Sports
Bexar County leaders weigh two major sports venue projects
Bexar County leaders return to work this week from the holidays with two landscape-changing sports projects to consider in the same morning.
One, creating a new stadium for the Missions minor league baseball team, appears headed for liftoff, while the second, building a new downtown Spurs arena, faces many hurdles before a tight deadline.
On Tuesday morning commissioners will meet in executive session first to discuss the new basketball arena for the San Antonio Spurs, known as “Project Marvel.”
That recently-unveiled plan has so far been driven by San Antonio city leaders, who envision it as part of a larger sports and entertainment district in the southeast part of Hemisfair.
But their early sketches include using the county’s venue tax to help fund a roughly $1 billion-plus arena — something county leaders haven’t yet agreed to.
Also in executive session on Tuesday, commissioners are set to talk about a new $160 million stadium for the San Antonio Missions.
The project involves an adjacent mixed-use and residential development that would help fund the stadium through the city and county tax revenues it generates.
An agreement between the city, county and Missions’ owners calls for the formation of a local government coalition known as the San Pedro Creek Development Authority, which would issue bonds to finance the project and own the ballpark.
Compared to the Spurs arena, the baseball stadium concept is much further along in its development. The team’s owners already own most of the land, and recently agreed to a plan to acquire the last remaining parcel from San Antonio Independent School District.
The city approved the baseball stadium idea in September, but county commissioners gave their preliminary blessing in June, authorizing Bexar County Judge Peter Sakai to work with Missions’ owners on a plan to keep the team in San Antonio.
According to Tuesday’s Commissioners Court agenda, commissioners will come out of executive session to publicly discuss and potentially take action on the creation of the local government coalition — a major step for the Missions project.
Hurdles ahead for the Spurs arena
Tuesday’s discussions about the Spurs arena will bring county leaders in on a project city officials have been discussing privately for months, but that has major implications for the county.
Bexar County owns the Frost Bank Center on the East Side where the Spurs currently play their games, and where ensuing development was expected to transform an underserved part of the county.
More than two decades later, that development hasn’t borne out, and Sakai has said he won’t agree to spend county money on a new arena without a clear plan to make good on promises made to the East Side.
When Project Marvel was presented to City Council in November, Sakai said the county would draft its own proposal for redevelopment of the East Side — a plan that’s currently still being developed.
If the new arena is to go before voters during the May 3 municipal election, the city and county will have to hammer out those details before the Feb. 14 deadline for putting initiatives on the ballot.
“I applaud the city for putting a proposal together,” Sakai said in a November interview. “But remember, the redevelopment of the East Side, specifically around the Frost Bank Center, was a condition, a stipulation, for the county’s participation in any big economic development package that the city may present.”
Commissioner Tommy Calvert (Pct. 4) said in a press release Monday that the Spurs are asking for 100% of the county’s venue tax, but “many questions remain” about how to prevent the Frost Bank Center from becoming a “dead carcass” on the East Side.
He invited local officials representing the area and members of the public to a series of town hall meetings on the topic in late January and early February.
Reporter Shari Biediger contributed to this article.
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