{"id":158118,"date":"2025-08-19T10:09:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-19T10:09:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/158118\/"},"modified":"2025-08-19T10:09:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-19T10:09:10","slug":"how-would-a-192m-renovation-help-san-antonios-rodeo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/158118\/","title":{"rendered":"How would a $192M renovation help San Antonio’s rodeo?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Project Marvel, a proposed sports and entertainment district<\/a> that includes a new arena for the San Antonio Spurs, has drawn attention to downtown. <\/p>\n

But it\u2019s not the only change that could come from the Spurs\u2019 move.<\/p>\n

In November, Bexar County voters will decide whether to commit $192 million in hotel occupancy taxes to renovations<\/a> and improvements to the Frost Bank Center, the Freeman Coliseum and the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo grounds.<\/p>\n

CEO and Executive Director Cody Davenport talked about the organization\u2019s future with Robert Rivard on the latest episode of bigcitysmalltown<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo has been operating at the Eastside site ever since 1950. The city has grown around the grounds, said Davenport, who first got involved in the nonprofit years ago as a volunteer.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re proud of the fact that we\u2019re there, we\u2019re proud of what\u2019s grown up around us and we\u2019re very proud of the fact that we intend to stay there,\u201d Davenport said.<\/p>\n

When he learned the Spurs were leaving, Davenport said he was concerned about the future. Then he saw it as an opportunity to grow.\u00a0\u201cThen we realized this is quite possibly one of the greatest opportunities that our show has ever faced.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Stock Show and Rodeo has looked at other large rodeos in Fort Worth, Las Vegas and Calgary, Canada, and partnered with Bexar County to plan for year-round programming and events, Davenport said.<\/p>\n

That doesn\u2019t mean there will be a high profile rodeo 365 days a year, but there will be more opportunities for Bexar County and the Stock Show and Rodeo to host regular events once the grounds, infrastructure and barns are improved.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are now able to come back into those grounds and, in essence, create a year-round western destination,\u201d Davenport said.<\/p>\n

Davenport added that there is growing demand for rodeo events in South Texas.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo CEO and Executive Director Cody Davenport on the Aug. 15 bigcitysmalltown podcast.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey want to bring their events here in the western industry, but I haven\u2019t been able to offer that to them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s because the current grounds aren\u2019t built to meet that demand, he said. San Antonio is one of the few large rodeos that doesn\u2019t do year-round events. That would change if voters approve renovations on Election Day this November.<\/p>\n

Davenport also discussed some of the possible ripple effects from increased rodeo activity. There could be more opportunities for private business in the area if there\u2019s a more consistent client base from rodeo activities.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we can move to a year-round basis, you\u2019re hopefully giving businesses more traction,\u201d Davenport said. \u201cIf I\u2019m going out and I\u2019m competing to bring in these large equestrian events, or whatever events they are, well it helps us to have development around us<\/a> to support that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rivard noted that the nonprofit has given $286 million in scholarships to students over the past 75 years.<\/p>\n

Davenport said expanding connections with local youth are important. The group works with educational institutions on scholarships and also offers them as prizes in competitive events. The organization\u2019s focus on agriculture touches on diverse skills, including robotics and public speaking.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything we\u2019re doing here, what we\u2019re talking about, is so we can expand that giving, expand that outreach,\u201d Davenport said.<\/p>\n

The San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo wants to be plugged into the community, Davenport said. They offer riding classes for nearby residents, hire local workers as event staff and hope to start a 4H program on the rodeo grounds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Project Marvel, a proposed sports and entertainment district that includes a new arena for the San Antonio Spurs,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":158119,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5133],"tags":[5229,7288,11884,91874,61385,9734,75583,59594,13123,45746,7202,3138,91875,7203,358,7453,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,7819],"class_list":{"0":"post-158118","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-antonio","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-bexar-county","10":"tag-bigcitysmalltown","11":"tag-cody-davenport","12":"tag-downtown-sports-and-entertainment-district","13":"tag-east-side","14":"tag-freeman-coliseum","15":"tag-frost-bank-center","16":"tag-project-marvel","17":"tag-rodeo","18":"tag-san-antonio","19":"tag-san-antonio-spurs","20":"tag-san-antonio-stock-show-rodeo","21":"tag-sanantonio","22":"tag-texas","23":"tag-top-story","24":"tag-tx","25":"tag-united-states","26":"tag-united-states-of-america","27":"tag-unitedstates","28":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","29":"tag-us","30":"tag-usa","31":"tag-wc-500-750"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115054890093677131","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158118","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=158118"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158118\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/158119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=158118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=158118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=158118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}