By JACQI LEYVA-HILL
Special to the PRESS
The South Padre Island Convention and Visitors Advisory Board voted Aug. 26 to recommend renewing Visit South Padre Island’s marketing partnership with the San Antonio Spurs, advancing a proposed three-year agreement beginning at $400,000 for the 2026-27 season, with a 3% annual escalator, to City Council for consideration. The renewal would cover the 2026-27, 2027-28 and 2028-29 seasons.
Chief Marketing Officer Cindy Trevino and representatives of Spurs Sports & Entertainment presented the proposed renewal, which would shift some of the destination’s marketing from traditional signage toward more interactive promotions.
Under the proposal, South Padre Island would become presenting partner of the Spurs College Pass program, retain its virtual courtside logo during half of all regional home broadcasts and receive an eight-week Family Island Getaway Sweepstakes. The package also includes two terrace suite nights intended to support meetings and convention sales, five promotional fan seat upgrades per season, rotational LED signage and two appearances by the Spurs Coyote on South Padre Island.
Board member Chad Hart questioned whether staff had adequately compared the proposal with sponsorship opportunities offered by other professional sports organizations.
“I don’t understand if this is a good deal without trying that,” Hart said during the discussion.
Trevino later told the board that Visit South Padre Island had previously received proposals from the Houston Astros, Dallas Mavericks and Minnesota Timberwolves. She said those proposals did not offer the same combination of promotional opportunities as the Spurs package.
Visit South Padre Island CEO Kelly de Schaun supported the renewal, pointing to San Antonio’s importance as a drive market and the additional promotional opportunities included in the proposed agreement.
“I support this,” de Schaun said. “I think that this investment is a good investment.”
The board ultimately voted to recommend the renewal to City Council.
Tourism Economics also presented a fiscal third-quarter market update showing gains in South Padre Island’s lodging sector. Hotel demand increased 3.2% during the April-through-June quarter, while average daily rates increased 2%. Short-term rental demand increased 12.6% compared with the previous year.
Year-to-date local hotel occupancy tax collections through June totaled $8,245,073, compared with $7,805,750 during the same period last year, representing approximately 6% growth. The city’s agenda packet identifies 2022 as the “best year on record” for hotel and short-term rental revenues and shows 2026 state-reported lodging revenues through June running ahead of the comparable 2022 period.
The tourism presentation also showed combined arrivals across the Brownsville, Harlingen and McAllen airports trending below the previous year, while mobile-location data indicated a larger share of South Padre Island visitors were coming from closer markets. The presenter said about 50% of visitors during the April-through-June period came from within 250 miles, compared with about 30% during the same period in 2025.