Instagram / @spurs
A center court view at the Frost Bank Center, the current home of the San Antonio Spurs.
That would make the new facility — most likely located in the footprint of the soon-to-be-demolished Institute of Texan Cultures — the second-most expensive arena in NBA history, just behind San Francisco's Chase Center and tied with Milwaukee's Fiserv Forum.
Spurs Sports & Entertainment is willing to cough up about $240 million for the arena, with the remaining costs left to the city and county, sources told the Express-News.
To help foot the bill, Spurs execs are eyeing revenue from a recently passed city-controlled downtown sales tax zone dedicated to convention centers and pro-sports facilities, the daily reports. However, that tax is only projected to yield around $200 million. What's more, the revenue is expected to go toward maintaining the Henry B. González Convention Center and possible Alamodome upgrades.
The NBA franchise also is reportedly looking to pitch a mixed-use sports district, complete with apartments, restaurants, retail and other entertainment venues alongside the arena. It's unclear whether the $1.2 billion price tag is just for the arena or whole district, the Express-News reports.
Regardless, similar sports districts, including those developed in Sacramento and other cities, rarely produce the economic benefits that boosters promise, according to experts.
"Sometimes the investment you get near this new facility is an investment that is already in town," Smith College sports economics prof Andrew Zimbalist told the Current last fall. "What happens is a restaurant or whatever moves from location A to location B to try to take advantage of the activity around the sports stadium to get more business."
It also remains to be seen how eager San Antonio residents are to pay new to taxes funding a basketball arena. Locals venting on Reddit earlier this month were largely against the idea.
"If they can't afford their stadium, maybe they should stop getting Starbucks on the way to work in the morning and budget better," one user wrote.
Subscribe to SA Current newsletters.
Follow us: Apple News | Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter| Or sign up for our RSS Feed
