Monroe: Spurs' First le Fed Appe e For New Arena

[duncan228]

Spurs' first le fed appe e for new arena
Mike Monroe

Rounding a bend in the San Antonio River during the Spurs' first NBA championship celebration parade in 1999, the barge carrying Spurs majority owner Peter Holt and other members of the ownership group heard a sound echoing above the rest of the cheers that was music to their ears.

A large group of fans, some of them with signs expressing the same sentiment, were chanting: “Arena! ... Arena! ... Arena!”

The Spurs had been working the political and business communities for months, seeking support for a new arena that would allow them to vacate the Alamodome, a multi-use venue that lacked the suites and club seating vital to the fiscal success of pro sports franchises.

On that June river parade day, a referendum was in the offing that would allow Bexar County voters to approve $146 million in county hotel and rental-car taxes to be used to pay for 84 percent of the construction of the SBC Center.

Holt heard the chant, and pointed at the group.

“That's when I realized it was for real, that we had a chance to get the referendum passed,” Holt said. “It all came home to me at that parade. When there were 250,000 people at the parade, people lining every inch of the river and hanging out every window, that showed me that the people of this community really did love the Spurs.”

Six months before that parade and Sean Elliott's “Memorial Day Miracle” shot, Holt and other members of the organization had reason to question the depth of the community's love.

Spurs president of business operations Rick Pych, who had joined the organization in 1993, had been the point man in the effort to gain approval from several taxing en ies to fund construction of an arena that had been proposed for a multi-use area near the intersection of Interstate 35 and Loop 410 on the Northeast Side.

In the final months of 1998, with NBA players locked out by ownership in a contentious collective-bargaining process that delayed the start of the 1998-99 season, momentum for that arena at the abandoned Longhorn Quarry site dwindled.

“We had worked diligently, all fall, and right up to December,” Pych said. “It all came to a head at a meeting at Jefferson High School. We all made presentations to all the (taxing) en ies. At the end, it was clear it was not going to move forward.”

Holt and Pych then turned their attention to getting a referendum on the November 1999 ballot that would give Bexar County's voters a chance to approve, or turn down, an increase in the county's hotel and rental-car tax that would be earmarked for construction of the facility now known as the AT&T Center.

Through much of the truncated 1998-99 season, the organization was discouraged.

“I do believe it was going to be difficult, and understandably so,” Holt said. “There were lots of problems with cities and teams building them — the political forces, cost overruns, the issue of rich owners and rich players getting tax dollars. Without the (NBA) le (in 1999), it would have been very difficult to get either the county or the city to have a referendum. We weren't getting anywhere — at least I wasn't getting anywhere. But after that championship and the river parade, everyone understood: Well, at least give the voters a chance to say ‘yea' or ‘nay.'

“That's when it all started to fall into place.”

The referendum vote, which came on the night of the Spurs' season opener in which the players received their championship rings, produced an overwhelming approval of the funding.

“From an economic standpoint, we went from a situation where we were literally losing $10 million or more a year, playing at the Alamodome, to a situation where we have been profitable,” Pych said.

The impact the Spurs' first championship had on the team's ability to thrive in one of the NBA's smaller markets can't be overstated, and not just because it enabled the successful referendum result. Phoenix Suns general manager Steve Kerr, a guard on the 1999 le team, believes it allowed Spurs coach Gregg Popovich to fully implement the program that produced three more championships in a decade in which the franchise has been as dominant as any in pro sports.

“That was a crossroads for Pop,” Kerr said. “The NBA coaching carousel can be unfair. So many guys lose their jobs before we know how good they can become. For Pop to overcome that early stuff and win a le allowed him the chance to blossom. It allowed Pop to be himself, and not worry about anything else.”

Three NBA championships later, the cheers and chants from the first championship river parade still resonate for the Spurs.

[poop]

i still believe the SBC center was a colossal waste of taxpayer money and shining example of corporate greed.

the Alamodome was perfectly fine for the vast majority of fans. it could seat 34,000+ fans, was in the heart of downtown, and nothing was wrong with it.

instead, now we have a new arena- completely unnessesary except to make a handful of millionaires even richer-which is smaller, seats fewer fans, more expensive for everything, and is way the out in the middle of a ghetto.

pure greed. just like seattle's situation

[lefty]

We need another arena in order to win our 5th le

[braeden0613]

i still believe the SBC center was a colossal waste of taxpayer money and shining example of corporate greed.

the Alamodome was perfectly fine for the vast majority of fans. it could seat 34,000+ fans, was in the heart of downtown, and nothing was wrong with it.

instead, now we have a new arena- completely unnessesary except to make a handful of millionaires even richer-which is smaller, seats fewer fans, more expensive for everything, and is way the out in the middle of a ghetto.

pure greed. just like seattle's situation

The Alamodome was horrible for basketball and there wasn't close to enough parking. If you think the ATT center was a waste of money, look at the freakin' Alamodome first.

