Tidbit from story coming later this week
March 10, 2008
Just had a sit-down with Ronnie Gilley for a story later this week. Here’s a quote from our conversation:
Q: Can this project be done without bingo?
A: If you compare it to Branson, Mo., then let’s do that. Branson Mo. has been in the making for 75 years, so could we do it without the bingo? Here’s how it would work. The reality of it is with the credit market being such as it is, and with the investment market being such as it is, I might could go muster up an investor to put in a Tracy Lawrence Barbecue – it would be slim to none to making it happen in today’s climate – but let’s just say I could. That’s all I’m going to be able to get done. Then once there is a track record established with a Tracy Lawrence Barbecue and Opera House, 2 or 3 years from now maybe I can get George Jones to come in and put in his dinner theater, and in another 2 or 3 years, then maybe I can get Darryl Worley or Alan Jackson or Toby Keith or whoever it is, but it is a slow, slow, slow process, a slow buildup period which basically is not going to create any economic impact for Houston County, it’s just going to be a long drawn-out process and that’s what the bingo facility brings to the table for the overall project. It’s an economic facilitator that allows it to happen simultaneously.
