The city of San Antonio has hired an Ohio-based consulting firm to seek marketing and sponsorship deals for the Alamodome.
San Antonio Express-News
Molly Smith, Staff writer
The city is banking on potential naming rights and sponsorship deals to generate hundreds of thousands — if not millions — of dollars for the aging city-run Alamodome.
The city will hire the Superlative Group, an Ohio-based consulting firm, to help Alamodome staff develop and manage a commercial sponsorship and marketing program over the next three years.
The potential options for the Alamodome are “wide open,” said Steve Zito, assistant director of San Antonio’s convention and sports facilities.
“I think everything is on the table,” Zito said. “It’s based on the partners and the deals that are presented.”
Zito said a naming rights deal for the entire facility is a possibility, akin to Frost Bank Center. The county-run arena was recently renamed after San Antonio-based Frost Bank bought the naming rights to the facility, which was previously known as the AT&T Center.
A similar naming rights deal for the Alamodome would require the approval of City Manager Erik Walsh.
Walsh declined to comment about his position on such a deal.
“The city manager and staff will examine all sponsorship opportunities for the Alamodome,” the Convention and Sports Facilities Department said in a written statement. “He will brief City Council on any type of prospective sponsorship opportunities, such as potential naming rights.”
The Alamodome is coming off its busiest year yet, with more than 1.3 million visitors estimated to pass through the facility’s doors by fiscal year’s end on Sept. 30.
That traffic helped the facility break even — and even net a nearly $600,000 profit — something that hasn’t happened for “many, many years,” Patricia Murquiz Cantor, director of convention and sports facilities, told the City Council in August.
Fiscal year 2024 is expected to once again revert to a loss, as the city projects $17.2 million in revenue, which would be $3.1 million less than expected operating expenses. That’s due to “less profitable events that are planned,” Murquiz Cantor said.
The city will pay the Superlative Group 22.5% of gross sponsorship revenue, per the contract.
San Antonio previously worked with Premier Partnerships from 2017 through 2019. The city has earned $4.8 million from sponsorship deals that Premier landed, and has paid the firm $1.2 million in commission.
One of those deals was with H-E-B, which signed a 10-year sponsorship with the city and the Alamodome in July 2017. The San Antonio-based grocery chain’s name adorns the facility’s north plaza and north entrance. The amount of that deal was not disclosed.
The City Council approved a contract with Superlative Group on Sept. 21, the first of many actions the council will take this fall as the city determines the future of the facility.
City officials say the 30-year-old Alamodome is in dire need of a “substantial” renovation if San Antonio wants to compete with other venues for concerts and sporting events.
Such a renovation could be financed, in part, through a new “project finance zone,” which allows the city to snag the state’s share of hotel taxes collected within three miles of the Convention Center. The City Council is expected to vote this year on establishing the zone.
Opened in 1993, the Alamodome was built at a cost of $186 million, according to the city. The 64,000-seat domed stadium hosts a variety of events each year, including the Valero Alamo Bowl, and is the home stadium for the University of Texas at San Antonio football team. The stadium was the home of the NBA’s San Antonio Spurs from 1993 to 2002..