
In February, Big 12 soccer coaches voted to keep the tournament in San Antonio, said Dru Hancock, the assistant commissioner of the Dallas-based conference.
"They are interested in looking at a long-term relationship to grow the event in one venue," Hancock said.
Sports foundation officials point out that an agreement would further strengthen ties between the Big 12 and San Antonio. This December, the Big 12 football championship game will be played at the Alamodome for the second time, and Alamo Bowl officials say they are interested in hosting the event in the future.
"Right now, our coaches think San Antonio could be a really good place for us. San Antonio is a destination city in a lot of ways. We've had wonderful success there with both our football championship and soccer," Hancock said.
The Big 12 Women's Soccer Championship will be held at the Blossom Athletic Center Nov. 9-12, the third straight year that the sports foundation has hosted the event in San Antonio.
This year, the field has been expanded from six to eight teams, and the tournament is expected to draw about 250 participants.
The championship game will be broadcast by Fox Sports Net, Hancock said.
Hancock said an agreement between the Big 12 and the sports foundation is predicated on the foundation's ability to bring about structural improvements to the Blossom facilities, in northeast San Antonio.
High on the Big 12's priority list are a larger press box and additional locker-room space, Hancock said. Funding probably would come from the foundation's existing group of sponsors.
Bill Hanson, assistant executive director of the foundation, said the tournament does not yet generate enough revenue to justify a revenue sharing provision in the new contract. Revenue generated from the event is retained by the foundation, which leases the Blossom facilities for the soccer tournament.
During the past two years, the tournament has drawn an average of 4,000 fans, Hanson said. Tickets are $6 a day.
"Right now, it's not highly profitable," Hanson said.
Hancock and Hanson agree, however, that the tournament does have the potential to be more profitable.
Sebastian Weiss writes for the San Antonio Business Journal.
