Spurs Sports & Entertainment

Spurs Sports & Entertainment

Type	Private
Industry	Sports investment
Headquarters	San Antonio, TX, USA
Key people	Julianna Hawn Holt (Chairman and CEO) Rick Pych(President of Business Operations) R.C. Buford (President of Sports Franchises) Gregg Popovich (President of Spurs Basketball)
Subsidiaries	San Antonio Spurs San Antonio Rampage San Antonio Stars Austin Spurs San Antonio FC
Website	www.spurs.com

Spurs Sports & Entertainment L.L.C. (SS&E) is a San Antonio, Texas based sports & entertainment organization. The company owns and operates several sporting franchises including 5-time NBA champions San Antonio Spurs, WNBA's San Antonio Stars, AHL's San Antonio Rampage, NBA D-League 2012 champions Austin Spurs and the newly-founded USL club San Antonio FC. SS&E also operates the Bexar County owned multi-purpose facility, AT&T Center.
A 2013 Forbes article called the San Antonio Spurs "North America's best run professional sports franchise," ^[1] and ESPN named the Spurs as the best sports franchise in all major sports in 2014.^[2] It was the third time the Spurs received the ESPN honor, and the franchise has ranked in the Top 10 every year since the survey was introduced in 2003.^[3]
The nonprofit partner of SS&E is Silver & Black Give Back,^[4] a 501(c)(3) that sponsors two key initiatives, Team Up Challenge,^[5] a service-based learning program, and youth sports programs such as the Spurs Youth League.^[6]

Properties

San Antonio Spurs

The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio, Texas. They are part of the Southwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association (NBA). They were NBA champions in 1999, 2003, 2005, 2007, and 2014.

The Spurs are one of four former American Basketball Association teams to remain intact in the NBA after the 1976 ABA–NBA merger and the only former ABA team to have won an NBA championship. The Spurs' five NBA championships are the fourth most in history behind only the Boston Celtics (17), Los Angeles Lakers (16), and Chicago Bulls (6). The Spurs currently rank first among active franchises for the highest winning percentage in NBA history.

In their 38 NBA seasons since 1976–1977, the Spurs have won 20 division titles. They have made the playoffs in 24 of the last 25 seasons (since 1989–1990) and have missed the playoffs four times since entering the NBA; they have not missed the playoffs in the 18 seasons since Tim Duncan was drafted by the Spurs in 1997. With their 50th win in the 2014–2015 season, the Spurs extended their record for most consecutive 50+ win seasons to 16 (the 1998/1999 season was shortened to 50 games because of a lockout and based on their win percentage of .740, would have easily surpassed 50 wins in an 82-game season, and thus extend the record by 2 more seasons). Thus, since the 1997/1998 season, the Spurs have had 18 consecutive seasons with a winning percentage of .610 or greater during the regular season which is also an NBA record.

AT&T Center

The AT&T Center is a multi-purpose indoor arena on the east side of San Antonio, Texas. It seats 18,581 for basketball, 16,000 for ice hockey, and up to 19,000 for concerts or religious gatherings, and contains 2,018 club seats, 60 luxury suites and 32 bathrooms.

The arena was completed in 2002, as the SBC Center.^[7] While Bexar County owns the arena, SS&E is partnered with the county to manage the day-to-day operations of the AT&T Center.

The AT&T Center is undergoing a renovation of more than $100 million, with improvements that include expanded entrances, renovated concourses, new concessions and bar areas, a larger Fan Shop and a new HD video scoreboard. Renovations are scheduled to be completed before the 2015-16 season.^[8]

San Antonio Rampage

The San Antonio Rampage are an ice hockey team in the American Hockey League. They are the top affiliate of the Colorado Avalanche of the NHL. The Rampage has played in the AT&T Center in San Antonio, the same arena as the Spurs, since the 2002-03 season.

While the Spurs are SS&E's flagship franchise, attendance continues to climb for the Rampage.^[9]
The team set franchise records for wins and points in the 2014-15 season.^[10]

San Antonio FC

San Antonio FC is an American professional soccer team based in San Antonio, Texas. Founded in 2016, the team will make its debut in the United Soccer League for the 2016 USL season. It was announced as the league's thirty-first franchise on January 7, 2016.^[11]

San Antonio Stars

The San Antonio Stars play in the Western Conference in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The team was founded in Salt Lake City, Utah before the league's inaugural 1997 season began; the team moved to San Antonio before the 2003 season.

The Stars have qualified for the WNBA Playoffs in seven of their twelve years in San Antonio. The franchise has been home to many high-quality players such as all-star point guard Becky Hammon, solid power-forward Sophia Young, former first-overall draft pick Ann Wauters, and seven-foot-two-inch center Margo Dydek. In 2008, the Silver Stars went to the WNBA Finals.

On August 5, 2014, Hammon was hired by the Spurs as an assistant coach, becoming the second female assistant coach in NBA history but the first full-time assistant coach.^[12] This also makes her the first full-time female assistant coach in any of the four major professional sports in North America.^[12]

Austin Spurs

The Austin Spurs are an American basketball team of the NBA Development League based in Austin, Texas.

The team plays their home games at Cedar Park Center. They have made the postseason 7 out of their 12 seasons in the NBA Development League, winning the 2011-12 D-League Championship.^[13] The team is currently coached by Ken McDonald.

Former Austin Spurs in the NBA include Danny Green, Cory Joseph, Gerald Green and Alonzo Gee.

Partners

Spurs Sports & Entertainment listed the following partners as of October 2014:^[14]

ARAMARK Sports & Entertainment Group
Raymond Joseph Barshick
Cassandra Carr
Clear Channel Communications Inc.
George C. Hixon
Peter Holt - Chairman
IBC Capital Corporation
Sylvan Stephen Lang
James R. Leininger
R&B Partnership (Russell and Bruce Hill)
David Robinson
AT&T Media Holdings, Inc.
Markey Family Partnership
Sierra Sports & Entertainment Family Limited Partnership
SWBC
Sunrise Sports & Entertainment
Valero Energy Corporation
Zachry Hospitality Corporation
Estate of Jeanne Lang Mathews
LAZ parking

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Thursday, April 21, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.