[duncan228]

Kind of related:

Spurs want $10 million released for arena

http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=127125

[poop]

The Alamodome was horrible for basketball and there wasn't close to enough parking. If you think the ATT center was a waste of money, look at the freakin' Alamodome first.

bull , we would park out by the spaghetti warehouse but the actual walk wasnt any further than the distant parking at the ATnT center. same distance. plus the Alamodome was downtown not way out in the middle of nowhere. i dont know why it was 'bad' for bball. id been going there for years and enjoyed the games just as much. the furthest seats away were further than anything in the ATnT center, but only because it could seat literally ten thousand more people and for cheaper.

[braeden0613]

bull , we would park out by the spaghetti warehouse but the actual walk wasnt any further than the distant parking at the ATnT center. same distance. plus the Alamodome was downtown not way out in the middle of nowhere. i dont know why it was 'bad' for bball. id been going there for years and enjoyed the games just as much. the furthest seats away were further than anything in the ATnT center, but only because it could seat literally ten thousand more people and for cheaper.

Come on man there was a gigantic curtain going down the middle. It was not designed for bball and I doubt was ever meant to be a long term home for the spurs. I'm not a huge fan of using taxpayer money to finance arenas but the dome sucked IMO.

[TimDunkem]

and is way the out in the middle of a ghetto.

That's exactly why I hate going all the way the out there. It's completely out of the way from most places in town, and once you leave you must weave your way through a maze of crime-ridden streets; often at night.

[Cane]

i still believe the SBC center was a colossal waste of taxpayer money and shining example of corporate greed.

the Alamodome was perfectly fine for the vast majority of fans. it could seat 34,000+ fans, was in the heart of downtown, and nothing was wrong with it.

instead, now we have a new arena- completely unnessesary except to make a handful of millionaires even richer-which is smaller, seats fewer fans, more expensive for everything, and is way the out in the middle of a ghetto.

pure greed. just like seattle's situation

[exstatic]

i still believe the SBC center was a colossal waste of taxpayer money and shining example of corporate greed.

the Alamodome was perfectly fine for the vast majority of fans. it could seat 34,000+ fans, was in the heart of downtown, and nothing was wrong with it.

instead, now we have a new arena- completely unnessesary except to make a handful of millionaires even richer-which is smaller, seats fewer fans, more expensive for everything, and is way the out in the middle of a ghetto.

pure greed. just like seattle's situation

You'll notice that Seattle no longer has a team. An up to date arena is the price of admission to Major League sports.

BTW, the AlamoDome sucked ass for basketball. The sight lines were designed to look at the center of the football field, somewhere behind that awful blue curtain. I remember forking over for lower level seats, and being forced to keep my neck turned 45 degrees for the whole game because of the seat angle designed for football. The Spurs also had to borrow money their last two years there to make payroll.

[Mark in Austin]

Too bad they couldn't figure out a way to make the arena downtown - there's a lot of lost revenue that could have been captured by restaurants / bars downtown after games.

The failure of the AT&T Center to revitalize the neighborhood around it is about as pathetic as it was predictable.

[davi78239]

and I still think to this day that if it wasn't for the championship in 99, there wouldn't be an arena and the spurs would be in Baltimore or New Orleans (before Hornets move). Better yet, thank the injury plagued year of 96-97 which gave us the chance to be in the lottery and luck out in getting TD in order to even be good enough to win it all in 99. I believe it's all Fate that we still have the Spurs here in town.

[TimDunkem]

The failure of the AT&T Center to revitalize the neighborhood around it is about as pathetic as it was predictable.

Agreed. I never believed the surrounding neighborhoods would be revitalized. The AT&T Center is like an oasis; paradise in the middle of a wasteland. The surrounding area is still as dangerous and undesirable as it was 8 years ago.

[exstatic]

Too bad they couldn't figure out a way to make the arena downtown - there's a lot of lost revenue that could have been captured by restaurants / bars downtown after games.

I blame that one on Howard Peak. If he hadn't been so in bed with the Hotel industry and averse to the hotel/rental car tax, it would probably have been downtown. Their plan was an increase in the local sales tax, which would have failed on referendum. Voters would ALWAYS rather vote to increase taxes on out of towners rather than themselves.