'Winning in Austin': How Spurs have refined growth strategy beyond the comforts of home
After an ideal response to the inaugural 'I-35 Series,' San Antonio has expanded its efforts to grow the franchise's footprint across the region.
Less than a year removed from the first installment of the “I-35 Series,” the uncomfortable background noise that once surrounded the San Antonio Spurs playing multiple “home” games in Austin has been reduced from a fever pitch to nothing more than a murmur.
A Bexar County Commissioners Court that, in May of 2022, was once torn over the idea of granting its crown jewel permission to play games in the capital city voted unanimously last April to allow the Spurs two more Austin getaways in each of the next two seasons, and San Antonians who were once concerned their beloved franchise might be testing the waters for relocation have had much of their doubt quelled.
It certainly helped matters when the organization completed construction on its new state-of-the-art practice facility at The Rock at La Cantera, and the drafting of Victor Wembanyama helped fortify its root system in San Antonio even further. But it took these more public-facing, tangible bits of proof in the pudding the franchise wasn’t leaving town for fans to breathe a sigh of relief, even considering the steady stream of assurances from Spurs brass it was never even a consideration.
“I can remember when we first started talking on our social channels about playing games in Austin, there was a lot of chatter about the team moving and us turning our back on the city of San Antonio. And that, anecdotally at least, has died down a significant amount,” said Spurs Senior Vice President of Strategic Growth and Deputy General Counsel Brandon James. “Our group has done a fantastic job of making sure that the story we're telling is one that paints a picture that we're looking to position ourselves for the next 50 years as the NBA team for this entire region. This entire market is not only important to us, but vital to the success of this organization.”
And the potential benefits reaped from an Austin-focused initiative like this are obvious from a business perspective. With open spaces along the I-35 corridor shrinking by the month, and the inevitable formation of a central-Texas metroplex in the future, it just makes sense to plant these seeds for the future in a city with a burgeoning corporate community. The more companies willing to assist in identifying the Spurs as Austin’s team — like Self Financial, whose logo is emblazoned on San Antonio’s jerseys — the better.
But one of the primary concerns shared by Bexar County commissioners when the Spurs first proposed the idea of out-of-market matchups was how the loss of two home games would affect business in their own city, another doubt that has since been subdued.
According to reports, Spurs Sports and Entertainment Chief Legal Officer Bobby Perez told the court last April internal surveys revealed 90 percent of fans in the region want to watch the Spurs at the Frost Bank Center, and still another 77 percent want to make an entire evening out of it with a stay in a San Antonio hotel. While they understood the initial public worry, this was the kind of response the organization was aiming for when it laid out its plans to improve business for both itself and the area.
“Digital engagement — we have a lot more people living in Austin subscribing to our fan club, engaging with our social media posts. From a consumer perspective and ticket-buying perspective, we have a significant increase in people not just coming to the games in Austin, but making the trek down I-35 to come to our games,” James said. “Obviously impact leads everything that we do, so the more people we're able to touch in the community, the better.”
But “winning in Austin,” as James put it, goes beyond just securing corporate dollars and drumming up business on the River Walk. It’s about tapping into the fanbase itself — the lifeblood of any professional sports franchise. The organization already has a built-in relationship with its fiercely loyal following in San Antonio that will always be fostered, but meeting its neighbors to the north where they are presents a different challenge.
Austin has become one of the most transient large cities in the country, with a booming population of young professionals from all over the globe. Attempting to convince more native Texans to join your side is one thing, but trying to appeal to a fresh set of potential customers who may not have a single tie to your region is another battle entirely — especially when teams’ abilities to target out-of-town audiences was restricted by the league until fairly recently.
In 2016, the NBA expanded marketing radiuses (or radii if you wanna go the Latin route) for its franchises, which gave the Spurs territorial exclusivity in Austin. Becky Kimbro, senior vice president of brand engagement for Spurs Sports and Entertainment, said growth in Austin has been a major part of her focus ever since joining the organization five-and-a-half years ago, and that they knew thinking about the region more holistically was critical if they wanted to remain competitive in today’s league.
“Fifty-one years of (Spurs) history don't necessarily translate into a market that is full of so many transplants. A lot of these folks are bringing in allegiances to other teams, fandom from other cities, interests from other places, and we have to really introduce the Spurs brand to these folks and explain to them what makes us unique and why they should become a fan,” she said. “And a lot of that, too, I think starts with engaging youth in the market. We want to make sure that we're serving the entire community, but we're thinking about ways that we can engage younger folks and sort of get them while they're young, if you will.”
