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The Alamo Dome disaster was caused by several bad decisions, possibly (or probably) caused by city politics and the influence of the "old 400" families that still want to control things and get their cut of the pie from city ventures.
1. Henry Cisneros was either a megalomaniac or easily manipulated by the traditional power structure. His desire for a legacy was fed by the idea he could take two areas that were languishing and deteriorating and make them into showcases for the city and incidentally for Henry's legacy. Absolutely the worst idea was the development of the mall on the west side of the freeway from the old Farmer's Market/ Mi Tierra Restaurant. It had no tradition, no parking and little in the way of permanent activities or restaurants/shops to draw tourists. Certainly few San Antonians had it as a destination for shopping or entertainment. The rents were outsized for the demand and it became an albatross.
2. Who was behind the Alamo Dome decisions that led to so many problems. Well, I'd say the old San Antonio family that owned the land on which their steel company operated for so many years. It was a closed and delapidated building that should have been available cheaply, considering pluses and minuses such as lack of room for adequate parking for such a large facility. And apparently no one even considered an environmental impact investigation and report since it was discovered after the sale that the site was contaminated with toxic metals and chemicals. How stupid was that?
3. It was sold to the tax-paying public majority as a Necessary Large Stadium pre-requisite for an NFL team franchise, a brand new necessary home for the Spurs, a draw for our convention business, and a job creator. Whew, how could you vote against that package of benefits? Does that sound like the hard sell being put on the taxpayer with this new stadium being floated? Fool me once, my fault, fool me three times....?
Well, the outcome after the extra costs for the toxic waste removal was not quite what was envisioned. It isn't very useful for a town that wants to go to their sports events by personal cars, but nevertheless the stadium was built with very limited parking for the great unwashed part of the public that pays for the Dome out of bonds and taxes...but of course the wealthy elites can always afford the special parking areas that are available on a permanent parking pass basis. The Spurs soon came back with a demand for a new state of the art basketball stadium because the Dome was a joke venue for basketball on a regular basis although you could certainly put more fans in there on rare occasions. For the most part, the temporary stands with a draped backdrop were all that was necessary to put paying fans into the allocated seating. There are some limited uses during the year for football games and some conventions, but it is largely a bad deal, sitting isolated across the freeway from the Convention Center and any of the developed areas in or near the old Hemisfair '68 area.
So the Spurs came back with another demand for another state of the art building. What to do? Where to go? What is one of the last bastions of the social elite in San Antonio. The Rodeo. Wow, the rodeo coliseum was built many years ago and has all the faults of the architecture of that era. Lots of wealthy folks strut their stuff at the rodeo if they are part of the social butterfly set that uses it as a backdrop once a year. But who wanted to go to that old stadium anymore. A couple of wealthy families of the Rodeo Power Elite actually maintained 2nd homes on property adjacent to the Coliseum building and facilities and they might have had some input in leveraging their influence into the pick of the location. At any rate, IMO some of the power elites came forward with the idea to move the Spurs into a brand new arena on the old Coliseum grounds. Plenty of parking out there on a property that wasn't used but a few days a year. True, it was far from downtown and in a semi-industrial, low-rent residential area that wouldn't be developed for destination shopping or entertainment, but why not put the Spurs there? Why not, indeed?
Now we are a few years into the rebuild for the Rodeo (and the Spurs of course) and some interests are floating the idea that a new stadium is necessary. After all the bad decisions made in the past regarding publicly funded stadiums and buildings , the first question has to be: Qui bono? Who stands to gain from any new stadium outside of the city's legitimate interests. If there starts to be a clamor for certain land assets that are "just a little outside of downtown or any currently developed destination, let's see who gains from the purchase of land assets outside of the normal profitable interest of Spur owners?
This is getting long so I will desist for the present, but there are a lot of questions about the myths(?) of the need for a new Sports facility for San Antonio. "Fool me once..."
