For the San Antonio Spurs, the Frost Bank Center, at least on paper, would appear to be a great home for the team. The Spurs have won four NBA titles in 22 years there, routinely selling out games with power players including Tim Duncan, Kawhi Leonard and Victor Wembanyama.
But the team told Bexar County, the arena’s owner, it won’t play at Frost Bank Center past 2032, when its lease expires on the 18,418-seat venue 4 miles east of downtown. Instead, the Spurs want a new US$1.5 billion arena in downtown San Antonio, surrounded by all the trappings of modern sports facilities: restaurants, shops, apartments, offices and entertainment venues.
For some commercial property developers, investors and architects, the Spurs’ situation is a welcome sign. That’s because sports franchises across North America can use lease expirations as leverage to get stadium landlords or local governments to cover some costs of new arenas. And those venues often have adjacent mixed-use development to provide revenue year-round instead of just during the sports season.
New, long-term leases provide security and mitigate risk for team ownership, particularly when contemplating investment in real estate,” Erin Talkington, managing director at RCLCO, said in the property consulting firm’s 2025 Sports Venue-Anchored Real Estate Development report.
For commercial developments near sports stadiums to work, owners or local authorities need additional space to place the new restaurants, retail and other buildings, said Jim Renne, managing director in the sports group at construction and engineering firm AECOM.
Lease expirations “typically trigger negotiations to secure additional contiguous land, paving the way for integrated entertainment and mixed-use districts,” Renne told CoStar News.
Leases for nearly 50 stadiums and arenas in the United States and Canada are set to expire between 2030 and 2039, representing a “significant opportunity” for new development, according to RCLCO. The firm declined to disclose the locations of the upcoming lease expirations.
CoStar News identified more than a dozen leases for professional football, baseball, basketball, hockey and soccer teams set to expire in the next 14 years. The lease for Canada’s oldest professional soccer team, the Vancouver Whitecaps, expires this year, and the team is in talks for a new stadium. Other leases could be extended past their current expiration dates, if history is any guide.
The Whitecaps are one of a number of pro teams in negotiations for a new place to play. In the NFL, the most popular U.S. pro sports league, the Chicago Bears, Cleveland Browns and Washington Commanders are trying to finalize agreements for football stadiums that are expected to include associated commercial development.
MLB’s Arizona Diamondbacks, Chicago White Sox and Kansas City Royals are angling for new baseball stadiums as well.
Not all professional sports teams are looking for new homes, especially those that play in some of the nation’s most famous venues. The Boston Red Sox are trying to develop commercial amenities in the tightly packed neighborhood around Fenway Park, but the baseball team has never suggested moving out of its historic stadium. The same is true with the Chicago Cubs and the Green Bay Packers, teams with identities closely linked to the historic stadiums where they play their home games.
Pitching economic benefits
Even so, elected officials and business leaders often stress the benefits that stadium projects can have on the wider community in an effort to gain support for new taxes to fund their development.
“Sports and entertainment districts have become a new center of gravity for many cities,” architecture firm Gensler said in a recent study. “These developments are built around a stadium as vibrant neighborhoods where communities gather, fans and families come together and culture is celebrated year-round.”
Commercial stadium developments have steadily gained popularity, particularly over the past decade. The St. Louis Cardinals and Cordish Cos. opened Ballpark Village next to Busch Stadium in 2014, and the Atlanta Braves developed The Battery in 2017 adjacent to Truist Park. More recently, the Los Angeles Rams’ owner has unveiled plans for apartments, shopping, hotels and even a movie studio at SoFi Stadium.
But team owners often need leverage to make these projects happen. Owners can use the threat of leaving town to win over local authorities, said Matt Rossetti, an architect at his namesake firm that has designed sports-anchored developments for the Green Bay Packers and the Detroit Pistons.
These days, without a new stadium or arena, some franchise owners claim they’ll move to a city that will give them one.
The Oakland A’s tried for years to wrest a stadium agreement from the city of Oakland by threatening to move to Las Vegas. After failing to secure a new stadium in Oakland, the A’s started construction this summer on its new stadium in Las Vegas.
Potential loss of a team
The NFL’s Cincinnati Bengals never mentioned a specific city during recent negotiations for upgrades to their home field, Paycor Stadium. But when the Bengals announced a new lease agreement on Aug. 2, the team implied that moving had been a possibility. In a posting on Instagram, the Bengals displayed a photo of the stadium with the words “Here to Stay.”
“No city wants to lose a pro sports team today,” Rossetti told CoStar News.
That’s what the Spurs organization is hoping. The team has pledged more than US$1 billion toward the development of the 25-acre San Antonio Sports & Entertainment District, but the proposal still needs additional approvals from Bexar County voters in a ballot referendum and from the San Antonio City Council.
Part of the pitch to voters and councilmembers is that, not only will the Spurs get a new arena, but San Antonio’s convention center and the Alamodome stadium will get major upgrades.
New retail, residential, hotels and offices are expected to also be added to the surrounding streets. When new stadium development takes place in a downtown area, like the project proposed in San Antonio, it can enhance a neighborhood that’s already walkable, said Mark McCullers, former general manager with professional soccer’s Columbus Crew who is now a real estate consultant for sports projects.
Those types of developments are becoming a staple of major sports venues, said David Demarest, vice chairman of leasing advisory and U.S. lead for real estate services firm JLL’s sports and entertainment group.
“Sports-anchored mixed-use entertainment districts are here to stay,” Demarest said. “They elevate the fan experience by creating a comprehensive entertainment destination that not only enhances fan satisfaction but unlocks diverse revenue streams with year-round activity that generates income beyond game days.”