SAN ANTONIO, Tx — We are less than 48 hours from a downtown showdown at City Hall. It’s a vote that could be a game changer for the Spurs arena and the future of downtown.
City Council votes Thursday on whether or not to greenlight a term sheet for a new $1.3 billion Spurs arena.
Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones is proposing a pause on the funding because she says the only information on the arena’s benefits come from a study commissioned by the Spurs Sports and Entertainment District.
Some city council members like District 3’s Phyllis Viagran have serious concerns about delaying a vote for the city to move forward.
“If a pause is approved, I think we are seriously facing losing the Spurs to another market outside of Texas,” Viagran said.
District 7 councilwoman Marina Alderete Gavito also opposes any pause.
“Right now, the city is facing little to no risk at all with this deal,” Gavito said. “This is a great deal for our community.”
The city would kick in up to $489 million. Much of that coming from the creation of a project finance zone with a radius of three miles downtown. That area would be able to take the portion of the sales tax that normally would go to the state and use it locally.
Spurs chief legal officer Bobby Perez says their independent economic analysis can be trusted.
“The framework puts all the risk on our company,” Perez said. “It caps the risk to the city at $489 million, and an additional calp that the funding source is visitors to San Antonio.”
When the News 4 I-Team’s Jaie Avila asked the Spur’s general council, he didn’t want to directly address the impact of a possible delay.
“We have completed our economic impact study, which we have so much confidence in, that we’ve willing to invest over $2 billion in this plan and structure.