The breakdown
Cody Davenport, executive director and CEO of the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo, gave a presentation, which discussed how the rodeo expansion would reinvent the county’s east side property and venues. In the presentation, Davenport said the propositions would affect the future of the rodeo for years to come.
He said approving both propositions would allow the rodeo to cultivate a new kind of relationship with the Western industry and give the east side grounds an identity.
"We want to take this massive industry that we have spent years out there earning respect, in earning our reputation in, and we want to work year-round to bring it inside,” Davenport said. “We want to give these grounds down here an identity."
Davenport said the expansion would allow the organization to attract major Western industry events.
"We're talking about the Western industry as a whole. We're not talking about just rodeo, rinse and repeat,” Davenport said. “[This industry] is massive, and it's all over the country, and they're traveling to rodeo events."
He also noted that the expansion would allow the rodeo to create a permanent home that offers a high-end experience.
“We asked, from the very beginning, we don't want metal stands. We don't want to feel temporary,” Davenport said. “We want to go out and compete anywhere in the nation. What we want is for it to feel like a miniature Frost Bank Center. We wanted that level of production."
Davenport also said the city is already primed as a tourist destination, and that the rodeo expansion would only heighten our tourism industry.
"San Antonio is still a tourist city. People want to come here, and we have the weather in the winter and the proximity to Mexico, [with] these things that we have a major advantage,” Davenport said.
- Year-round use of Exposition Hall 1 and Stall Barn, includes equine and rodeo event expansions
- Estimated 20 additional days outside of annual rode event in the Frost Bank Center and Freeman Coliseum, respectively
- Trail Boss Inc. for concessions management
- West half of campus under rodeo control
- New livestock facility
- Expo Center converted to production arena
- Three two-way traffic bridges
- Multipurpose livestock building
- Permanent seating and professional production
The discussion
During the presentation, multiple residents and rodeo volunteers came to voice their support for the measure.
Rodeo volunteers Melton Schultz and John Maurer said they believe the rodeo expansion would remake the area as well as the rodeo.
“This is a win-win situation for the city and for Bexar County,” Schultz said.
“If we start a year-round program, not only the money coming in for the programs ... we're bringing business in,” Maurer said. “If we're running a year-round program, you're going to have to build hotels. There's not enough hotels, especially on the east side of town. So [the rodeo will end up] bringing in jobs to the east side.”
Put in perspective
Part of the Coliseum Complex Venue Project, the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo expansion will be funded through Proposition A, one of two propositions the county has placed on the ballot for Nov. 4.
Looking ahead
Early voting for the Nov. 4 general election is from Oct. 20-31. If both votes pass, the rodeo will begin planning and designing immediately.
