The San Antonio Spurs are once again seeking amendments to their non-relocation agreement, this time requesting permission to play four of their regular-season home games at other venues during each of the 2026-2027 and 2027-2028 NBA seasons.
The ask comes as some local leaders are feeling particularly generous in the wake of an exciting playoff run — while others want to make sure that a franchise on the rise is adequately spreading the wealth within the community.
“We now know they have the best player in the league, and they’re going to have to pay a maximum salary,” Bexar County Judge Peter Sakai said Wednesday. “They’re going to have to have a city that is going to show full commitment, otherwise that star player could say I’m leaving, because that star player can command whatever he wants.”
Four years ago, San Antonio fans freaked out when the team asked Bexar County Commissioners for permission to play one of its home games in Austin — perceived by many as a signal the Spurs might consider moving to another city.
Now the Spurs are on track to get a new $1.3 billion downtown arena that will extend their non-relocation agreement until 2062. But it won’t be ready for at least five more years, and the team has already said it finds the existing Eastside arena to be a woefully inadequate fan experience.
After many reassurances about the teams’ commitment to stay in San Antonio, Bexar County leaders went along with the team’s 2022 request to play a game in Austin — plus a second game in Mexico City — to help the Spurs grow their business.
That agreement has since been amended to allow two games in Austin during the past two seasons, and Sakai said Wednesday that he’s open to their latest request for even more.
According to the July 7 agenda for the Bexar County Commissioners Court, the Spurs are asking to play four regular-season home games outside of the Frost Bank Center during each of the 2026-2027 and 2027-2028 NBA seasons.
“Over the years, the non-relocation agreement has been amended on several occasions,” the document says. “The San Antonio Spurs have now requested an additional amendment … to expand that previously approved flexibility.”
It doesn’t specify where the game would be played, but the Spurs are already scheduled to play two games against the Pelicans in France in January 2027.
“We’re going to look and make sure that we’re not losing any money because we’re allowing that,” Sakai said. “The Spurs will come in and give us their explanation and justifications, and they may get some comments about, ‘Well, what about the loss of revenue of those home games?'”
The county owns the Frost Bank Center, where the Spurs currently have an agreement to play their home games — 42 per season — through 2032.
Given the money the recently playoff games brought into the community, however, Sakai said their request for more flexibility sounded reasonable enough.
“Look at the windfall that the county and the city got from the Spurs, and the goodwill, and the international exposure,” he said in an interview. “I mean, look at all the people that came here.”
The San Antonio Spurs did not respond to a request for comment.
Sakai’s approach is a stark contrast to Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones, who has been using the playoff run to try to negotiate more money from the team and its billionaire investors in exchange for the city’s portion of the new arena deal.
“I think we have to cheer hard for the team, and be cognizant of [the fact that] they will very likely be champions — I’m knocking on wood — and the day afterwards, we will still have a $131 million budget gap going into [fiscal year] 2028,” Jones said in an interview just before the Spurs’ crushing defeat in Game 4 against the Knicks.
County revenue is also down this year and tough spending decisions are around the corner.
As Sakai’s budget town hall at the Harlandale Civic Center on Wednesday night, he drew several questions about the wisdom of the county’s business relationship with the Spurs, including putting $311 million of its venue tax dollars into the team’s new arena.
Since moving into the Frost Bank Center, the county never received any money from the 20% profit-sharing agreement the Spurs agreed to when it was built, said Cindy Munch, a Greater Harmony Hills resident.
Past county leaders also forgave a $5 million debt the San Antonio Spurs LLC owed the county when it failed to bring a Major League Soccer team to San Antonio several years ago.
“They already got to drive a profit off the rent advantages at the Frost Bank Center,” Munch said. “It’s a very, very good time for the Spurs. They have much wealth here.”
But Sakai said he had no choice other than to put up the money for the new arena, or else the team would have departed for another city.
“We’ve had comments about, ‘Why are you giving [money to the] Spurs, or any developer or rich person?'” said Sakai, whose term as county judge ends Dec. 31. “It is a partnership, and I have valued the public-private partnership with the Spurs, and I will continue to do so for the last day of this year.”
Ken Rodriguez contributed to this report.
