Tag: San Antonio Express-News

Arena Ballpark Stadium

San Antonio editorial wants taxpayers to follow the “spirit of the agreement”, yet teams never seem to care about it

Several weeks ago, the San Antonio Express ran a story detailing how the San Antonio Spurs ownership group, Spurs Sports & Entertainment (SS&E), “owes the city of San Antonio and Bexar County $5 million.” SS&E owes $5M because of a failed 2015 MLS bid. The city, county, and SS&E were all involved in the bidding for a team and signed an agreement stating that SS&E would pay $5M if the bid didn't produce an MLS team.…

William Neilson Jr.
Arena

San Antonio city council moves forward on a new arena based on “useless”, “incomplete” & “inadequate” economic report

This week, the city of San Antonio, Texas, voted to move forward with the November election that will decide the fate of the $1.3 billion arena (and other projects), called Project Marvel. This week, the team contacted every media outlet that it could find to discuss how great this deal was for the city. So residents heard that this deal will create $10 billion in direct spending! Or that it will create $350 million in new…

William Neilson Jr.
Arena

As the San Antonio Spurs insist on a tax election this spring, they continue hiding almost all of the arena costs and details

The San Antonio Spurs want a new arena. They just don't want anyone talking about it. They have been courting public officials for months in the hopes of getting a significant amount of public money for this new venue. But even though the team has been reaching out and arranging talks with the city for months, the public continues to have surprisingly few, if any, details about the costs of this new arena. Yet, the…

William Neilson Jr.
Arena

If the current San Antonio Spurs arena never lived up to its economic promises, why would another new arena be any different?

The San Antonio Express-News continues to write article, after article, after article on the Spurs' interest in moving to a new arena. As time goes on, more and more of these articles include statements that a new arena could be a “potential downtown revitalization project” that brings “together sports, dining and drinking”. The Spurs believe that a new arena would “revitalize downtown”. Except, haven't San Antonio residents heard that claim before? Yes, they heard this…

William Neilson Jr.
Arena

San Antonio Spurs have been secretly negotiating with city officials for quite awhile on a new arena

In September of last year, the San Antonio Spurs General Manager and City Manager met to discuss improvements to the city-owned Alamodome, where the Spurs play home games. We know this because the San Antonio Express-News has text messages showing the GM asking to meet the city official to discuss "facility infrastructure". Maybe the Spurs offered to pay for the upgrades themselves? Given their history, the odds of that are likely never. This is the same…

William Neilson Jr.
Arena

The San Antonio Spurs continue to milk the city for taxpayer money

The San Antonio Spurs have been outright robbing city hall for several decades now. In the early 1990s, the San Antonio Spurs wanted a new arena. In 1993, the city built them one that cost about $250 million dollars. 100% of which was paid for by local taxpayers. But the Spurs didn't like that arena, so just six years after it was built, the Spurs got a referendum put up asking for taxpayers to pay…

William Neilson Jr.