The meeting was held at J. Gilligan’s Bar. President Vera McKissick tried to get people’s attention to call the meeting to order. No one appears to hear her. Vera suddenly broke into French. While I do not speak French, I like to imagine that she cursed us all as infernal coxcomb buggers. Still, no one appeared to notice Vera’s haranguing of the gathered Rotarians. Finally, Vera brought out her “teacher voice” and yelled as us. This settled down the crowd and Vera was finally able to call the meeting to order.

 

Jim Quick gave the prayer and led us in the Pledge. Given we were at J. Gilligan’s and didn’t have a piano, Donna Mack started singing God Bless America for us.

Jason Kazarian acted as greeter for the meeting. He specifically embarrassed a visitor named Jim. “Jim with the water bottle.” Jim apparently didn’t realize he was being pointed out as Jason had to call him several times. [This Jim turned out to be Jim Watry, our speaker. -JPK]

 

Vera begged us sign up for prayer and pledge. Mike O’Donnell got up to announce something other than Shakespeare Live. His announcement related to UTA Rotaract. It appears that he may be asking some club members to be speakers for the Rotaract Club.

 

Benjamin Harris, a dashing and engaging member if there ever was one, announced that Autism Speaks will be hosting Empower Challenge on April 12 in Arlington. They will have a 5k walk/run, 10k run, 10 mile bike ride, and 30 mile bike ride. Benjamin will be participating in the 30 mile bike ride and encourages you to join him!

 

There was a special presentation by Past President Barry Bondurant. Barry announced that the Rotary Club of Arlington Board of Directors had voted to recognize Randy Ford of J. Gillian’s as honorary Rotarian. Randy shares the values of Rotary and regularly donates his time, food, and a meeting location to support the Club. When we were at Webb the week before one of the children mentioned that he loved the sandwiches which Randy had donated to the Webb kids’ camp trip. We all gave a hearty round of applause for this well-deserved recognition of a valuable member of our community.

 

Donna Mack got up to lead us in a song. There were substantial technical difficulties and Donna was forced to stand awkwardly waiting for the video with the music to load. In the end, we all had to watch dog commercial before the video would play. (By the way, big thank you to Rachel Slosson and the whole sergeant at arms crew! They do a great job!!) We sang  “What the world needs now is love.” Donna flashed some vocal skills. One Rotarian was heard to say “That’s the best I’ve heard for a long time.”

 

Sally Hopper announced birthdays and anniversaries. The combined time in Rotary for the anniversaries was well, well over 100 years.
 
President Elect Randy Hendricks introduced our guest speaker, Jim Watry. His resume is impressive, but what really caught me is that our guest is a master sommelier. The presentation was an update regarding Texas LIVE! This was the second time Jim  had presented to us, the first time had here a few years back when he was just starting in Arlington and at Texas LIVE.

 

He opened by noting that most of what has been built is included in the original 10 year plan. He noted that it is not extremely common for 10 year plans to be that accurate.  He noted that the organizations (hotel, restaurants, event venues) communicate, coordinate, and plan together. This makes all of their work better. Additionally they are willing to partner with organizations for events. For example, they worked with out Rotary Club to put on Dancing With the Arlington Stars.

 

He noted that Loews is in it for the long haul. They are not the type of company to quickly sell something after creating it. It took 10 years from first informal agreement with Rangers to first beer being poured at Texas LIVE! The Loews brand is family owned, fifth generation. They take pride in selecting and growing/developing talent.

 

After a relatively short presentation, he opened the floor for questions:

 

Q: Someone noted that Texas LIVE! looked similar to sports betting locations in other states and asked whether they designed it with an eye towards gambling becoming legal in Texas?
A: Yes, it was built for everything that may eventually happen. They did almost $41m in sales last year. In 2023, we sold the most Miller Lite nationally. (The most beer sold regardless of brand was AT&T Stadium [if understood correctly]).
 
Q: What’s going on with LIVE casino Bossier City?
A: Loews has many venues. Ranger one is a new one. Loews saw that Bossier City legislation changed and noted an opportunity. On opening day the management of the new Bossier City casino had to drive to Texas Live! to get more cash because did so well.

 

Q: What’s average attendance on event days?
A: “Super days” around 70,000 per day capable. Southwest classic 2023 11am game and PPV fight that night. Over $1m sales that day.

 

Q: A “Awkward” question regarding a certain three letter sponsor?
A: As of March 31, CBD will no longer a sponsor.

 

Q: Thanks for helping their small business grow!
A: We have contracts of $200,000,000 in hospitality. We attempt to source things locally when possible. In the future they hope to use local bakeries and get more goods regionally.
 
Q: Do they have solution to major congestion and transportation gridlock around events. Maybe public transport?
A: We are looking to make things smoother. We moved the Uber line to help. But still tough. Soccer events will be chaos “yes.” We are working to improve walkability. Ingress-egress is improving. Entertainment district has stuff to do while you wait for traffic to die.

 

Q: How fast did the hotel sell out for the World Cup?
A: We have nine games. This is ideal. We have rooms held until later. All rooms will undoubtedly be filled. Same for the Grand Prix.
 
Vera thanked Jim and presented a book to sign which the Club will donate to the Webb Library.

 

Last Laugh Limerick
Tom’s joke was heard clear; none could miss it
And from many a member, gasps did he elicit
He quoted an anagram
Dirty minds did damn
For they spelled a word quite explicit.

 

Vera thanked our guests, our speaker, everyone who helped in the meeting, Randy Ford and everyone who attended for coming. She noted that the Club needs three more people to help set up for meetings.  Please see Rachel Slosson for more information. Vera then led us in the Four Way Test and adjourned the meeting. Prost Y’all!