Austin Spurs Fans

[BlackBellamy]

Ok, so I am moving from S.A. to Austin in October and was wondering the most efficient way to get all the Spurs games. I am unsure as to whether the market up there receives the MyNetwork or FoxSports broadcasts, and I had heard that NBATV blacks out a good amount of the local games in Austin(I s'pose for ticket sale or local TV rating purposes). So, my friends, can someone please advise me the best (and preferably the cheapest) way to watch my Spurs this season? Thanks bunches.






P.S. 1000 posts bitches, and it only took me a year. :lol

[DynastySpurs210]

WHAT????

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v285/canigetafuckyou/spurstat1.jpg

[Dex]

Local coverage of the Spurs is pretty crappy up here in Austin. Of course, you can catch all of the nationally televised games (including ESPN, FSN, TNT, and ABC). As for the locally covered games such as on My35, those are occasionally picked up by the local stations such as KXAN, but typically they aren't broadcast here in Austin. And that ends up being slightly less than half the games.

If you're net savvy, there are places you can go online to find streams. The quality is usually questionable, the play by play is often in Chinese, and we don't talk about the links here because it's a no-no.

You're best bet is going to be NBA League Pass or NBA League Pass online. If you're a hardcore Spurs fan or NBA fan, it's probably worth the money to be able to see all of your games in decent quality, and record them if you have a DVR.

I'm not exactly sure how the blackout rules apply to Austin; I believe it only matters for the rare games that are being shown on NBATV (a handful each season). From what I hear, sometimes even when it says blackout out, the game is still available, so maybe someone else has more info.

[TIMMYD!]

That Sucks.

[DMX7]

Does League Pass block out games?

[ATRAIN]

Fox Sports SW shows most of the games.

[Destro]

Fox Sports SW shows most of the games.

you'll get most of the games there and towards the end of the season KVUE will pick up the games from My35 except for really bad teams.

[manu_maniac]

I've had to deal with this the last couple years since I'm a UT student from SA-Town. When I first found out KVUE aired some of the local broadcasts, I flipped out and thought every one would be shown. Sadly, I was disappointed. Since I can't afford League Pass, when worse comes to worst, I try the questionable online streams and follow ESPN play-by-play, which updates faster than the NBA website. You might just have have to miss some games. It's hard to admit.

Since you're moving in October, you should try to catch the preseason game at the Erwin Center (UT's basketball arena) against the Thunder on October 20th.

[BlackBellamy]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I s'pose this year being as interesting as it seems to be shaping up, I will prolly just have to lay down the cash for some League Pass or the like. I will attempt to check out that Thunder/Spurs PS game. Again, thanks.

[coyotes_geek]

If you get NBATV they'll also carry a few games. But there will still be 10-15 games that just aren't on here.

[ohmwrecker]

If you get NBATV they'll also carry a few games. But there will still be 10-15 games that just aren't on here.

This is about right. Between FOXSSW, KVUE and NBATV , I see most games. If there is a game that isn't on TV there's a couple of cool bars that will have it on satellite. I drive to San Antonio about 12 times a season to catch a live game, but I just can't bring myself to commit to League Pass.

[robino2001]

I may be totally stupid but I've never seen a single Spurs game on KVUE outside of the nationally televised ABC games... are y'all aiming for KXAN/KNVA (4 and 12)?

I believe last year I was able to watch ~60-65 of the games with a combination of local/national/FSSW.

[bringbackmario]

A good place to go is The Tavern off lamar and 15th i think, they show all the games and are reasonably priced. I used to live there and that place never failed me, you have to deal with mav and rocket fans though. they play most texas team games

[spurs10]

The Tavern is at 12th and Lamar. It does indeed show every game, as do all the reputable sports bars throughout the city.

[I. Hustle]

I used to live in Austin and it sucked for a while trying to catch the games. There are bars and places that show the games so you can catch them there. You can just do what I do though and have your driver take you to San Antonio and you can just catch the game at the AT&T center or if you are pressed for time just take your helicopter and have it drop you off.

[spurs10]

Don't forget @ Bill Schoenig's WOAI broadcast of every game on 1200 am. You can get that in Austin. Arguably the best play-by-play guy in the business.

[robino2001]

I used to live in Austin and it sucked for a while trying to catch the games. There are bars and places that show the games so you can catch them there. You can just do what I do though and have your driver take you to San Antonio and you can just catch the game at the AT&T center or if you are pressed for time just take your helicopter and have it drop you off.

I sold my tickets early in the 07-08 season to some college kids at UT... they'd never been to SA before (or the AT&T obviously), so they were asking about how to get from the airport to the arena, etc. I told them, a) you won't get a commercial flight from Austin to SA and b) it'd take just as long to drive from Austin to SA than it would to go to the airport, sit for the flight, etc... They finally say, no, we were just going to fly ourselves in their own private plane - whether it was daddy's chartered plane, they were flying themselves or whatever. I still don't understand why they wanted my cheap 200 level tickets if they had the means to fly down just for a game.

