The Spurs’ building is just 21-years old.
There was a report in the San Antonio Express-News that claimed that the owners of the National Basketball Association’s San Antonio Spurs franchise are thinking about getting a new building in town. The team’s present home is only 21-years-old but in the 21st century, sports venues seem to be at the end of being useful at around the age of 21. The Spurs ownership has a lease to play at the city-owned arena through 2032. There have been some rumblings in the San Antonio area that Spurs ownership has one foot out the door in the relocation game as the team played a pair of games in Austin in 2023 and will play more games in Austin and perhaps other places such as Mexico City in the next two seasons. Spurs ownership contends that playing in Austin and in Mexico City broadens the business’s market and the ownership remains committed to San Antonio.
In 1999, San Antonio Spurs ownership was seeking a new venue as having the team play in the Alamodome made no sense. There was a threat that the NBA team might move if it could not get a modern 20th century state-of-the art structure. In 1997, the Texas Legislature was faced with numerous stadium and arena problems around the state. The legislature passed a bill that allowed local municipalities to raise hotel and motel occupancy and car rental taxes by as much as two percent to fund arenas, stadiums, museums, libraries, convention centers, concert halls and other venues. In 1999, voters in San Antonio and Bexar County approved a new Spurs arena which was to be funded with a rise in local hotel-motel and car rentals taxes. The Express-News also reported that Spurs ownership and the ownership of Minor League Baseball’s San Antonio Missions could become partners in a downtown sports and entertainment district. The stadium-arena game is underway in San Antonio.
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