The San Angelo Coliseum was constructed in 1959 when Dwight Eisenhower was President. San Angelo’s population at that time was around 58,000. Texas population was 9.5 million. Today San Angelo’s population is just shy of 100,000 and Tom Green County has 120,000 total. The State of Texas population today is estimated to be 30.5 million people. The state has tripled in size and San Angelo and Tom Green County have doubled over the last sixty-six years. Many citizens argue it is long past time San Angelo’s Coliseum caught up with us.
The reason the Coliseum was originally built was for the annual rodeo. So it is only fitting that the San Angelo Stock Show and Rodeo Association (SASSRA) is leading the way in the discussion. SASSRA has spent $1.4 Million of its own money to conduct a feasibility study, planning and design to completely renovate the Coliseum. Previous attempts to get the project going were met with economic and political obstacles. But SASSRA continued to work for over a decade on this vision for the future of San Angelo. The project today proposes to expand and completely renovate the Coliseum at the cost of around $41 Million. Last week the San Angelo City Council was convinced and voted unanimously to call for a referendum on the measure on May 3, 2025. Now SASSRA and other advocates have to convince the voters. In Texas a city cannot take on municipal bond debt without the approval of a majority of the voters in an election called for that purpose.
Putting on a rodeo like San Angelo’s is not easy. “It is number 6 of the top 10 rodeos in the United States, and the only indoor rodeo in the top 10 that is located in a city with less than a million people, said SASSRA Executive Director Justin Jonas. “It is well known around the country. Many cities like Abilene want what we have.” Those other cities want their rodeo to be like San Angelo’s and are investing in facilities to compete. San Angelo is falling behind as it has not kept up and expanded its facilities.
One of the biggest problems with the Colisuem is seating capacity. At present the Coliseum can only seat less than 5,000 people for a rodeo performance. “Last year,” Jonas said, “when we sold out there were 80,000 people waiting online to buy tickets to one of our performances.” The rodeo simply cannot accommodate everyone who wants to attend because of the limited seating. This reduces the amount of revenue the rodeo generates directly and indirectly for the community. That is why the plans call for more than doubling the capacity of the Coliseum to 10,150. This will include 8,000 new grandstand seats, and 82 suites—52 sky boxes and 30 club level. Seating for persons with disabilities will go from 12, with no room for someone to sit with them, to 56 with 60 accompanying seats.
The renovated Coliseum will have seating on three levels and improved sight lines.
But seating capacity is nothing without proper accommodations for all the contestants, volunteers, workers and spectators. Presently the Coliseum has only 43 toilets, 21 lavatories, 5 urinals and 4 trough urinals. As everyone knows, women’s toilets are especially in short supply. The renovation plans call for ripping out all of the current facilities and replacing them with 247 toilets, 100 urinals, 254 lavatories and 92 showers. This will increase the number of toilets available for women ten times over what they are today.
At first SASSRA was not sure if they would be able to renovate the Coliseum to meet the needs of today’s rodeo. Other options would have been to tear it down or build a new facility in another location. They were pleased to learn that would not be necessary. The Fairgrounds is the Stock Show and Rodeo’s home and where it belongs. The architects and engineers hired to evaluate the site said the existing structure was sound. “They told us its bones were solid.” Jonas said. “We did not want to tear it down.”
A serious question that should be asked by voters is, how will our investment in the Coliseum be protected and managed? The City has long struggled with paying to maintain the Coliseum and running it as an event venue. Anyone who was around during “The Hockey Wars” well remembers the struggles the City faced with the Coliseum. There are constant plumbing, sewage and electrical problems that must be addressed to continue using the Coliseum long term.
Once the renovations are complete, the San Angelo Stock Show & Rodeo Association will lease the Coliseum for thirty years and take over the operation and maintenance of it year round. SASSRA already leases and operates all the other facilities at the fairgrounds. It also has the resources and expertise, not only to maintain the facility but to operate it as first class event venue. Justin Jonas said increasing the size of the Coliseum will make it much more attractive as a concert venue and for other events. The City would receive a $2 fee for every ticket sold and would no longer have to budget the hundreds of thousand its spends every year keeping the old Coliseum going.
The bond referendum totals $41,660,000. Tina Dierschke, the City’s Finance Director, informed the City Council that the projected increase in property taxes for a home worth $150,000 would be $4.50 per month or $54 per year. The San Angelo Chamber of Commerce’s most recent study on the economic impact of the rodeo for the City of San Angelo was around $80 Million per year. If the expansion and renovation of the Coliseum is approved by voters, that impact is expected to grow exponentially.
