San Antonio voters “won’t have a say at the ballot box” on whether the city should put up $489M toward a new $1.3B Spurs arena as the City Council on Monday “voted 5-6 against putting such a measure on the Nov. 3 ballot after hearing from dozens of residents on both sides of the issue.” This is despite San Antonio Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones’ campaign to “pressure City Council to put the funding to a public vote.” At the crux of the debate was the question of “whether San Antonio voters had already given their approval to the city payment last November,” when Bexar County sought public approval to raise its hotel and rental car taxes to finance its $311M contribution. The financing deal that Spurs Sports & Entertainment worked out with the city and county in August 2025 “was tied to the passage of the county measure, which was the only part of arena funding package that required a public vote.” The November 2025 ballot language “said nothing” about San Antonio’s $498M contribution, which “will be paid for by several funding sources, none of which require public approval” (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS, 8/17).
