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Sunday, June 27, 1999

San Antonio hoping NBA title will spur economy
Championship quest started by McCombs may put Alamo's home on map
By Kelley Shannon
Associated Press

SAN ANTONIO - Red McCombs admits he was a little naive when he and a few fellow businessmen brought the Dallas Chaparrals to town to become the San Antonio Spurs in 1973.
   "I felt like we would probably win a national championship within three or four years," McCombs said.
   Twenty-six years later, McCombs and the city finally get to celebrate.
   The Spurs defeated the New York Knicks 78-77 on Friday to win the NBA championship, a feat long coveted by a former American Basketball Association franchise that always seemed to lag behind other teams in profits, publicity and prestige.
   "To put San Antonio on the map like this, just awesome," Spurs center David Robinson said.
   Jubilant fans jammed downtown streets Friday night, high-fiving strangers, honking car horns and waving Spurs banners to cheer the first NBA title by an old ABA team.
   "It's been 26 long years. This is the best thing to happen to San Antonio and the best thing to happen to the San Antonio Spurs," Spurs chairman Peter Holt said in New York.
   Anticipating the victory, local leaders planned the official championship party even before Friday's game. A river parade and Alamodome pep rally are set for today.
   The celebration is a long way from the days of the old ABA.
   McCombs and Angelo Drossos led an investor group that agreed to bring the Dallas Chaparrals to South Texas. The group would lease the team for $1 and assume $400,000 in debt while taking a year to decide whether to buy and keep the franchise.
   At their first game in October 1973, the Spurs drew 5,879 spectators to HemisFair Arena to watch San Antonio lose to the San Diego Conquistadores.
   By acquiring Swen Nater and then George "Iceman" Gervin, the Spurs grabbed fans' attention the first season. But crowds were rarely large.
   The ABA ultimately folded. San Antonio leaders lobbied to make sure the Spurs were one of the four ABA teams selected to merge into the NBA in 1976.
   Then-Mayor Lila Cockrell remembers calling NBA owners to ask for a few minutes to talk up the Spurs. She also persuaded the City Council to hire local lawyer Pat Maloney to attend NBA proceedings.
   As part of its entrance into the NBA, the city raised the roof of HemisFair Arena to accommodate 6,600 additional seats. By its final years of use in the early 1990s, the arena's capacity was about 16,000.
   Winning an NBA title has enormous implications for the Spurs and for San Antonio, sports and civic leaders say.
   Economically, the championship run has been a boon for the team and the city through ticket sales, extra revenues for the city-owned Alamodome and hotel rentals and other expenditures by visitors.
   The NBA Finals have given the city national media attention that may boost its tourism industry and could prompt major corporations to look more closely at San Antonio as a place to do business, Mayor Howard Peak said.
   "Some people don't know anything about San Antonio," the mayor said. "What they are learning now is San Antonio is a big city and it has a lot to offer."
   That's what McCombs had in mind when he brought the Spurs to town.
   McCombs, a car dealer who also made a fortune owning radio stations, bought the Spurs from fellow investors in 1988 and then sold it in 1993. Now the owner of the Minnesota Vikings, McCombs remains a Spurs front-row fan.
   "I think the drama here is so real, it is so American," McCombs said. "It'll bring the city great recognition."
   It also could be the Spurs' ticket out of the Alamodome.
   The Spurs moved into the cavernous building in 1993 and almost immediately the team said it needed public help to construct a smaller venue built for basketball and equipped with moneymaking luxury suites.
   It's been a hard sell in working-class San Antonio.
   Holt, the Spurs chairman, acknowledges other cities are interested in relocating the franchise. But Holt insists he and other local investors want to keep the team in town.
   Peak said he will help put together an arena construction package. It would almost certainly involve some public money and must be put before the voters, he said.
   Peak wants to emphasize private funding over public. And, he added, citizens will need to be assured it's a sound financial deal.
   But the championship could be the "icing on the cake" that persuades voters to get the arena built, Peak said.

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