San Antonio Voters Approve $75M For AT&T Center Renovations

Bexar County Voters Approve $75M For AT&T Center Upgrades

Bexar County (TX) Saturday voted to commit $415M in "tax revenue to river improvements, sports fields, the arts and a long-term investment in the AT&T Center," according to Tracy Idell Hamilton of the SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS. The benefits for the AT&T Center will not come into effect until 2012. Only about 7% of county voters voted on the issue, and the proposition calling for the AT&T Center to receive $75M "prevailed by the narrowest margin." The win "vindicated the campaign's strategy of keeping the Spurs out of the limelight, focusing instead on the benefits to the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo, which uses the arena for three weeks every year." And although the Spurs "spent more than $500,000 on the campaign," team Owner Peter Holt "was restrained in his comments after the vote." Holt: "I guess this is positive, so I'm happy. We were worried all day about the low turnout." The approval also "means the county can move forward with plans for a 13-mile linear park along the San Antonio River, begin to address the shortage of amateur and youth sports fields and plan the transformation of the underutilized Municipal Auditorium into a performing arts center" (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS, 5/11). Holt added the outcome means "long-term, we will be playing in a continually updated building." Holt also noted that the AT&T Center "can now stay competitive with other sports venues in the league and the state" (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS, 5/12).