Jim Wharton

A few years ago, the City Council appointed me to the board of the Sioux City Sports Commission. This board of volunteers serves to attract new events to the community — events that fill hotels and restaurants and afford our residents opportunities to enjoy sporting events that otherwise might not consider Sioux City. Everything from curling to dance competitions (we’re still working on that one).

The crown jewel of the Sports Commission is the NAIA Women’s National Basketball Tournament. The Sports Commission has also been a key player in attracting the NAIA women’s national volleyball and softball tournaments to Sioux City. NAIA officials will tell you no one does it better than Sioux City when it comes to hosting sporting events.

Someone needs to let the University of Iowa in on this secret.

For the last few years, the Sports Commission, specifically board members Tim Seaman and Corey Westra, has worked very hard to convince one of the Iowa regent schools to bring an athletic event to Sioux City. An Iowa State volleyball game or an Iowa basketball game, you name it and we would make it happen. The results of those efforts? Zilch.

Now comes news that the University of Iowa men’s basketball team has finally agreed to move one of its games from Carver-Hawkeye Arena to a neutral site west of Iowa City. Here’s the problem: The Hawkeyes are taking their Dec. 22 game against the University of Colorado to the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls.

Urgent note to coach Fran McCaffery and Iowa Athletic Director Gary Barta: You chose the wrong Sioux.

It took a request from the website Landof10.com under Iowa's open-records law to pry that information out of the UI athletic office. I don’t blame the Hawkeye brass. I’d be embarrassed, too, if one of Iowa’s border cities had turned over heaven and earth to try to get an event in Sioux City only to hear that the university is taking its game to a city in another state — a city that competes with Sioux City for entertainment events. In the Landof10.com report, McCaffery is quoted as saying that Sioux Falls has been "talking to us for years about this." Guess what coach? So has Sioux City.

Here are some friendly reminders for our friends in Iowa City and, for that matter, the schedule makers in Ames and Cedar Falls, as well:

Sioux City is in Iowa. Sioux Falls is in South Dakota.

Residents of Sioux City pay Iowa taxes — a portion of which goes to support the work of the university. As for our friends up north, I think it is illegal to use the words “taxes” and “South Dakota” in the same sentence.

Sioux Falls is paying the U of I $150,000 to play Colorado at the Sanford Pentagon. If that’s not enough, Iowa is getting another check for $15,000 to cover transportation from Iowa City to Sioux Falls (that’s a hell of a bus) and 18 double rooms at one of Sioux Falls’ finest hotels.

Sioux City has great hotels and a strong fan base that would fill the Tyson Events Center for a Division I event. What we don’t have is a T. Denny Sanford and a sports promotion budget that make it possible to compete when the only variable is money. I think most of us living in Iowa feel we’ve already given at the office when we see our paycheck stub. That one obvious line that says "IA Taxes."

Siouxland has been fertile recruiting grounds for Iowa. Just recently, there were Adam Woodbury, Zach McCabe and Mike Gesell. Three great, local young men who had stellar careers as Hawkeyes. It would have been impressive to have them at center court of the Tyson Events Center as Sioux City welcomed the Hawkeyes to their hometown.

What is particularly frustrating about this whole issue is McCaffery's assertion that the decision wasn’t based on money. Quoting the coach again from the Landof10.com website: “... we’re not out there trying to make every dollar."

If that’s the case, coach, you may want to take a good look at Sioux City next time you’re looking for a game. Here’s why:

Sioux City is closer to Iowa City than Sioux Falls.

Sioux City and western Iowa have a lot more Hawkeye fans than Sioux Falls.

We support the University of Iowa with our tax dollars.

And we’re Iowans.

Jim Wharton of Sioux City is a former member of the Sioux City Council and a former mayor of Sioux City. This piece originally appeared in the Sioux City Journal.