March 21, 2014 - Dallas Mayor
Mike Rawlings, former Sen. Kay Bailey
Hutchison and Phillip J. Jones, president and CEO of the Dallas
Convention & Visitors Bureau discuss Dallas' bid after their
presentation. Dallas hosted the Republican National Convention in
1984 when the party nominated President Reagan for a second term.
Mayor Rawlings said things are very different now and there is a
"remarkably new Dallas." Dallas started working on its proposal
relatively late, but it appears to have put together a strong
bid. For example, they note that they have secured $40 million in
commitments and plan to "raise the $60 million necessary to execute the
best Republican National Convention in history." Dallas is
proposing the American Airlines Center as the site of the convention;
indeed it has already reserved the facility for July 18-21.
However, one potential problem for Dallas is that American Airlines
Center is home to the NBA Dallas Mavericks; NBA playoffs run to June
and, with the six weeks required to prepare the arena, that would not
allow for a convention in late June, one of the time periods Priebus is
considering.
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