{"id":758827,"date":"2026-06-12T03:48:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T03:48:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/758827\/"},"modified":"2026-06-12T03:48:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T03:48:15","slug":"as-spurs-chase-a-ring-san-antonio-mayor-chases-cash-from-spurs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/758827\/","title":{"rendered":"As Spurs chase a ring, San Antonio mayor chases cash from Spurs"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN ANTONIO \u2013 Amid a Spurs playoff run<\/a> electrifying San Antonio, Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones<\/a> pushed Spurs ownership<\/a> to cough up money she said it owes the city and asked one of its deep-pocketed owners to chip in for a new arena.<\/p>\n

Jones sent separate letters last month to Spurs Sports & Entertainment Chairman Peter J. Holt<\/a> and tech billionaire Michael Dell<\/a>, a minority owner of SS&E.<\/p>\n

From Holt, she\u2019s looking for the Spurs to make good on a decade-old soccer deal gone sideways, while she asked Dell to consider covering part, or even all, of the city\u2019s share of a new, downtown arena.<\/p>\n

Her requests come as the city faces a budget crunch and considers the possibility of raising property taxes for the first time in 33 years<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen they\u2019re champions, we will still have, the next day, a $131 million gap going into FY28,\u201d Jones told KSAT<\/a> while discussing her request to Holt.<\/p>\n

Failed MLS aspirations<\/p>\n

Jones repeatedly called for the Spurs organization to make reimbursement payments owed under a 2015 deal<\/a> meant to bring a Major League Soccer franchise to town.<\/p>\n

San Antonio and Bexar County paid $9 million each to acquire Toyota Field, which it owns through a Public Facility Corporation and leases to San Antonio FC, a soccer club owned by Spurs Sports & Entertainment which plays in the lower-tier USL Championship. <\/p>\n

Under the lease, SAFC agreed to pay up to $5 million over several years if it wasn\u2019t awarded an MLS franchise, which local officials hoped would happen during a league expansion.<\/p>\n

The portion of the 2015 lease agreement for Toyota Field requiring San Antonio FC to pay up to $5 million for not getting an MLS franchise. (SABC Soccer PFC)<\/p>\n

But after Austin secured an MLS team instead of San Antonio, Bexar County officials acted in December 2022<\/a> to give the Spurs a pass on the reimbursement payments. Then-County Judge Nelson Wolff was especially angry<\/a> with the MLS on how the selection went down.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was a really underhanded move of what they did,\u201d Wolff said at the time. \u201cSo I think it would be unfair to hold y\u2019all accountable for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jones said, however, the city needs every cent it can shake loose as it figures out how to close a $131 million budget gap over the next two years.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to go try and collect the money that we\u2019re owed to keep any, any cuts to a minimum,\u201d she told KSAT. \u201cAnd certainly when we say, \u2018Hey folks, we may have to raise your property taxes,\u2019 we have done all the work possible to keep that as low as possible. And that requires collecting the money we\u2019re owed.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a letter dated May 15, the same day the Spurs clinched the Western Conference Semifinals against the Minnesota Timberwolves, Jones congratulated Holt on the Spurs\u2019 playoff run. <\/p>\n

She also highlighted the city\u2019s budget struggles and asked for a \u201cquick and fair resolution to the issue of penalty repayment after the inability to bring a Major League Soccer team to our city.\u201d<\/p>\n

SAFC paid the first reimbursement payment of $250,000, according to a city fact sheet, but none since.<\/p>\n

In her letter to Holt, which she indicated was coming ahead of a meeting between the Spurs and city staff, Jones put the amount owed at $2.1 million, including interest, with an additional $1 million due this year. <\/p>\n

\u201cPayment in accordance with the contract would remind everyone of the strength for the City\u2019s relationship with the Spurs owners \u2014 a relationship built on mutual respect,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n

Those payments would go to the city and county-controlled PFC.<\/p>\n

While the money could be used on stadium improvements, it could also be transferred to the city and county.<\/p>\n

Jones said she has not heard from the Spurs organization since sending her letter, \u201cbut my understanding is in conversations that they had with the city manager we should hear something back by the end of next week, I believe is what we\u2019re looking at.\u201d<\/p>\n

An SS&E spokeswoman emailed KSAT a statement from the senior director of Toyota Field and STAR Complex confirming talks with the city and PFC, but not whether any payment was forthcoming.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have had discussions with the city and the Public Facilities Corporation to ensure all agreements related to Toyota Field support the long-term success of soccer in San Antonio. These discussions are part of an ongoing process, and we remain aligned with our partners on delivering a community-focused path forward for the venue. SAFC has been a proud part of our community for more than 10 years and we are committed to its success, with more than 50 employees supporting the team and venue operations at Toyota Field.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jose Lizardo \u2014 Senior Director, Toyota Field & STAR Complex<\/p>\n

A city spokesman declined to comment on Jones\u2019 May 15 letter to Holt or her subsequent letter to Dell.<\/p>\n

Dollars from Dell<\/p>\n

The plan<\/a> to pay for a $1.3 billion Spurs arena calls for the City of San Antonio kicking in $489 million, Bexar County contributing $311 million, and the Spurs paying $500 million, plus cost overruns.<\/p>\n

The county\u2019s funding will be covered by a venue tax on hotel stays and car rentals, which voters approved in November. The city\u2019s share would be financed through the Spurs\u2019 lease of the arena, ground leases by developers and tax capture zones for local property tax and hotel-related state taxes.<\/p>\n

However, Jones has been skeptical whether the funding deal, which she voted against<\/a>, is really the best the city can do. And on May 21, she asked Michael Dell, the head of Dell Technologies and a part-owner of the Spurs since 2021<\/a>, to kick in more. <\/p>\n

The day after the Spurs faced the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals, Jones congratulated Dell on both the team\u2019s success in the playoffs and for landing on TIME\u2019s list<\/a> of 100 most influential philanthropists. <\/p>\n

Before asking him about creating and investing in \u201cAI-native mental health facilities\u201d and \u201cidentifying a collaboration opportunity\u201d for digital tools to help cities and municipalities plan better, Jones asked Dell about \u201ccontributing a portion of or the full amount\u201d of the city\u2019s $489 million share of the arena.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe economic environment is challenging and there are no signs of that abating with the implementation of the One Big, Beautiful Bill, persistent inflation, and the impact of tariffs, all of this layered on San Antonio\u2019s status as the third most impoverished major city in the country,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n

Jones said she believes \u201cpeople expect us to do all the things we can to collect money that we\u2019re owed and ask people who can help us, who can help us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo yes, the mayor of the third-poorest city in the country asked the seventh-richest person on this planet for some help for the arena, of which of course he\u2019s a minority owner of the team.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Forbes<\/a>, Dell is now actually the sixth-richest person in the world, worth $224 billion. <\/p>\n

As of Thursday, a spokesman for the mayor said Jones still hasn\u2019t received a response to her letter.<\/p>\n

Read also:<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by KSAT – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN ANTONIO \u2013 Amid a Spurs playoff run electrifying San Antonio, Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones pushed Spurs ownership…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":758828,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3797],"tags":[7,10143,6923,82009,9944,6,3383,93176,969,474,4075,4074,534,6217],"class_list":["post-758827","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio-spurs","tag-basketball","tag-city-hall","tag-gina-ortiz-jones","tag-michael-dell","tag-mls","tag-nba","tag-peter-j-holt","tag-safc","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-spurs","tag-sanantonio","tag-sanantoniospurs","tag-spurs","tag-spurs-sports-entertainment"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116735095833089060","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/758827","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=758827"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/758827\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/758828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=758827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=758827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=758827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}