SAN ANTONIO – The City of San Antonio is planning on millions of dollars in renovations for the Alamodome this year as the downtown facility prepares to celebrate its 30th anniversary.
“The City Council, as part of its FY2023 budget, approved $167.2 million in improvements to the Alamodome and Convention Center,” executive director of Convention & Sports Facilities for the City of San Antonio Patricia Muzquiz Cantor said last fall.
Those funds include $23.2 million set aside for the Alamodome next year, according to Cantor. Nearly $109 million in capital improvements are planned in the long-term for the facility by 2028.
“Some of the improvements — including the addition of 18 suites, replacement of elevators and escalators and new finishes to the upper level — are part of the city’s commitment to the NCAA Final Four in 2025,” said Cantor. “In addition to these improvements, the Alamodome will also renovate the existing 52 suites, as well as the concessions and corridors on the club level, restrooms on all levels, the Top of the Dome and the Hall of Fame Club.”
The Alamodome hosted the Men’s Final Four in 2018, but the NCAA requires at least 70 suites to host the event. The facility would reach that amount with this latest round of renovations.
“As we head toward the Alamodome’s 30th anniversary in 2023, we look forward to planned improvements that will maintain the life of the facility and will also allow us to maintain our competitiveness to attract major sports, concerts and other headline events,” Cantor said.
The Alamodome is enjoying one of the most successful runs in its history, hosting four headline concerts since August that drew nearly 200,000 fans and generated more than $27 million in gross receipts. The events included concerts with Motley Crue and Def Leppard, Bad Bunny, Rammstein and Elton John.
Alamodome officials added that the Bad Bunny concert broke the facility mark for gross ticket sales for one show when more than $11 million was recorded for the Sept. 8 performance. A crowd of 54,000 attended the show.
Additionally, the Alamodome saw more than 70,000 spectators attend three University of Texas at San Antonio football games.
The Alamodome also hosted the inaugural KSAT Pigskin Classic on Aug. 27, 2022, which included six local football teams from around the city competing head-to-head for a full day of high school football.
“It has been a remarkable stretch for the Alamodome, which is showing no signs of slowing down, with WWE Royal Rumble, the Spurs’ 50th anniversary game and XFL football coming up on the horizon,” said Cantor.
According to a state filing with the Texas Dept. of Licensing and Regulation, renovations are expected to begin at the Alamodome by June and with an end date of January 2024.