SAN ANTONIO - Just after midnight this Wednesday morning, Ed Garza, the newly minted president of San Antonio Independent School District's Board of Trustees, drove a dagger through the heart of a plan to allow Spurs Sports and Entertainment to lease Alamo Stadium for pro soccer.
But while the deal may be dead, some opponents still suspect there must have been some kind of back-room dealing going on between the San Antonio Independent School District and SSE, owner of the Spurs organization. Emails recently released by SAISD give an inside look into how this deal happened.
In August 2009, SAISD's then-Chief Financial Officer Steven Bassett writes to the secretary of Spurs Vice President Leo Gomez, saying, "It's my understanding that the Spurs and one or two of my SAISD board members have spoken about a potential deal at Alamo Stadium."
In addition, the emails reveal Gomez kept close tabs on the bond process beyond SSE’s donating $100,000 to the effort. In August 2010, just three months before the vote, Gomez writes to CFO Bassett asking, "How much did you all include specifically for Alamo Stadium after all?"
Behind the scenes the Spurs organization was involved in the campaign. On October 11 2010, three weeks before the November 2 vote, Leo Gomez emailed SAISD staff, board members and those on the bond committee, encouraging them to attend a pro-bond rally.
Emails show both sides got together to nail down more specifics not long after the bond passed. Last march, CFO Bassett met with Gomez after the Spurs submitted a general proposal. Bassett outlined exactly what SSE execs said they wanted, including, "That the track at Alamo Stadium must be removed."
That email last March also says, "Spurs Sports and Entertainment would like to participate in design of upgraded Alamo Stadium," which probably would’ve included the track removal and replacing benches with seats.
I spoke with Gomez, and he admitted “encouraging” the district to include Alamo Stadium in the bond proposal. But he says the way things happened was not improper in any way.
“We have nothing to hide," Gomez said. "We did meet with them and clarified what we needed."
After SAISD killed the plan, Gomez told News 4 WOAI that they still want to play soccer at Alamo Stadium, but respect the wishes of the District.
