NFL border football push gaining steam
Backers enlist advisory firm to draft plan

While San Antonio's NBA Spurs have captured the attention of much of South Texas -- if not a more global audience -- during their latest championship run, an effort to bring the NFL to Texas' border region has gone mostly unnoticed.
But those pushing hardest for a plan that would have Texas and Mexico share an NFL franchise have quietly continued their march and may have picked up some important momentum.
In November, the Business Journal first reported that McHenry T. Tichenor, former CEO of the Hispanic Broadcasting Corp. (which later merged with Univision), had teamed up with business leaders in the Rio Grande Valley region in an effort to attract an NFL team.
While such a plan may seem far-fetched to many -- especially since San Antonio has so far failed to make any headway on the NFL front -- not everyone is convinced the pursuit is a lost cause.
Former Minnesota Vikings owner Red McCombs, along with top officials with the San Antonio Spurs, are among those who have been alerted that Tichenor and Valley officials are working on an NFL plan.
McCombs, who has been San Antonio's biggest cheerleader when it comes to the NFL, attempted to acquire an expansion franchise in the early 1990s. He was shocked when the league elected to go to Charlotte, N.C., and Jacksonville, Fla., instead.
So could an NFL team wind up in the Valley instead of San Antonio?
"I hope not," McCombs says. "But who knows?"
International appeal
Al Boyle, a representative for South Carolina-based Tichenor & Associates, says momentum for the border NFL project is indeed building. He says the plan would include the construction of a new stadium somewhere between South Padre Island and McAllen, near the Mexico border.
"By concept and by design," Boyle says, "Mexicans can feel the stadium is theirs as equally as (Texans) can."
Tichenor has enlisted the assistance of Conventions, Sports & Leisure (CSL) International to help develop a plan to take to the NFL.

W. Scott Bailey