SBC Center - Definition and Overview

The SBC Center is an indoor arena located in San Antonio, Texas. It was completed in 2002 at a cost of $186 million, financed by a local sales tax. The arena is home to the San Antonio Spurs of the NBA. It seats 18,500 for basketball and 13,000 for ice hockey. The stadium includes 50 luxury suites. Naming rights were paid for by SBC Communications.

The SBC Center was constructed to complement the Alamodome. Though the dome was still in perfectly good shape, it had become clear over the years that the Spurs were using the arena for much of the year, meaning that it could not be used for conventions and football games. These events were actually more profitable, in part because a football stadium provides relatively poor sight lines for basketball. Thus, it was decided to build a separate arena for the Spurs and thus free up the Alamodome.