City of Albuquerque says new turf purchase for children sports
Despite city officials' explanation, the turf has been sitting at the Rio Rancho Events Center so that the Duke City Gladiators — a professional indoor football team — can use it for its home games.
As a result, the city of Albuquerque has been accused of violating the state's anti-donation clause for purchasing this turf for the Gladiators.
However, the city said the main purpose was for children to play on it.
They gave Target 7 a list showing 17 youth events held on the turf last year.
When the city bought the turf with state funds, they agreed it would be placed in Albuquerque at a park or recreational facilities.
When questioned by Albuquerque City Council last month, parks and recreation director David Simon said, "youth could be able to use this facility right away rather than not being able to have this kind of asset in the city and in the metro."
The contract the city signed with the football team and the group that manages the arena called for 14 youth events to be held on the turf in 2022.
"I'm not skeptical that youth events have been happening,” city councilor Brook Bassan said. “I'm skeptical that youth events have been happening that are benefiting Albuquerque youth."
Target 7 looked at the list and found eleven of those youth events were for what is called open field and multiple all-star team practices.
Nearly all of those didn't occur until after news broke that the city may have violated the anti-donation clause and right before the end of the year.
Less than a month before a total of 14 events were supposed to be held, youth practices started happening nearly every day.
"This list, it tells me a few things,” Bassan said. “This list tells me that there's a concentration of youth events that happened near or after when the conversation began about the turf, and the concerns were brought to everyone's attention."
"There are so many layers to what's happening right now that it's hard not to wonder if this is a scandal,” Bassan said.
Bassan was also given a list of youth events. It is different than the one the city provided to Target 7. Her list shows a team called New Mexico all-star's elite was the one using the field.
"This list does not specifically name which teams were utilizing the field for youth events, but my list does,” she said.
Target 7 reached out to the team and left a message – Gladiators owner Gina Prieskorn-Thomas called us back.
She said the youth teams are competitive and are coached by Gladiators quarterback Nate Davis and other teams practiced on that turf as well.
She also said that the majority of the youth that have been playing on the field were from Albuquerque.
"I've spoken with the owner of New Mexico Gladiators. I think she's delightful,” Bassan said. “I think she talks very positively and indicates that there's really good intentions for people, the public, for the team, for Albuquerque, for New Mexico. But there's no proof that I've been given that this is benefiting Albuquerque."
Target 7 reached out to the New Mexico Young America Football League — it's the largest youth football organization in the state. They tell us they were never approached to use the field.
The list given to Target 7 shows 1,400 kids played on the field in 2022.
The Gladiators start their season this Saturday night. The following morning they are hosting a youth camp on the turf.
Prieskorn-Thomas provided Target 7 with registration data showing 277 children have signed up for the camp.
She said two-thirds are from Albuquerque.