Sunday wasn’t just the debut of LaMarcus Aldridge and David West in a Spurs uniform at home, it was also a chance for Spurs fans to see the AT&T Center’s extreme home makeover.
Spurs fans looked in awe around the renovated AT&T Center as the renovated arena opened its doors for the first time. It was a soft opening for the Spurs’ preseason home opener, and fans’ first chance to see new paint, new lighting and a state-of the-art new scoreboard that made their home brighter.
In just a little more than four months, the AT&T Center has made upgrades in every corner of the arena as part of a $110 million renovations.
“This facility surpasses anything that you’ll see in the nation,” Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff said. “It’s an extraordinary amount of work that was done in a relatively short amount of time.”
About 700 workers spent the summer working on the AT&T Center to get it ready in time for the 2015-16 season. The arena will have its grand re-opening on Oct. 30 for the Spurs’ regular season opener against Brooklyn.
There are new seats, new artwork and the centerpiece is the new scoreboard, a high-definition system with four 20-foot by 30-foot screens. Each screen of the scoreboard, video system, made by YESCO Electronics, is the size of 30 80-inch TVs stacked together and gave fans the perfect view of the Spurs’ 96-92 win.
Fans got to see the Spurs from all new vantage points as well. On the balcony level, two new corner bars with a view of the court made for busy hangout spots.
On the terrace level, 14 new four-seat theater boxes make for an intimate game-watching experience, with fans in the boxes enjoying their own dining area as well.
And for dining at the AT&T Center, fans got to try a ton of new food options. New restaurants around the arena opened up, including a dining area on the balcony level’s East Porch that features street food-style eats.
The East Porch is also the new home of the Atomic Spur, as Sunday’s game was a chance to get a look at the 200 pieces of art at the AT&T Center. Among the new works are “Buckle Up” by Campbell Bosworth, a giant hand carved belt buckle containing imagery of Texas and “Light It Up” by Elizabeth Carrington, a 60-foot by 40-foot mural along a wall of the plaza level that’s a bright representation of all the AT&T Center and San Antonio has to offer.
Before Sunday’s game, media members were taken on a tour of the upgrades by Bexar County officials and Bill Crockett, principal architect with the design firm HOK, who had high praise for the renovation project.
“The highest possible level of teamwork made this successful,” Crockett said. “This is a great home for Bexar County and Spurs Sports & Entertainment. "This is the latest and greatest, newest state-of-the-art venue in the NBA and in the United States."