Policy Brief

The long of it: The San Antonio Spurs NBA Championship has made a difference in shaping opinions and perceptions regarding the value of the Spurs to the community.

The short of it: The San Antonio Spurs NBA Championship has not eroded strong opposition to the use of public taxes/funds to build an arena for the Spurs.

Issue

Shortly after the Hemisphere Arena was demolished to make way for the expansion of the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center and after the Alamodome was completed, public debate and discussions ensued concerning the need to build a medium-sized, sports arena commenced. The new arena would be a tailor-made facility and economic venue for keeping and maintaining the San Antonio Spurs in the City of San Antonio. Many, including members of the Spurs organization, maintain that to keep profitable and remain competitive in matching the salaries of professional basketball players, a new public arena is necessary. Others argue that a new public arena could also be used for smaller and more intimate concert performances or the annual Live Stock and Rodeo Show. Still others argue that a sports arena should be built but privately financed. Increasing dedicated taxes, like the ½ cent VIA transit tax that was used to build the Alamodome, or using creative financing mechanisms like tax increment financing (TIFs) have also been discussed.

Data and Methods

Since its inception, the University of Texas at San Antonio's Metropolitan Research and Policy Institute has conducted a series of probability surveys of San Antonio voters and residents over a variety of issues and concerns. In two surveys 1997 and 1999 perceptions about the importance of keeping the Spurs as a professional sports team in San Antonio were asked. Over three years 1997, 1998 and 1999, questions were included related to the use of public funds/taxes to build an arena for the Spurs. The Fall 1997 survey was based on a random sample of adults in San Antonio with phones (793 interviews; +/- 4% error). In the Fall of 1998, a split sample design was used with half the respondents a random group of registered voters and the remaining half were randomly selected from adults with phones (811 interviews; +/- 4% error; each subsample a +/- 5% error). The third survey was conducted in July 1999, with a random sample of consistent voters in San Antonio (927 interviews, +/-3% error). Consistent voters are voters who have participated in 4 of 7 past elections in Bexar County. These samples allow for estimates of public opinion citywide and comparisons between registered voters and the general public. The data are particularly valuable because they allow meaningful comparisons across time with regard to the importance placed on keeping the Spurs in San Antonio and support for building an arena with public taxes/funds. All three surveys included respondents' demographic information to allow important comparisons across a variety of groups (e.g., males/females; liberals /conservatives; various income and educational levels).

Findings/Discussion

With respect to the importance placed on keeping the Spurs in San Antonio, winning a NBA Championship seems to make an important difference (see Figure 1). In 1997, slightly over half the respondents indicated that keeping the Spurs in San Antonio was either "Very Important" or "Somewhat Important" compared to about forty-nine percent who responded "Not Very" or "Not Important At All." Two years and one Championship later, among consistent voters nearly two-thirds responded that keeping the Spurs in San Antonio was either "Very Important" or "Somewhat Important" compared to almost thirty five percent who responded "Not Very" or "Not Important At All." These findings hold across all demographic categories. Clearly San Antonians value the Spurs and want to keep them in San Antonio.

While there were no statistical differencesamong a variety of demographic groups (male v. female; Anglo v. non-Anglo; less educated v. more educated; liberals v conservatives, for example) in perceptions about the value of keeping the Spurs in San Antonio in 1997, a statistically significant difference was found among men and women in 1999 (see Table 1). In the 1999 survey thirty-nine percent of the female respondents said keeping the Spurs in San Antonio is "Very Important." This compared to about twenty-six percent for male respondents. From 1997 to 1999 Surveys, female support for the importance of keeping the Spurs in San Antonio increased by nearly eighteen percentage points; while for males from 1997 to 1999 the difference was an increase of almost nine percent.

Among all groups similar increases on the importance placed on keeping the Spurs in San Antonio occurred between the 1997 and 1999, seemingly demonstrating the impact of a winning a Championship ship.

As to the question of using public taxes (or public funds as asked in the 1998 survey) to build an arena for the Spurs, overall San Antonians remain consistent in their strong opposition to using public monies for building a sports arena for the Spurs. In 1997, as Figure 2 illustrates, slightly over one in five San Antonians strongly or somewhat supported the use of public monies. In 1999, nearly four in ten consistent voters now support the idea at similar levels. Conversely, opposition to the idea of using public taxes or funds has decreased from an overwhelming seventy-eight percent in 1997 to a little over sixty-one percent in 1999, for an overall decline of about fourteen percent. In 1998, when the phrase public funds, was substituted for public taxes to assess whether the strong opposition was due to the use of the word tax (see Figure 3), the level of opposition was similar to that in 1997.

The 1998 survey was a split sample design; half from a random sample of registered voters half from a random sample of adults in San Antonio with phones with a margin of error of +/- 5% for each subsample. Figure 4 compares responses for the random sample of voters to the random sample of adults with phones. Only about five percent of the registered voters supported the proposition a "great deal" but over six in ten registered voters expressed no support at all.

Again, no substantive differences among different demographic groups were found in the opposition to using public taxes/funds for building a new arena, and all groups showed decreases in the overall opposition after the Spurs won the national Championship. One large decrease in opposition was found among the more educated voters. In 1997, over eighty percent of respondents with some college opposed the idea of using taxes for an arena. By July 1999, that opposition declined to fifty-six percent, for a decrease of over two percent (see Table 2). Other changes occurred among education levels but were less dramatic. The decline for less than high school educated voters from 1997 to 1999 was only six percent. It may be that because those with lower education levels were less opposed in 1997, there was more room for change among those with higher education levels. The fact that those with lower education levels of education are less opposed to the use of public taxes is interesting because of the strong link between education and economic circumstances. It seems clear that a new arena with fewer seats would increase the cost of attendance. Thus individuals in this group may receive no real benefit for themselves and their families from a new tax-funded arena.

Winning a NBA Championship before a national audience appears to have changed San Antonians' attitudes and perceptions of the importance and value of keeping the Spurs in San Antonio. San Antonians value their Spurs more now than in most recent years. San Antonians want to keep the Spurs. On the other hand, San Antonians strongly oppose the use of public taxes/funds for building a new arena for the Spurs. This remains clear in spite of the fact that opposition to using public monies to build a new arena has declined (from 79.8% in 1998 and 77.6% in 1997 to 61.5% in 1999). Strong opposition remains, particularly among those most likely to vote.

Despite these findings both County and City elected officials appear determined to bring a proposition which includes a plan for public funding for a new arena to the voters in November 1999. In order to pass, such a proposition will have to target a large share of current voters. In addition the effort will have to mobilize younger, minority and higher educated citizens to register to vote and to support the idea of building a new arena with public taxes/funds. The efficacy of such a campaign remains to be seen.

Recommendations

San Antonians agree in their support for the Spurs and in the importance they place on keeping the Spurs in San Antonio. That support has not recently nor currently translated into a willingness to pay for a new arena. Clearly the argument that the Spurs could never win a national Championship in the Alamodome has been laid to rest. Perhaps city leaders, team administrators and players should take into account the attitudes of their "sixth person" (i.e. the fans) as the debate about building a new arena continues. If winning a Championship is the goal, a new arena is not necessary. In order to maintain the strong support for the Spurs from the general and voting public, it is critical to pay attention to their opinions.