How much do Spurs games at Moody impact Austin?
AUSTIN (KXAN) — The San Antonio Spurs ventured north to play this weekend in Austin for the second year in a row at the Moody Center — but they’re also making an impact on the community in other ways.
During last year’s Inaugural I-35 series, the games set an attendance record at Moody with 16,023 fans in attendance. Since then, there’s been a “tremendous” growth in ticket sales, fan and social engagement, and viewership from local networks also doubled in Austin zip codes, according to Brandon James, the Spurs Senior Vice President of Strategic Growth.
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Players came to Austin well ahead of game day for “Spurs Week” in an effort to “lead with community,” James said — renovating basketball courts and holding a community conversation.
“We’re always trying to find a way to weave ourselves in the community and make sure we lead with those impact efforts,” he added.
Games kick off Friday against defending champions Denver Nuggets at 7:30 p.m. and then on Sunday against the Brooklyn Nets at 6 p.m.
Ahead of Sunday’s game will be a fan fest at Moody.
“Last year, of course, the energy was insane. Austin truly brought it and this year I cant wait to feel the energy, the excitement — the roof is going to be blown off the Moody Center,” in-game host Zay Zay Aquino told KXAN.
What’s the economic impact of Spurs games in Austin?
Last year’s event provided a projected $2.5 million direct economic impact to Austin, according to Visit Austin’s Austin Sports Commission. The organization, whose mission is to bring sporting events to Austin, used the Destinations International Economic Impact Calculator to come to that number. That tool uses 10 different data sources to calculate “net new money coming to a community because of meetings and events,” according to its website.
The calculator showed the Spurs in Austin supported 1,346 jobs. And while most attendees were local, it estimated about 14% traveled further than 100 miles from Austin.
It estimated the 2024 impact could be even higher because of the Denver Nuggets factor — playing a team that is the defending world champion.
How much were tickets?
As of Friday, tickets through Ticketmaster ranged from a low of $50 for Sunday’s game to $10,000 for a Friday verified resale ticket through the site.
Ticketmaster is the official ticket partner of the NBA, but KXAN also checked with reseller TicketCity. It shared that the average ticket price for Friday’s game was $233, which is about 45% higher than usual. Cheapest tickets are $68 for the Standing-Only Sky deck — and a pair of courtside seats across from the Nuggets bench are each selling for $17,465 including fees.
“Demand for San Antonio Spurs tickets for their 2023-2024 season is more than 10x stronger than last year,” TicketCity noted on its website.
KXAN Reporter Blake Devine contributed to this report.
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