SAN ANTONIO – The chairman of the San Antonio Spurs said Tuesday that the team has no plans to make a fast break out of the Alamo City.

In a public letter to the city and Spurs fans, Peter J. Holt said the silver and black are going nowhere.

“I want to reassure you that the Spurs are in San Antonio to stay,” Holt said in the letter. “Spurs fans – we are here to stay, Por Vida.”

The letter from Holt, whose family owns a majority interest in the team, are the first comments from him since Spurs Sports & Entertainment recently proposed playing four home games away from the AT&T Center for the 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 seasons in Mexico, at the Alamodome and in Austin. SS&E officials said the idea is for the team to broaden its fan base, but Bexar County Commissioners on May 3 narrowly approved 3-2 to playing four games away from their home venue for just one season. The AT&T Center is owned by Bexar County and there is a non-relocation agreement that prohibits the team from playing more than two of their 41 regular season home games away from the arena in any one season.

“That’s not a good sign. Alright?” Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff told SS&E Chief Legal Officer Bobby Perez following the vote. “It shows you that there’s a divided opinion in this community as to the intention of the Spurs, that there’s a lot of concern about just what the heck you’re doing.”

Perez said the organization has had discussions with the Moody Center, a brand-new venue on the University of Texas at Austin campus, but there are no contracts yet. The potential for Austin games has spooked San Antonio fans, rekindling fears that the team could eventually make a permanent move up Interstate 35. It’s those fears that led Holt to pen the letter.

“Dear San Antonio, I love you. I love this city. A big city with a casual small-town feel and a GREAT basketball team,” he said. “I was raised in San Antonio and this city has helped define the foundation of the Spurs. The Spurs are as much a part of San Antonio as San Antonio is a part of the Spurs.

“My family became involved in the Spurs in the 90s because there was a real threat that the team would be moved. We would not let that happen then and we will not let that happen now. There is no other team in the NBA like the Spurs and no other home like San Antonio,” he said.

Holt’s letter apparently left San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg and Wolff reassured about the team’s future in San Antonio.

“We have full confidence that the Spurs will stay in San Antonio for decades to come,” Nirenberg and Wolff said in a tweet.

You can read Holt’s letter below:

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