Voters Approve Measure, Pave Way for New Spurs Arena
- Eric Moreno
- 3 hours ago
- 2 min read
On Tuesday, November 4, the citizens of Bexar County, Texas – the county where San Antonio is situated – took to the polls, to vote on two measures to help decide the future of the NBA’s San Antonio Spurs.
Voters were asked to vote for/against two propositions that could help fund a new downtown arena, which is something the Spurs and the city of San Antonio have been working toward since plans became public in 2024.
By a slim majority of 52% yes, Bexar County voters approved Proposition B, which will earmark $311 million in county hotel and rental car tax dollars (colloquially known as “tourist taxes”) to help fund the new $1.3 billion arena, to be built on the grounds of Hemisfair Park.
“We love this city, we love this county, and the county and the city love us back,” Peter J. Holt, the chairman of Spurs Sports and Entertainment told reporters at a public event on election night.
City and county financing will cover roughly 61.5% of the arena’s total construction costs. The City of San Antonio has agreed to contribute up to $489 million via a combination of its share of state hotel taxes, property tax revenue from new development around the arena, and ground leases for that development. The Spurs will contribute $500 million and have guaranteed to cover any cost overruns.
The vote ends what has been a contentious year-and-a-half, as vocal groups on both sides of the debate loudly voiced their opinions on the matter. San Antonio’s recently elected mayor, Gina Ortiz Jones, has seemingly been an opponent of the measure, speaking out publicly to call for a “slow down” on any measures regarding public funding for the privately owned San Antonio Spurs.
According to reporting by the San Antonio Express-News, Spurs Sports & Entertainment – the owners of the NBA franchise – invested $6.5 million in campaigning for the proposition. This included blanketing voter residences with numerous mailers, door hangers, online ads, and ads on local television.
The vote was the first hurdle cleared in what is planned to be a much larger sports and entertainment complex in downtown San Antonio, which the city hopes will be a boon for residents going forward. The Spurs lease at their current home, Frost Bank Center, is set to expire at the end of the 2032-33 season; no timetable for construction of the new arena has been put forth as of yet.
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