Spurs getting worred just staying in San Antonio isn't going to work out.
Per Brandon, the Spurs want to compete with the bigger markets by expanding their footprint.
The Spurs are revolutionizing the NBA business by doing this, tbh.
Spurs getting worred just staying in San Antonio isn't going to work out.
Sean often tells stories of he and assistant coach Popovich driving down to and around the RGV in 1989 to promote the Spurs. This really isn't anything new, they're just circling back around to it again.
Keeping fans in the surrounding area interested was easier when the team was really good. Now that they are just another bad team trying to strike gold in the lottery they have to work harder.
Probably figure they'd be better off in Austin than San Antonio if they have to pay for their own arena.
That could change if they strike gold. And they have taken efforts to maximize the possibility of that happening. Let's see.
I think they are trying to legitimately increase their fanbase, probably from Monterey to Austin, generally speaking.
Moving to Austin could be a flop for them. Very few dedicated fans there, though many casual fans from what I’ve heard.
I’ve also heard the AT&T Center has helipads now for I guess billionaires to fly in, but I have no idea if anyone actually is using them. They make most of their money in tickets with the close seats and corporate boxes. If they could get Austin billionaires to just fly down I’m guessing they would prefer that to actually starting over with a new fanbase. Just speculating…
they should be regional out of the nevada area imho
If saying you have to appeal to the fans in the surrounding areas to be successful is insightful, then they don't understand that this HAS been the only marketing avenue open to the team since its inception. TBH they did a of a marketing job in getting a town that had virtually NO basketball fan base to adopt a team from a very iffy league and support the out of it. Remember, this was a team that couldnt make it in Dallas which has a population base that is not only much larger but at least has a lot of folks who have moved in from elsewhere and might have some enthusiasm for basketball. Frankly, I think this was a town that was simply desperate for some entertainment that could be labeled "big time" as in nationally known.
Back to the regional team idea: I suspect we are already pretty much at max fandom after 50 years of exposure. The local area population has expanded some, but you can't depend on getting a few carloads from Hondo or Dilley to come in for a game on a regular basis. New Mexico and Laredo? Mexican cities? Austin? Ok, you can play some games there, but on a occasional basis what do you accomplish? Is the purpose to eventually sell cable viewers to "expand the market/" OK, I get it and they won't have to compete with the other NBA teams to create some fandom there. Will folks in the "region" follow the Spurs in the newspapers and TV? Sure, but distances are too great for there to be much intermobility between cities for away games. I guess the answer isn't that the actual attendence of fans is going to be the goal, but perhaps some additional revenue through other sources such as cable advertising and merchandise sales.
There's no suitable arena in Austin. The Moody Center is only like 9K seats, and would never get NBA approval.
Yeah, i keep wondering why no one points this out. I mean, has anyone actually seen this place? it's great looking and all but it's not an NBA venue.
tbh, a lot of the chatter coming out of the Spurs camp around this Austin trip (Pop mentioning he envisions playing some games in Austin going forward, for example) is the kind of rhetoric an org would engage in as part an effort to get their current home to pony up for a new stadium. San Antonio is used to being used as the decoy for NFL and MLB teams doing this, the Spurs may very well pulling a page out of that playbook here.
I’m sure Austin crowd will be loud tonight and the next game. Bye bye San Antonio and fat women![]()
The NBA would never allow a team to play all home games in a 9K seat arena. They’re not moving to Austin.
I just don't see Austin's municipalities ponying up for an arena the way San Antonio's have and probably will again. Round Rock/WilCo might be game to try, but I can't see their making a more attractive pitch than Fox Tech or the Alamodome parking lot. Bringing back games as part of a downtown trip could be pretty attractive for both San Antonio and the Spurs.
Last edited by ChumpDumper; 04-06-2023 at 04:23 PM.
Yeah, hopefully the city has moved beyond the old approach of using stadium development as a way to gentrify odd parts of town. The Spurs (and the Missions for that matter) should be playing downtown. They should have built the soccer stadium downtown too, but they were still in this stupid gentrification mindset.
I feel very threatened by this man atx
Yeah it ain't subtle what they're doing. Might have a really hard time getting a stadium gifted to them this time around in San Antonio when there is no Tim Duncan on the roster though, and if they're going to be paying their own way for a stadium they'd probably rather do it in Austin where they'll sell more luxury boxes.
Spurs are bleeding revenue atm so they’re trying to find other avenues to make it up by expanding their footprint. I don’t for-see them moving to Austin, UNLESS they’re still ass in 7 years when our l current lease with the AT&T Center is up. That could be a whole different story if they are still cheeks though. Time will tell.
Sean was saying they had over 17k for tonight's game. They opened up the upper level.
Construction also exists in Austin, lol.
It's been tried before
Albeit at a time when the NBA wasn't anywhere near as popular
Kansas City Omaha
Houston Rockets played approximately a quarter of their home games in SA year before the Spurs arrival
Few other attempts.
Yeah it definitely exists. Official bird of Austin is the crane, locals have joked. Downtown has been under construction for like 30 years.
Tis true, but space is getting sparce.
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