Pro-Spurs PAC has spent more than $7M to boost Props A and B

A PAC supporting the new downtown Spurs’ arena has now spent more than $7 million on its campaign to support Propositions A and B on the Nov. 4 ballot.

Most of the money came from the San Antonio Spurs LLC, but the group is also now getting help from businesses like Pearl Real Estate Company and Bartlett Cocke General Contractors as well.

The last campaign finance reports before the election were due Monday, covering money raised and spent from Sept. 26 through Oct. 25. The Spurs-aligned Win Together PAC reported raising and spending about $5 million in that span, counting in-kind donations — on top of the $2 million it had already raised previously.

Final totals from this election won’t be known until January, when semi-annual reports are due.

The aggressive campaign is a reflection of just how much the team has on the line in this Nov. 4 election. As it stands, Prop B is the only public vote they need in a bid to secure about $800 million in city and county money for the overall $1.3 billion arena.

If it fails, local leaders have signaled they’ll keep negotiating. But the team’s owners would have to decide which compromises are worth it as they make plans to leave the Frost Bank Center, which they’ve deemed incompatible with the team’s future.

A banner in favor of Props A and B is posted outside the District 2 council office polling location on the East Side on Wednesday. Credit: Amber Esparza / San Antonio Report

“Everybody asks [whether the Spurs will leave San Antonio if Prop. B fails],” Spurs Sports & Entertainment Chairman Peter J. Holt said at last week’s San Antonio Report CityFest event. “We’re not focused on that …. we’re focused on this election. We think it’s really important, and we wouldn’t be investing so much time and energy in the campaign — and then so much investment dollars in the actual project — if we didn’t think that it was absolutely the right thing for the Spurs and the community.”

The Spurs plan to put up $500 million for the arena’s construction, while the county would contribute $311 million from fees on hotels and rental cars, known as Prop B.

The city plans to chip in $489 million from a state tax reinvestment deal, plus property taxes and rent San Antonio would collect from the new sports and entertainment district — part of an agreement city officials made contingent on Prop B’s passage.

As of the beginning of the month, public polling indicated support for the measure was underwater, with 40% in favor to 45% opposing.

That was before much of the PAC’s advertising had started, however, and the team now has other deep-pocketed allies coming to its aid.

The Texas Realtors Political Action Committee, for example, has been sending mailers stressing the benefits of the new downtown arena — as well as renovations to turn its exiting East Side home in to a year-round rodeo district — which were not reflected in campaign finance reports as of Monday evening.

“A thriving city means healthier real estate values, more business for our members and stronger neighborhoods for our clients,” said Ed Zapata, who chairs the San Antonio Board of Realtors.

Last week City Attorney Andy Segovia gave the green light for city officials to campaign around Props A and B, so long as they don’t use city money to do it.

Bexar County Judge Peter Sakai, who had previously been cautious about engaging in campaign activity, filmed an ad for the Spurs’ Win Together PAC this week.

The move comes as he faces a potential primary challenge from former Mayor Ron Nirenberg, who has also been helping the PAC.

Early voting runs though Oct. 31, and polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Election Day, Nov. 4

The campaign against Proposition B

The main opposition to Proposition B has so far come from the COPS/Metro Alliance, which opposes public dollars for private development.

The group’s political arm, called the Defending Public Money for Public Good PAC, has spent a grand total of about $220,000 — $210,000 on the most recent report and $10,000 on a previous report.

In the 50 years the group has been doing this kind of work, COPS/Metro Alliance leader Sonia Rodriguez said the money spent by private investors like the Spurs has skyrocketed, while their own strategy remains largely the same.

No Project Marvel signs are shown outside a polling location during early voting. Credit: Amber Esparza / San Antonio Report

“We can put together a little bit of money to run a campaign, but you know, the Spurs can be $6 million to $7 million, and that’s really hard to try to compare ourselves to,” she said. “The best way we’ve been able to operate, to get to where we are with this, is one by one, person by person.”

Rodriguez said they’ve had members going out every day to public events and churches to talk about the complicated public-private financing model.

“Once we’ve had a conversation, we have very rarely had anybody say to us that they support it,” she said.

The Spurs have also been trying to reach voters who still have questions about the deal through a phone-banking and door-knocking initiative they said had reached 100,000 households by Thursday of the first week of early voting.

Early voting continues through Oct. 31, and a much longer list of polling sites will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Nov. 4.