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Bexar County voters will decide on whether to raise hotel and rental car taxes to support a new downtown San Antonio Spurs arena on November 4.
The terms sheet the Spurs, Bexar County, and City of San Antonio agreed to earlier this summer says that Bexar County will contribute either $311 million or 25% of the $1.3 billion estimated arena cost, whichever is lower, from the increased venue and motor vehicle taxes.
The City of San Antonio is expected to offer up $489 million, and the Spurs have committed to spending $500 million on the arena, along with all cost overruns.
The county venue tax increase is expected to generate more than $500 million over 30 years. What doesn’t go to the Spurs arena will fund upgrades to the complex of venues centered around the Frost Bank Center.
Sample Ballot Joint Constitutional Amendment, General, Special and Bond Election_202509231123138902 by Texas Public Radio
This venue tax increase will be split into two separate propositions on voters’ November ballot, and come after a long list of 17 Texas constitutional amendments that voters will also have in front of them. The two propositions will come before municipal election and school district election items on the ballot.
The first venue tax-related proposition, Prop A, authorizes the county to use the increased hotel and rental car taxes to improve the Freeman Coliseum, Frost Bank Center, and other San Antonio Rodeo & Stock Show facilities, also known as the Coliseum Venue Project.
Prop B is what will allow the county to send $311 million to the Spurs arena.
If Prop B fails, the current funding agreement between the Spurs, county, and city for the new arena will dissolve, and the three will have to go back to the drawing board.
The Spurs lease at the Frost Bank Center ends in 2032, and the team has been clear that they will not renew it.
Neither proposition’s ballot language includes the dollar amount being spent on either project, but both specify whether they are sending tax revenue to the Spurs or the Coliseum Complex Venue Project.
There is not currently a vote required for San Antonio’s $489 contribution, or for the $250 million infrastructure bond the city is expected to need for improvements around the arena, but Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones has now repeatedly said she wants a city election for San Antonio’s contribution.
