SAN ANTONIO \u2013 As voters began to head to the polls on Monday, the Spurs remained elusive about a fear at the back of some fans\u2019 minds. If the team doesn\u2019t get the downtown arena it wants, could it leave San Antonio entirely?<\/p>\n
The Spurs\u2019 lease with Bexar County on its current home, the Frost Bank Center, lasts through 2032. But the Spurs want to make a downtown move to Hemisfair, where the City of San Antonio is planning a wider sports and entertainment district, known as \u201cProject Marvel.\u201d<\/p>\n
Proposition B on Bexar County voters\u2019 ballots asks whether to use the county\u2019s venue tax on hotel stays and car rentals to help fund the new arena. The proposition includes raising the hotel occupancy tax portion from 1.75% to 2%, while keeping the tax on short-term car rentals at 5%.<\/p>\n
The $311 million from the county is just part of the overall $1.3 billion funding plan for the arena, but the larger deal relies on Prop B\u2019s passage.<\/p>\n
WATCH BELOW: Bexar County voters weigh in on Spurs arena funding<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m probably going to go ahead and vote for it,\u201d Art Lahsei told KSAT on his way to vote at the Igo Library on Monday. \u201cBecause it\u2019s for the city and if they lose the Spurs, they\u2019re going to lose a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n
Spurs officials have not made any public comments about leaving the team\u2019s hometown of more than 50 years if they do not get a new arena. However, they have also largely avoided addressing<\/a> that concern head-on, even as it has been raised by fans, local officials and even a supporter at an election kickoff event.<\/p>\n \u201cVote \u2018yes.\u2019 It\u2019s stupid to vote \u2018no,\u2019 and I\u2019ll tell you that,\u201d Mark Wohlfarth, founder and owner of Sabinal Group, said Monday at the Spurs\u2019 practice facility, the Rock at La Cantera. \u201cAnd you know what, as a business owner \u2014 and the Spurs won\u2019t say this, but I will say this. OK? Say my valuation of my business is $1 billion, and I can move and double that valuation in a day … Be careful what you wish for, San Antonio.”<\/p>\n But when pressed afterward by KSAT, Bobby Perez, the chief legal officer and general counsel for Spurs Sports & Entertainment, would not say whether relocation was on the table if the arena deal were to fall apart.<\/p>\n \u201cOur message today is that we\u2019re asking all the voters to go out, \u2018yes,\u2019 for Prop A and Prop B,\u201d Perez said. \u201cWe\u2019re excited that it\u2019s going to pass, and we\u2019re looking forward to passage on Prop A and Prop B.\u201d<\/p>\n Prop A<\/a> is also a vote on using the county venue tax, this time for making over the area around the Spurs\u2019 current home, the Frost Bank Center, to pave the way for more year-round, rodeo-style activity if and when the team leaves.<\/p>\n Perez also would not comment on what the alternative plan would be if Prop B fails and effectively collapses the current funding deal.<\/p>\n \u201cToday\u2019s October 20th. Between now and Nov. 4, all we are doing is working to pass Prop A and Prop B,\u201d Perez told KSAT.<\/p>\n Watch the exchange with Perez below:<\/p>\n Sports economics expert Geoffrey Propheter of the University of Colorado Denver previously told KSAT<\/a> fans shouldn\u2019t start panicking yet about a relocation.<\/p>\n \u201cThere has been no threat, direct or indirect, from the Holts, at least publicly, that says they are going to move,\u201d Propheter said. \u201cThis is not the Baltimore Colts, where you are going to drive off in the middle of the night in your U-Haul trucks.\u201d<\/p>\n According to Propheter, even if the proposition vote fails in the Nov. 4 election<\/a>, it is still too early for fans of the Spurs to be alarmed.<\/p>\n He pointed out that voters in San Francisco voted down funding for a new Major League Baseball stadium for the Giants four separate times before voters approved an infrastructure support package that allowed the project to finally move forward.<\/p>\n Propheter said it\u2019s a \u201ccoin toss\u201d on whether voters will sign off on publicly funding an arena.<\/p>\n \u201cSince 1980, there have been over 80 referenda on pro sports, giving money to pro sports for projects. And the passage rate is 50.1%,\u201d Propheter said.<\/p>\n And while there are limits to how the county\u2019s venue tax can be used, Prop B opponents have pointed out that there are other options besides a pro sports arena.<\/p>\n Though the tax was created to help fund the construction of Spurs\u2019 current home, the Frost Bank Center, voters also approved a host of other projects in 2008 worth $415 million<\/a>.<\/p>\n Performing and cultural arts venues such as the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts and Briscoe Western Art Museum received $110 million.<\/p>\n There was $80 million for youth and amateur sports facilities like Mission Concepcion Sports Park or the Northside Swim Center.<\/p>\n And though county-owned facilities got another $100 million, including a renovation for the Frost Bank Center, San Antonio River improvements like the Mission and Museum Reach projects received the most money: $125 million.<\/p>\n