SAN ANTONIO – A firm hired by the City of San Antonio to study the economic impact of Project Marvel has extensive business ties to a minority owner of the San Antonio Spurs, according to an analysis of background checks by KSAT Investigates.
The city commissioned CSL International for the analysis, which estimated that core projects within the larger Project Marvel could bring in $500 million in new spending, tax revenue and jobs in any given year.
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The analysis states a new downtown Spurs arena alone could bring in hundreds of millions of dollars, but noted that number came from a separate analysis done by Stone Planning, the firm hired by the Spurs.
The city said Friday afternoon it did not ask CSL International to analyze the potential impact of the arena.
CSL International was purchased by Legends Hospitality Management in 2011, according to the Sports Business Journal.
A decade later, Legends Hospitality Management announced it was receiving a majority investment from firm Sixth Street Partners. A background check lists Sixth Street Partners as the parent company of Legends.
In 2021, the Spurs announced that Sixth Street Partners, along with Michael Dell, the Chief Executive Officer of Dell Technologies, became strategic partners of the team.
During an Aug. 6 city council meeting, Ben Gorzell, the city’s Chief of Financial and Administrative Services, confirmed the city was aware of the relationship between CSL International and Sixth Street Partners.
“There is kind of an ethical wall between the work that CSL does and the ownership group, so their work is not, can’t be shared with that Sixth Street group,” Gorzell explained. “We felt from everything we did, and based on our due diligence, they were quite capable of providing an independent analysis and report, and that’s why we moved forward with them.”
Earlier this week, Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones called CSL’s analysis incomplete. During a KSAT Q&A, the mayor said the firm only reviewed summary findings from Stone Planning.
Spurs Sports & Entertainment confirmed it did not recommend CSL International to the city or have any involvement in the CSL analysis that the mayor has referred to.
Jones has called for an “independent” economic analysis to determine the costs and benefits of a proposed new Spurs arena and wider sports and entertainment district.
Read more reporting on the KSAT Investigates page.
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