The mysterious “Project X,” which involves city council members figuring out how to retrain or recruit an unnamed pro sports team, is still floating around Dallas City Hall.
We thought this was a settled matter after sports mayor’s big win last week. The City Council unanimously approved a $19 million deal to rehab the old Memorial Auditorium to lure the Dallas Wings from Arlington. But this, apparently, was not Project X. Or there’s a new Project X. Hard to say. Attorneys are involved, and the official discussions are happening in private. (“Executive session” is a real buzzkill.)
The Ad Hoc Committee on Professional Sports Recruitment and Retention will be back in session on Wednesday, and, once again, the only item on the agenda involves discussing “commercial or financial information that the city has received from a business prospect (“Project X”) that the city seeks to have locate, stay or expand in or near the City of Dallas and with which the City is conducting economic development negotiations; and deliberate the offer of a financial or other incentive in connection with Project X.”
Councilmember Paula Blackmon, one of the seven committee members, tells me it is “another project” separate from the Wings. She wouldn’t comment further. Councilmember Jaynie Schultz, another committee member, says, “I honestly don’t know.”
Let’s get to speculating.