When he turns 28, Victor Wembanyama could take the microphone and welcome Spurs fans to their new venue. Since last July we have known that management wants to build a new room, more modern of course, but also and above all less eccentric. The goal is to play it from… 2032.
It's not tomorrow, and nothing says that Victor Wembanyama will still be there, but the project is moving forward with the municipality. Thus, the San Antonio Report reveals that the University of Texas has just begun negotiations with the city of San Antonio over ownership of the land where the Institute of Texan Cultures has been located for half a century. Located in the heart of Hemisfair Park, this museum extends over five hectares and belongs to the famous university, which wishes to find a new location for it. Five hectares is more than enough for the city to build a new arena for the Spurs, but also for the Missions, a minor league baseball team.
Better, other plots adjoining the park, unused or undeveloped today, would make it possible to create a real sports and entertainment complex like we are seeing more and more in the NBA. We think of the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento.
The Spurs have played at Frost Bank Center for 22 years
“Successful cities across the country are always looking for ways to keep their downtowns vibrant,” recalls Laura Mayes, spokesperson for the municipality.
City leaders met with their Bexar County counterparts, Spurs executives and Missions team owners about the complex, but all parties signed a confidentiality agreement on the discussions, and could not 'learn more.
For the Spurs, it would be a homecoming, since this is where HemisFair Arena, their very first venue, was located. After playing there from 1973 to 1993, in the ABA and NBA, they then moved to the Alamodome, which is less than a kilometer away. It was only in 2002 that the franchise took up residence in what is now Frost Bank Center, far from the city center, but economic activity in the surrounding area never took off.
