San Antonio and Bexar County officials yesterday "unveiled a plan to purchase" NASL Scorpions Owner Gordon Hartman's Toyota Field for $18M and "lease it to Spurs Sports & Entertainment in a deal that is aimed at bringing" MLS to the city within the next 13 years, according to a front-page piece by Baugh & Whisler of the SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS. The City Council and County Commissioners are "both scheduled to vote next week on the purchase," with each entity contributing $9M. SS&E "would pay Hartman" an additional $3M under the agreement. SS&E "will own a minor-league team that will play in the facility as the company works to land a MLS expansion team." If SS&E "fails to do so within 13 years, it will pay" a $5M fine to the city and county. Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff said that he "recently met with MLS officials about the possibility of expanding to San Antonio." Wolff: “We told them roughly what we were looking at doing, that we would be bringing in a world-class organization, the San Antonio Spurs, to start a franchise here and work their way up to Major League Soccer. I believe that hit home with them very well when we talked about the Spurs." MLS VP/Communications Dan Courtemanche noted the league’s "appreciation of 'this strong demonstration' of interest in acquiring a franchise." Baugh & Whisler note Toyota Field "has a capacity of 8,500 -- fewer than half of the seats needed for an expansion berth in MLS." The stadium "sits in an old quarry on the city’s Northeast Side." Officials yesterday said that MLS "has indicated that it would prefer a downtown stadium." While there "doesn’t seem to be any appetite to build a new facility there, the Alamodome could serve as a facility" (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS, 11/5).
