SAN ANTONIO – Downtown San Antonio could soon see a major makeover – anchored by a new Spurs arena.
But what would that mean for taxpayers — and has it worked in other cities?
Let’s take a look at the history.
Since 2010, seven NBA cities have seen new arenas built in their areas.
For the sake of argument, we will include the Oklahoma City Thunder, whose new arena is set to open in 2028.
So, call it eight arenas.
In those, you see a wide range of funding structures.
For example, the Los Angeles Clippers arena was completely privately funded while the Orlando Magic and the Thunder’s were almost completely publicly funded.
The Spurs’ proposal is somewhere in the middle.
The trend here is that smaller markets like Milwaukee, Orlando, and OKC tend to use more public funding while larger markets like Brooklyn, L.A., and Golden State use way more private funding.
As far as the economic impact of a new arena in San Antonio, history tells us it may not be all that large.
A 2003 economic journal stated, “No retrospective econometric study found any evidence of positive economic impact from professional sports facilities or franchises on urban economies.”
Geoffrey Propheter, a public policy professor in Denver who specializes in sports facility economics, says that assessment still holds true.
“People struggle with this because we see crowds, we see 10’s of 1000’s of people, we see fans, we see regalia, we see celebration, and we equate that with large, tangible economic effects were really the sports is primarily cultural,” Propheter said.
Propheter used Oakland as an example. That city lost all three of its professional teams over the last five years and is doing better economically.
“Oakland is no worse off by nearly every single metric and the few metrics in which it is showing an effect, it’s actually positive,” Propheter said.
In San Antonio, the economic impact study that the agreed to term sheet is based off does show there will be a significant positive impact for the area. But this is what history tells us.