{"id":37226,"date":"2025-11-05T23:54:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-05T23:54:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/37226\/"},"modified":"2025-11-05T23:54:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-05T23:54:11","slug":"spurs-city-leaders-talk-next-steps-after-voters-support-new-arena","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/37226\/","title":{"rendered":"Spurs, city leaders talk next steps after voters support new arena"},"content":{"rendered":"

Less than 24 hours after the majority of voters supported using county venue tax dollars for a new downtown San Antonio Spurs arena<\/a>, city, county and team officials presented a united front as they look to finalize the city\u2019s portion of the funding.<\/p>\n

In a press conference outside City Hall on Wednesday, elected officials spoke about the need for high-paying jobs and affordable housing, while Spurs officials emphasized the need for collaboration.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of work to be done. This was a monumental win for our city\u2019s potential, for our growth and for our competitiveness,\u201d said Councilwoman Marina Alderete Gavito (D7). \u201cNot only is this a generational investment from downtown San Antonio, but it is for every single corner of San Antonio. This impacts all of all 10 districts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Enthusiasm flowed from city officials, who were optimistic about the economic opportunities the new arena and surrounding downtown development would create.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday night, 52.1% of voters supported using $311 million in Bexar County venue tax dollars for the Spurs\u2019 proposed $1.3 billion arena when they approved Proposition B on the ballot. This opens the door for the city\u2019s portion of the funding \u2014 $489 million that does not have to go in front of voters.<\/p>\n

City and Spurs officials agreed to a non-binding term sheet<\/a> for funding the arena in August that included the funding structure, the Spurs\u2019 commitment to develop a $1.5 billion sports and entertainment district in the area, $75 million from the Spurs for a community benefits agreement and a promise to stay in San Antonio for 30 years.<\/p>\n

\"\"City, county and San Antonio Spurs leaders held a press conference in front of City Hall on Wednesday after voters approved county venue tax funding for a new downtown arena on Election Day. Credit: Amber Esparza \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n

The next step is for the Spurs and city council members to finalize that agreement.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a lot of work to do and many, many project agreements. We have to make sure that those are finalized and are, in fact, a win-win for the city,\u201d said Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones at the event.<\/p>\n

Jones had called to slow the public funding process for the new arena and voted against the non-binding term sheet in August, but she attended the Spurs\u2019 election night party at River North Icehouse before early results were released on Tuesday and said she was committed to working with the Spurs.<\/p>\n

\u201cYesterday, when I stopped by the watch party, I reiterated what I shared with [Spurs Chairman Peter J. Holt] throughout this entire process: we will always work together in the benefit of our city,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Jones added that affordable housing and commitments to labor and good jobs were key in the negotiation process. She said officials need to be bold and added that jobs should pay more\u00a0than $50,000 a year.<\/p>\n

\u201cFolks always say, \u2018Mayor, when you say good paying what do you mean?\u2019 Well, some have previously said $50,000 (per year),\u201d Jones said. \u201cIt is not $50,000 in the year of our Lord 2025, so we have a lot of work to do to make sure we\u2019ve got a really strong community benefits agreement.\u201d<\/p>\n

Councilwoman Sukh Kaur (D1) also brought clear updates to the Wednesday afternoon press conference. As the city and county works on a community benefits agreement, Kaur said, there should be a joint city and county group or task force to build and follow through on the community benefits agreement.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is still \u2026 a lot of room for real public engagement around how we want to see those benefits take place,\u201d Kaur said. \u201cI believe we should do that as a joint effort, so that not only we can see those improvements in and around downtown, around our neighborhoods, but also on the East Side.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her office is also working toward an affordable housing development near South Alamo Boulevard in the Hemisfair area. The development is not within the boundaries the Spurs\u2019 sports and entertainment district, but would be within walking distance, she said during an interview Tuesday night.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"San Antonio City Manager Erik Walsh, left, talks with Spurs Managing Partner Peter J. Holt after a press conference in front of City Hall on Wednesday. Credit: Amber Esparza \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n

Arena construction could take 60 months<\/a> and would need to be done by the time the Spurs leave the Frost Bank Center in 2032.<\/p>\n

Aside from that, Spurs officials have said that planning for the arena and the sports and entertainment district are in early stages and have yet to share details about what the impending development might look like.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Holt, the team\u2019s chairman, focused on the coalition that is developing around the project on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat today really shows is unity, and that\u2019s what we\u2019re going to focus on going forward, is doing big things via partnership,\u201d he said. \u201cI promise that we are going to deliver something special and mutually beneficial and something that this city deserves.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Less than 24 hours after the majority of voters supported using county venue tax dollars for a new…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":37227,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[11356,1067,2112,3081,13350,3673,3025,3083,9087,82,23366,84,83,1066,4876,92,94],"class_list":["post-37226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-downtown-arena","tag-frost-bank-center","tag-gina-ortiz-jones","tag-hemisfair","tag-marina-alderete-gavito","tag-peter-holt","tag-peter-sakai","tag-project-marvel","tag-proposition-b","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-city-hall","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-news","tag-san-antonio-spurs","tag-sukh-kaur","tag-top-story","tag-wc-750-1000"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37226"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37226\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}