The San Antonio City Council on Thursday “approved a term sheet” with Spurs Sports & Entertainment, making way for a $1.3B arena that would be the centerpiece of a sports and entertainment district downtown. The 7-4 vote “was followed by loud applause from arena supporters.” The term sheet “outlines how the arena at the former Institute of Texan Cultures site at Hemisfair would be paid for” by the city, Bexar County and the Spurs’ owners. The non-binding document “lays the groundwork for negotiations for lease, non-relocation and construction agreements” with SS&E, which “would require council members’ approval.” The vote gave City Manager Erik Walsh “the green light to execute the term sheet,” which pledges $489M “in city funding to the arena” (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS, 8/21).
The Univ. of Texas System Board of Regents approved a “conditionally authorized grant of an exclusive option to purchase” land at the former Institute of Texan Cultures complex to the city of San Antonio for a “potential downtown revitalization project.” The action “supports a possible return by the Spurs to Hemisfair,” where they played home games in HemisFair Arena from 1973-93. The measure, “approved without opposition by the board, potentially clears the way for use of land” occupied by the former Texas Pavilion, built for the 1968 World’s Fair (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS, 8/21).