According to data collected by the Spurs, 59 percent of people who attended last year’s “I-35” games have children, and many of the more than 15 fan-engagement opportunities and nine community-impact events over the last week have been family-oriented. It’s also important to note, Kimbro said, that while the Spurs’ brand doesn’t change, the presentation — from outreach initiatives to in-game production — comes with a few tweaks that make the entire package “authentically Austin.” They want everyone, from the kids running around the arena to the adults keeping tabs on them, to feel at home.
“The vast, vast, vast majority of attendees at those games were Austin residents. So it wasn't just people coming up from San Antonio, they're actually people who live in Austin that are attending these games,” she said. “We want the experience to feel authentic to the fans in Austin and authentic to our brand.”
But given the diversity of Texas’ capital city, the approach must also be viewed through a wider lens. Roping in a longtime resident is likely going to be a bit easier than converting someone who’s moved from Boston, Los Angeles, Tokyo or London. Kimbro and her team know this, which is why their focus is on more than just the basketball side of the equation.
“I think it starts with understanding the motivation and the drivers of fandom and what fans want out of their experience of being a fan. So we're in the process of doing a lot of research now about casual fans in the market so that we can more deeply understand those things,” Kimbro said. “And then I think it's also about showing up and being present in the market and giving people a reason and a place to gather fandom at its core.
“I think the real benefit of it is that it creates a community, and those communities are really important just in general for society,” she continued. “So that's really the North Star that we're following as we create these events.”
As the fanbase up north grows, the next logical question is, ‘How do we get more people to brave the I-35 corridor to attend games in San Antonio?’ At the moment, Kimbro said, the majority of Austinites have chosen to make the drive for weekend dates, which makes sense. When your only options are sitting in your car for a three-hour round trip or chartering a helicopter, the idea of weekday travel in all that traffic is about as unappealing as it gets.
Somewhat facetiously, I asked James what kind of power the organization wields in pushing for a rail system that would connect the two cities, even as the state of Texas continues to fund the never-ending pouring of concrete and expansion of our highway jungle. As it turned out, it’s a real question they’ve been asking themselves.
“We're working with the county judge both in San Antonio (Peter Sakai) and Andy Brown, the county judge in Austin, to try to make sure that our voice is heard because we see the benefit economically, and one of the biggest qualms of our fans in Austin is the drive,” James said. “So the more friction we can take away from our fans experiencing our product, knowing that we have two games now in Austin and the rest are in San Antonio, the more we're on board. We want to have a voice in those high-speed rail conversations, because it just benefits us in a huge way. And I think it benefits the community too.”
Please continue to throw your weight around, Spurs. On behalf of us all.
For now, the “I-35 Series” remains a year-to-year plan. Even as the positive responses continue to roll in, and they’ve seen the fruits of their labor, James said the Spurs want to make sure everyone involved — from fans, to partners, to ownership, to the commissioners court — remains in favor of the efforts.
“There's a lot of different stakeholders that we have to make sure are on board with our plan. That's the Moody Center, that's the Oakview Group, that's the University of Texas, that's Bexar County and our constituents in San Antonio, and that's the NBA, who’s obviously involved as well,” he said. “We're ambitious in terms of how fast we think we can grow, but we have to make sure that everyone that's a part of our ecosystem is on board with our level of ambition.
“And again, we have to work that out with our community, and make sure that we don't move too fast,” James added. “We don't want the community in San Antonio thinking, ‘Oh, the Spurs are just up and leaving, or they're turning their back on us.’”
And this is just one iron the Spurs have in the fire. In addition to the Austin outreach, they want to further build their base in south Texas and into Mexico. San Antonio played a game in Mexico City last season, and would love to return soon — so long as everyone is on board, James reiterated. But in the absence of an international game for the big club during the 2023-24 basketball year, the Austin Spurs of the G-League have played “home” games in Laredo and Corpus Christi this season. These growth efforts have extended beyond just the NBA side of things.
“What we're really focused on is the whole region from Mexico to Austin, and seeing San Antonio as the center connecting point for that entire geographic region. We're looking at a lot of other activities in other markets,” Kimbro said. “So actually being present in these markets with our players, I think means a tremendous deal. It's a commitment that we're making to these markets that we're actually showing up, and you'll start to see us do those types of events in the future.”
Two words that kept popping up in my conversations with James and Kimbro were “presence” and “intentionality.” They’re not half-assing the efforts, or throwing things against the wall to see what sticks. They want to be ingrained in each community, with specific growth strategies for every market they enter. And as the initial panic over the team venturing beyond the comforts of home subsides, fans and leaders alike can see the tangible results from what has thus far been a successful campaign.
It’s difficult for anyone to say what the future holds for these out-of-market getaways, especially with the potential reality of a new San Antonio arena being built in the coming years. But in the mean time, the Spurs will continue to grow their footprint across the region; and as a result, strengthen their foundation right here at home — a concept and goal most are now able to visualize.
Excellent! Why no games where played in Mexico this year?