Coincidentally I had dinner the other night with a big group including someone who is on staff for a city councilman and my buddy who works for the Spurs. They were both discussing how bad she is. But this is going to get done. She doesn't have the juice to stop it. One of the big issues is that the county already jumped in to cover $300 million. So they're on board and it makes it more difficult for her. It's just a matter of time before this goes through.
Having anything remotely to do with the Spurs potentially leaving San Antonio would be political suicide. She's going to have a come to jesus moment very soon, no matter how smart and powerful she thinks she is.
Are you implying that the Alamodome was a failure? Final fours and concerts and bowl games and conventions not to mention the Spurs playing there for a few years... that thing was a bargain. They paid something like $185 million for it and has returned close to $4 billion in economic impact.
Now, they never should have put the new Spurs arena on the east side. That was a major fuck up. But this city NEEDS to reinvest in downtown or its going to take a turn for the worse. We have had one of the most unique and desirable downtowns for generations, but it's kinda going to shit. The idea of having dinner or a few drinks on the river before/after a Spurs game would be huge for the revitalization of downtown and getting locals down there. Not to mention that expanding the convention center would let them bring in larger conventions.
Also on the basketball side of things... my friend told me that he doesn't envision Pop and RC having too much to do with the details of the team going forward. Don't get me wrong, they are still going to be around and involved, but it is apparently nearly completely Brian Wright and Mitch Johnson's show now, hopefully to have an RC/Pop-like run for the next 15 years.