SAN ANTONIO – In a full court press, the campaign for a new downtown NBA arena has raised more than $7 million to try and sway voters in the Nov. 4 election.
Campaign finance documents filed with Bexar County on Monday show the Win Together political action committee received another $5 million of contributions between Sep. 26 and Oct. 25, on top of the $2 million it reported in a previous filing.
The head of University of Texas at San Antonio’s Political Science and Geography Department described the amount of the money involved in the campaign as “eye-opening” and “astronomical.”
“I cannot think of — at least in the time I’ve been here and in previous years in San Antonio — to see so much money spent on a proposition,” Professor Jon Taylor told KSAT.
Most of the PAC’s contributions have come from the Spurs themselves, who have written $5.3 million worth of checks and contributed nearly $1.3 million worth of “in-kind” donations to the PAC for services like advertising, consulting, office overhead and even salaries or wages.
Other big contributors have included USAA, Valero, H-E-B, Zachry Corporation, Oxbow Development Group, and Silver Ventures.
The team reported spending another $356,000 outside of the PAC, according to separate filings through the state.
The number of contributions far surpassed the $219,000 an opposition campaign has reported collecting in its past two filings.
The Win Together PAC was formed in support of Bexar County Ballot Propositions A and B, which ask voters to tap into the county’s venue tax on hotel stays and car rentals while also raising the hotel portion of the tax.
Prop A would pay for a $240 million plan to renovate and expand the county-owned facilities around the Spurs’ current home, the Frost Bank Center, to pave the way for year-round, rodeo-style events in anticipation of the Spurs making a downtown move.
Meanwhile, Prop B would put up to $311 million of the tax dollars toward helping build a new $1.3 billion arena for the Spurs at Hemisfair. Though the vote is only on the county portion, the rest of the funding plan relies on it passing.
However, the only publicly released polling data on Prop B, a UTSA Center for Public Opinion Research poll conducted Oct. 1-3, showed more opposition than support for the arena.
Taylor thinks both the number of overall contributions and the increased pace point to the team being concerned about the possible outcome of the election.
“But also it’s a case of, maybe it was a wake-up call — our poll — in which, ‘Uh-oh, we’re behind. We need to really get it in gear and spend a lot of money to get the information out there, get our side of the story, and get people to basically buy into our side the story for support.’ That may be a lot it right there,” he said.
The Defending Public Money for the Public Good PAC is linked to one of the main opponents to Prop B, COPS/Metro, an activist coalition of local community groups. Though it hasn’t been able to match the money pouring into the pro-arena side, its treasurer, COPS/Metro leader Mike Phillips, says they’ve been putting in work.
“I think we’ve done so much shoe leather, block walking and phone banking, talking to people all over town. I think that’s much more effective than spending money on ads,” he said.
In response to KSAT’s questions about the amount of money flowing into the Win Together PAC, a spokeswoman sent KSAT an emailed statement.
“We’re investing heavily because we believe in San Antonio. We’ve knocked on nearly 150,000 doors, participated in over 100 community and local-business meetings and spent real time answering questions one-on-one. We’re investing more to communicate the right way because voters want facts.
Visitor taxes fund the public share. The team funds the rest. The public share is capped and the Spurs take the construction risk. Those details take more than a slogan to explain, so we’re doing the work. We’re meeting people where they are so they can decide with confidence. That requires more organizers, more training and more time. People deserve to be informed, and our spending reflects our commitment to voter education and San Antonio.”
Liberty Swift, Win Together PAC
Early voting lasts through Friday, Oct. 31. Election day is Tuesday, Nov. 4.
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