USA Boxing may relocate without $3 million from city
Seeking money for programming and grass-roots initiatives, amateur boxing's national governing body might leave Colorado Springs if the city doesn't provide $3 million in a line of credit or unsecured loan.
USA Boxing leaders, who say they are in relocation talks with four potential markets, will meet this week with Mayor Lionel Rivera in hopes of striking a deal that would cement the NGB's future here and give the federation 25 years to reimburse the city.
More than 15 USA Boxing employees work at the Olympic Training Center. They're scheduled to move this summer to a former Colorado Springs Utilities building at 30 S. Cimino Dr. with NGBs for badminton, judo, taekwondo and weightlifting.
USA Boxing chief executive officer Jim Millman said the $3 million would "help sustain the programming and grow the initiatives we've started so we don't lose momentum as a result of the economy."
Most of USA Boxing's revenue comes from annual dues paid by 35,000 members and sanctioning fees covered by clubs that run 1,400 events each year, as well as corporate partnerships, grants and private donations.
The NGB received $1 million in U.S. Olympic Committee funding in 2007. The Daniels Fund awarded it $200,000 in September to bring the 2009 and 2010 national championships to Denver.
In January, USA Boxing lost an El Paso County district court lawsuit against the USA Boxing Foundation and must pay as much as $1.815 million in damages for raiding its fundraising arm's endowment fund.
Twenty of 39 NGBs are headquartered in Colorado Springs. USA Water Polo moved last year to Huntington Beach, Calif. USA Basketball plans to relocate to Glendale, Ariz.
"There are some benefits to being neighbors to a number of other sports. There's a benefit in being close to the USOC," Millman said. "But in a hard-dollar economy, those factors need to be weighed against some of the financial needs."
