The Alamodome is a 65,000 seat, multi-purpose facility that is primarily used as a football/basketball stadium and convention center in San Antonio, Texas, USA. The facility opened on May 15, 1993, at a cost of $186 million.
Along with placating the San Antonio Spurs ownership's demands for a larger basketball venue, the multi-purpose facility was intended to increase the city's convention traffic and attract a professional football franchise. The Spurs played basketball in the Alamodome for a decade, but became disenchanted with the facility and convinced Bexar County to construct them and the San Antonio Livestock Exposition Inc. a new arena now called the AT&T Center.
The Alamodome was constructed after voters in 1989 approved a five-year, half-cent sales tax increase that was collected by VIA Metropolitan Transit, the local transit authority. Upon completion of the facility, it was nearly debt-free and showed a net operating profit within its first two years of operation. On June 9, 1994, ownership of the Alamodome was transferred from the transit authority to the City of San Antonio.
On April 15, 2005, the San Antonio City Council voted to spend close to $6.5 million to renovate the Alamodome in an effort to lure a Major League Soccer franchise to the city. After the election of Phil Hardberger as the new mayor, those efforts were abandoned, though the approved renovations to the facility will continue as planned. The city administration and local business leaders have re-focused their efforts to bringing an NFL franchise to San Antonio.
On April 19, 2007, the San Antonio City Council unanimously approved an additional $8.3 million to fund renovations and enhancements to the facility.
Although when the Alamodome was built it was an ideal state-of-the-art NFL stadium, by today's standards the facility would have to undergo renovations and add a considerable number of luxury suites in order to make it a profitable venue for an NFL team. Preliminary estimates put the cost of improvements at $100-150 million.
