Extra Point: What Would a New Arena Look Like for San Antonio?

With reports surfacing this morning of a planned revitalization of downtown San Antonio, how much would the Spurs benefit from a new home, and what might it look like?

Nov 16, 2024; Dallas, Texas, USA; San Antonio Spurs guard Chris Paul (3) passes around Dallas Mavericks center Dereck Lively II (2) during the first half at American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images / Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images

Earlier today reports surfaced from News 4 San Antonio that the city plans to spend $4 Billion in the coming years to renovate the core downtown entertainment districts of the city.

Dubbed "Project Marvel," part of the allegedly planned spending would go directly towards building a potential new home for the Spurs and other teams that call the city home. With the NBA franchise being the town's marquee sports team, the club could stand to benefit greatly from these proposed plans. That begs the question, though; what would that look like?

The Spurs' current arena seats around 18,500 people for basketball games and around 19,000 for concerts and other events. That number coupled with the arena's age (opened in 2002) places the Spurs' digs squarely in the middle of most NBA franchise arenas.

In the college game, new arenas regularly hold fewer and fewer fans in response to the digital age that the sport has entered. Similarly, new arenas across the NBA hold less than some of their counterparts. By the time that San Antonio's lease would run out in the Frost Bank Center (2032), many experts believe that streaming audiences will continue to grow. What would the estimated capacity of such a venue be at that point? 15,000 or less?

There's no way to know for sure yet, but with the season rolling forward and still nearly a decade left at Frost Bank, it's not something the Por Vida faithful need to worry about just yet.

Plenty of question marks still surround the aforementioned plan, which is said to be announced in full on November 21. Spurs fans will have to wait until then to hear further details on the developing story.