SAN ANTONIO – San Antonio Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones took over a Wednesday rally organized by business leaders who were openly supporting the Spurs arena term sheet.
Participants in Wednesday’s rally included prominent business owners, like Pete Cortez of La Familia Cortez Restaurants and chef Johnny Hernandez of La Gloria Group, and social media personality Spurs Jesus.
They were advocating for the council to move ahead on a deal for Project Marvel when Jones took the microphone.
During the rally, Jones spoke for more than 10 minutes and advocated for a pause in the city funding deal.
“The Spurs have never said, ‘hey, City Council, if you don’t vote on a term sheet on Thursday, we’re leaving.’ They’ve never said that,” Jones said, talking to Spurs Jesus.
She called it a “fearful comment.”
Business owners and hotel and restaurant industry representatives held the rally to “stand in solidarity and advocate for the City Council to move forward with a positive vote on the city’s negotiated term sheet with San Antonio Spurs,” a news release states.
Jones has continued to push for the city to hold off on approving a non-binding set of terms for funding the $1.3 billion arena until it has an “independent economic impact study” and meetings in each council district to get community feedback.
Jones said the only information on an arena’s possible benefits has come from a study commissioned by Spurs Sports & Entertainment.
“This is not a hard ask, right?” Jones said, flanked by members of multiple community groups critical of Project Marvel. “I think I have been very clear that I want the Spurs here. I want a good deal, and I think we can confidently, you know, work with the community if we have confidence in the data.”
Read also:
Copyright 2025 by KSAT – All rights reserved.