The Spurs have played three home games outside of the Frost Bank Center for each of the past four seasons. Credit: Courtesy Photo / Frost Bank Center

Despite securing millions in public dollars for a new arena, the San Antonio Spurs are looking to increase the number of home games they play away from their home base.

The NBA franchise has asked Bexar County Commissioners Court for permission to play an additional home game elsewhere both this season and the next — a request that would bump that number up to four for each of the next two seasons.

Based on the online chatter, some folks aren’t too happy about the proposal.

“Why is losing more and more home games a good thing?” X user @Breed344 tweeted. “How does this help San Antonio? And the ticket holders?”

As of press time, the Spurs are allowed to play three home games outside Bexar County, including two at Austin’s Moody Center during the San Antonio Stock Show &  Rodeo and one international game.

County commissioners will vote on Tuesday whether to amend the Spurs’ lease agreement at the county-owned Frost Bank Center to increase that number.

“Over the years, the non-relocation agreement has been amended on several occasions,” the agenda item states. “The San Antonio Spurs have now requested an additional amendment … to expand that previously approved flexibility.”

The agenda item doesn’t explicitly state where the additional game each of the next two seasons will be held. However, the Silver and Black are expected to face the New Orleans Pelicans twice in France next season, making those games a likely possibility.

The Spurs’ request to play additional home games outside its Alamo City home base comes months after San Antonio City Council along with Bexar County voters approved more than $800 million in public financing for the team’s new basketball arena at Hemisfair.

Although City Manager Erik Walsh last month said a finalized deal between the city and Spurs Sports & Entertainment (SS&E) — the team’s ownership group — isn’t expected to be hashed out until the end of this year, a draft of that deal approved by the council includes a non-relocation clause through 2062.

Even so, some Spurs fans remarked online that they don’t like the look.

“[The] NBA [shouldn’t] allow this,” wrote X user @SpaceFrogCowboy. “Don’t let them test other markets at the expense of home fans.”

Meanwhile, user @grent07 tweeted that allowing more home games outside Bexar County could be a slippery slope.

“What’s next? In a couple of years they are going to want 8 home games away and before you know it half of the home games will be played away,” @grent07 wrote. “This is getting ridiculous.”

In a statement to the San Antonio Report, SS&E spokeswoman Liberty Swift said the additional home games outside Bexar County are about “flexibility,” not relocation planning.

“That flexibility supports our longstanding strategy of connecting Spurs fans across the region, including Austin, while also allowing us to participate in selected NBA international games,” she said.

The Commissioners Court meeting will get underway at 9 a.m. Tuesday at 101 W. Nueva St.

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Michael Karlis is a multimedia journalist at the San Antonio Current, whose coverage in print and on social media focuses on local and state politics. He is a graduate of American University in Washington,...