The potential costs of renovating and keeping up county facilities around the Spurs’ current East Side home are quickly adding up.
So much so that it’s unclear how much money, if any, Bexar County might be able to send toward a new arena downtown, which is estimated to cost up to $1.5 billion.
The Spurs and the City of San Antonio have been eying Bexar County’s existing venue tax on hotel stays and car rentals as one of the possible funding sources for a new arena.
County officials stated that the tax has the capacity for up to $397 million of new projects at the current rate, or $448 million if the hotel portion of the tax is raised.
The same venue tax helped build the team’s current home, the now-Frost Bank Arena. However, Bexar County Judge Peter Sakai has been adamant that maintaining that and other county-owned facilities in the area will get priority for tapping into the tax before any money is sent to the Spurs.
Any use or increase of the venue tax would require voter approval.
On Tuesday, commissioners heard a presentation from the heads of the Freeman Coliseum and the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo regarding improvements to the neighboring Coliseum grounds.
The $197 million project would include adding and renovating buildings, including a 2,800-seat arena, with the hopes of generating more year-round activity like Olympic event horse shows, horse auctions, an annual county fair or expanded expositions.
Rodeo CEO Cody Davenport and Freeman Coliseum Executive Director Derrick Howard compared the projects to the Ft. Worth Stockyards and the South Point Arena and Equestrian Center in Las Vegas
“We see it more as a new fairgrounds where you have, obviously, the Western end. But, quiet as it’s kept, we do a lot of events within the expo halls. And they drive and enjoy a lot of people,” Howard told KSAT.
Commissioners voted 4-1 to move forward with the process of including the project as part of a November venue tax.
May 27 PDF by Spencer Heath on Scribd
Back in February, commissioners were also presented with estimates of what it would take to keep the Freeman Coliseum and Frost Bank Center.
The Freeman Coliseum and Freeman Expo Hall were listed as having projected improvements of $7 million to $8 million. The Frost Bank Center, though, could take up to $244 million over the course of 20 years.
FBC FCA Presentation 2-25-25 by Spencer Heath on Scribd
Howard said Tuesday’s presentations had some overlap with February’s projected coliseum costs, but the Frost Bank Center’s projected costs were separate.
However, Howard said that the larger figure was based on maintaining the arena as an NBA-caliber venue and that some of the more immediate costs would likely be borne by the Spurs, who are still in the building.
In any case, the projected costs are adding up, and apparently leaving less and less room for any funding for the proposed downtown Spurs arena.
However, Sakai said none of the costs are final yet, nor has an election been called.
“All we can do is give the Spurs and the city whatever we have left after we take care of the county. What that exact figure is. I don’t have it today,” Sakai said. “I’m going to let David Smith, our county manager, negotiate the very best deal to make sure that the county taxpayers are protected to the best of our ability.”
The county needs to send its proposal for using the venue tax to the state comptroller’s office for approval before it can call an election. To make the November election, commissioners need to consider a resolution by their July 8 meeting.
The resolution could be considered as early as the commissioners’ June 10 meeting.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story incorrectly named the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo CEO as Brad Davenport. His name is Cody Davenport. The mistake has been corrected in the story above. KSAT regrets the error.
