Blake Henry had his fingers crossed last summer when the NBA held its annual player draft.

Henry, as the chief executive officer of the South Padre Island Convention & Visitors Bureau, was seeing the draft more as a marketing professional than a sports fan. In his just over a year on the job, Henry has been active in seeking partnerships to build greater state and national awareness of the Island. A partnership with a professional sports franchise would fit the bill. He had one specifically in mind.

“Our destination deserves a professional sports team to partner with,” he said. 

The “perfect storm,” as Henry described it, occurred when the San Antonio Spurs won the NBA draft lottery and selected 19-year-old phenome Victor Wembanyama, who has been called a generational talent. Thus far in his young career, the 7-3 Frenchman is proving the hype was real and is already playing as a dominant force in the league.

Fan interest in the Spurs is surging again and Henry knew the time was right to secure the partnership he and the CVB were seeking. On Nov. 2, SPI’s Convention & Visitors Bureau announced it had entered into a marketing partnership with Spurs Sports & Entertainment, the company that owns and operates the San Antonio Spurs as well as managing the day-to-day operations of the Frost Bank Center.

The agreement is good for three years and will give South Padre:

• Signage throughout the Frost Center arena.
• Floor-level images visible to television viewers while games are being played.
• Access to the Spurs social media programming and “special sweepstakes opportunities for Spurs supporters.”
• Likely visits to the Island during the basketball offseason from Spurs players.

“It gives us another outlet to tell our story and raise awareness about the Island,” Henry said. “Our destination deserves grand recognition and I can’t think of a better partnership than the San Antonio Spurs.”

Attracting New Visitors

One of Henry’s chief goals is making the Island more of a year-round destination that has economic activity during fall and winter months after the always busy tourist seasons of spring and summer. 

The partnership with the Spurs represents a step in that direction. The NBA season starts in October and runs through spring to early summer. The new partnership puts the SPI name and brand in the forefront of one of its best Texas tourist markets – San Antonio – while having the potential to attract new visitors as the Spurs’ fan base grows with the addition of Wembanyama.

“Economic development starts with a visit,” Henry said. “The more visits we can bring to our destination, the more impressions we can create and spur economic activity down the road.”

The partnership with the Spurs was announced during a late morning event at the SPI Convention Center with splashy decorations, Spurs and SPI-themed cookies, and a raffle for game tickets. Sports and athletics in general are an opportunity Henry plans to pursue. He can draw upon an early career job when he worked at the Staples Center in Los Angeles for the LA Kings of the National Hockey League.

“It’s just the beginning,” he said. “Phase two is expanding the convention center to attract more sporting events and now we have this name recognition with the San Antonio Spurs.”

Redefining A Destination

Henry spoke of developing the CVB staff to recruit more company and group meetings to bring more visitors during the offseason tourist months. 

He described it as business “we’re going to plug in after the summer all the way to February to keep economic activity flowing to our destination.”

It’s all part of the focus heard among Island business and political leaders who want to make SPI more than a go-to summer destination and one where there are sufficient attractions and reasons to visit year round. Making the Island more of a national brand is central to that goal.

“We have the ability to redefine our destination with the development of this convention center and to rethink our marketing plans,” Henry said. “Going through this process and having a big name like the San Antonio Spurs is going to help us get more events.”