San Antonio MLS Team? The Spurs Want To Make It Happen

San Antonio could have a Major League Soccer team soon, and the San Antonio Spurs are leading the charge, with help from the local government.

The City of San Antonio and Bexar County will buy Toyota Field in hopes of luring an MLS team to the area, mayor Ivy Taylor announced.

The city and county will pay a total of $18 million to buy the field from Gordon Hartman, who owns the San Antonio Scorpions that play in the North American Soccer League at the field.

Spurs Sports and Entertainment, which owns the NBA’s Spurs, will chip in $3 million.

The city and county will own the field, and the Spurs will operate it. Taylor said no general fund money will be spent on the purchase.

“San Antonio is serious about its pursuit of Major League Soccer and this deal takes us a step closer to bringing it here,” Taylor said in a press release. “Fans may have to wait a few more years, but soccer has an international appeal and is a perfect fit for our city’s global outlook and economic strategy.”

Toyota Field opened in April 2013 with a soccer capacity of 8,000, according to the MLS, but was built to eventually be expanded to 18,000.

If the Spurs can’t get an MLS team to San Antonio in six years, they will pay $5 million total to the city and county.