'An excellent decision' — Spurs are praised for pausing plan to open AT&T Center to fans
Sports // Spurs
Tom Orsborn, Staff writer
Head coach Gregg Popovich of the San Antonio Spurs instructs his team during an NBA game against the New Orleans Pelicans at Smoothie King Center on Dec. 27 in New Orleans.
Sean Gardner /Getty Images
Anticipation had been building for weeks, ever since the Spurs announced that fans would be allowed back into the AT&T Center on New Year's Night — this Friday — to watch their team.
The opponent: the defending NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers.
Attendance would be "limited" in light of the coronavirus pandemic. But a live audience inside the arena promised to be a powerful symbol of a long-hoped-for return to normal.
The Spurs announced Monday that they had scrapped the plan for now.
"Welcoming fans back to the AT&T Center remains a major organizational priority for all of us," said R.C. Buford, CEO of Spurs Sports and Entertainment. "While we are confident in the plans and protocols we have in place, we are uncomfortable hosting fans at this moment as the COVID-19 numbers and data in our community continue to trend in the wrong direction."
Spurs season ticket holders and health experts applauded the decision.
"I understand how challenging it can be financially for an organization like that with some of the hits they have to take — but bringing a lot of people into the AT&T Center is not a great idea right now, given our current situation," said Cherise Rohr-Allegrini, an epidemiologist who is CEO of the San Antonio AIDS Foundation and previously worked for the Metropolitan Heath District.
"Their decision was the right one for all of us," she said. "They are setting a good example."
The announcement came two days after Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff told the San Antonio Express-News he had "encouraged" Spurs officials to "hold off for a while" on letting fans return to the county-owned arena.
Coronavirus infections in Bexar County have been rising steadily for the last six weeks, putting intense pressure on the region's hospitals. The number of patients hospitalized for treatment of COVID-19 has more than doubled since mid-November and reached 1,079 Monday. The number in intensive care also has doubled, to nearly 300.
Bexar County's death toll from the virus stands at 1,510.
Dave Benavidez, a Spurs season ticket holder, praised the organization for putting public safety first — in contrast, he said, to some other professional sports teams that "don't seem to care" and have put "dollars, the revenue, over what seems to be the right thing to do."
"I saw they had, like, 30,000 (fans) yesterday, and I thought, 'This doesn't seem smart at all,'" said Benavidez, an Austin resident, referring to the crowd that watched the Dallas Cowboys defeat the Philadelphia Eagles in Arlington on Sunday.
"I totally understand why (the Spurs) want fans in the stands, not just for the home-court advantage, but they need the revenue," said Benavidez, a 45-year-old state employee. "But with everything happening, with the way cases are increasing and everything is trending, it just doesn't seem like the right time to do that."
The Spurs and the rest of the NBA went on a four-month hiatus last March after a player for the Utah Jazz tested positive for the highly contagious coronavirus. The league eventually resumed play in empty arenas in a complex at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla., known as "the bubble" because of the rigid testing procedures and restrictions on players' movements.
On Dec. 4, with the start of the 2020-21 season just weeks away, the Spurs announced their plan to open the AT&T Center to fans on a limited basis starting this Friday, depending on the "status of public health data and guidelines."
After gathering input from "local, regional and national officials and public health experts," team officials abandoned the plan, the Spurs said Monday.
"It's an excellent decision," Wolff said. "We want to protect fans, but we also want to protect the Spurs."
Wolff said the Spurs' decision was voluntary. Under Gov. Greg Abbott's "Phase 3" reopening orders, attendance at professional sports arenas is limited to 50 percent of capacity. In accordance with NBA social distancing requirements, the Spurs had planned on limiting AT&T Center crowds even further — to less than 20 percent of the building's 18,581-seat capacity.
"They are doing this because they want to," Wolff said of the Spurs. "I don't think there is anything that could stop them if they wanted to have fans."
To illustrate the point, Wolff noted that the Alamo Bowl between the Texas Longhorns and the Colorado Buffaloes will be held tonight at the Alamodome, which is owned and operated by the city of San Antonio.
The facility's safety plan allows for attendance up to 17 percent of capacity, or about 11,000 fans, in the 65,000-seat dome.
"If we didn't feel that it couldn't be done as safely as possible, it wouldn't be held," said Jeff Coyle, the city's director of government and public affairs. He noted that six University of Texas at San Antonio football games and 14 other events had been held in the Alamodome during the pandemic, and none had been linked to an outbreak.
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"They have all the protocols down and are ready to put on a safe event," Coyle said.
Officials noted that the AT&T Center is considerably smaller than the Alamodome, which could make it harder to maintain social distancing. The NBA's pandemic guidelines call for 6 feet of space between groups of seated fans.
The Spurs said Monday that the organization had made "numerous updates to enhance health and safety protocols at the AT&T Center" over the last five months. The team said its officials will remain in "daily contact" with public health experts to "ensure a safe environment" once fans receive the green light to return.
"It's impossible to explain how much we miss seeing and hearing our fans," Buford said. "We will continue to work tirelessly to do everything in our control to allow us to open our doors to our fans in a safe and timely manner."
Season ticket holder Michael Miller said he was "disappointed" he can't see games in person, but he applauded team officials for "being responsible."
"To their credit, this can't be good for their bottom line," said Miller, a 59-year-old attorney. "But I get it. They don't want a big ol' mass spreading of COVID. I would rather see them err on the side of caution than be really stupid about it."
Miller said the Spurs also have done a good job keeping season ticket holders informed of developments.
"They are being flexible," he said. "They have told me, 'When we do open it up, if you choose not to come back this year, we are going to give you a full credit. The money you have spent is in our bank account, it's not going anywhere.'"
The positive reaction came in the same month the Spurs were criticized for billing county elections officials more than $250,000 for using the AT&T Center as a voting site during the November general election.
An Express-News review of nine other NBA teams showed none had tried to charge local election officials anywhere near the amount sought by the Spurs. Some didn't charge anything.
Tom Orsborn
After three years as a part-time employee covering mainly high school sports, Tom Orsborn became a full-time employee at the Express-News in October 1985. He's covered the Dallas Cowboys and the NFL since 1999 and has also covered the Spurs, the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, and a variety of other events, including 14 Super Bowls.
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