[ATRAIN]

A good place to go is The Tavern off lamar and 15th i think, they show all the games and are reasonably priced. I used to live there and that place never failed me, you have to deal with mav and rocket fans though. they play most texas team games

The last spurs game I saw there was the championship game when we beat Det. Good times, I even got a hand job from a girl I met that night(even though the had job sucked, the spurs won so all was well)

[I. Hustle]

Sometimes I like to slum and sit with "the people" it gets more exciting that way. For the most part though I prefer to have my feet on the court. I don't like the luxury boxes though because I prefer to be in the middle of the action.

I wonder why they went with a private jet and not a helicopter. To me my Chopper just seems more fun.

Here is my staff exiting
http://www.premiair.co.uk/graphics/photos/heli_people_walking.jpg

[coyotes_geek]

Don't forget @ Bill Schoenig's WOAI broadcast of every game on 1200 am. You can get that in Austin. Arguably the best play-by-play guy in the business.

Ironically, Bill Schoening lives in Austin.

[janieannie]

I have NBA League Pass and between them, the national networks, and Fox Southwest, I did not miss but maybe one Spurs away game last year. I don't know about home games because I have a season ticket.

[mookie2001]

thats not ironic schoening has lived there for years he used to call the longhorns






you cant get all the games on TV, impossible, most but not all

[YoMamaIsCallin]

I have been through this in gory detail (being an Austin resident), at least as far as Time Warner Cable Austin is concerned. Here's the breakdown, as of last year (and I haven't heard of any changes):

-- National games are on ESPNx, TNT, and ABC. You can obviously get these.
-- Regional games are on Fox Sports Southwest. You can get these too. TWC even has a high-def FSSW channel that some/most games appear on.
-- A few games will be on NBATV. You can get this via a Sports Package, or it comes with the NBA League Pass package.
-- The rest of the games (30 or so) will be on local San Antonio TV, and not on national or regional channels. A dozen or so of these will be carried on local Austin TV, KXAN or KNVA. So that leaves 20 or so games.

These 20 or so games can be viewed on TV in Austin in one of the following ways:

a) go to a Sports Bar that has the NBA package
b) Subscribe to NBA League Pass

If you go the NBALP route, TWC will tell you that Spurs games are blacked out. The games will be listed as "BLACKOUT" in the program guide. However, the games are in fact shown. (This is also the case with NBA TV.)

Why, you ask? Well, I actually learned the answer to this from a TWC VP. He told me that this was a business decision on TWC Austin's part. They see a risk that at some point in the future, Spurs games may in fact be blacked out in Austin. They don't want to take the risk that customers who buy NBALP for Spurs games may not get what they paid for. So they consciously choose to NOT sell the product for viewing Spurs games.

The best way to buy NBALP is to wait until the beginning of the season, there's generally a 10-day or so free preview, and if you buy during the preview, you get $20 off, so the bill is only $140 or something like that. The other choice is to wait until mid-season (all-start break), and they'll have another free preview and you can buy the 2nd half for some lower price like $80 or something.

One gotcha is that when playoff season starts, your NBALP subscription ends, and they kill your NBA TV access. You have to sign up for the sports package for 2 months to keep seeing NBA TV. And, occasionally, a Spurs playoff game is carried only on NBA TV.

[spursincharge]

And don't forget about the Toros :king

They are running a promotion right now -- 99 Dollars for 4 Tickets to Every Home game this season... (Family 4 Pack)

[email protected] for more info :flag:

[DisAsTerBot]

I have been through this in gory detail (being an Austin resident), at least as far as Time Warner Cable Austin is concerned. Here's the breakdown, as of last year (and I haven't heard of any changes):

-- National games are on ESPNx, TNT, and ABC. You can obviously get these.
-- Regional games are on Fox Sports Southwest. You can get these too. TWC even has a high-def FSSW channel that some/most games appear on.
-- A few games will be on NBATV. You can get this via a Sports Package, or it comes with the NBA League Pass package.
-- The rest of the games (30 or so) will be on local San Antonio TV, and not on national or regional channels. A dozen or so of these will be carried on local Austin TV, KXAN or KNVA. So that leaves 20 or so games.

These 20 or so games can be viewed on TV in Austin in one of the following ways:

a) go to a Sports Bar that has the NBA package
b) Subscribe to NBA League Pass

If you go the NBALP route, TWC will tell you that Spurs games are blacked out. The games will be listed as "BLACKOUT" in the program guide. However, the games are in fact shown. (This is also the case with NBA TV.)

Why, you ask? Well, I actually learned the answer to this from a TWC VP. He told me that this was a business decision on TWC Austin's part. They see a risk that at some point in the future, Spurs games may in fact be blacked out in Austin. They don't want to take the risk that customers who buy NBALP for Spurs games may not get what they paid for. So they consciously choose to NOT sell the product for viewing Spurs games.

The best way to buy NBALP is to wait until the beginning of the season, there's generally a 10-day or so free preview, and if you buy during the preview, you get $20 off, so the bill is only $140 or something like that. The other choice is to wait until mid-season (all-start break), and they'll have another free preview and you can buy the 2nd half for some lower price like $80 or something.

One gotcha is that when playoff season starts, your NBALP subscription ends, and they kill your NBA TV access. You have to sign up for the sports package for 2 months to keep seeing NBA TV. And, occasionally, a Spurs playoff game is carried only on NBA TV.

+1. had lp last year and this is exactly how it went...