April 8, 2025 • 10 mins
The Executive Director for SALOC talks about the Final Four & what’s next for the city.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Last night Florida with a two point win over Houston
in the NCAA Championship game at the Alamo Dome. Another
great performance by the city of San Antonio and what
the Dome has been able to showcase over its thirty
plus year lifespan. Elena Wells heads the local organizing committee
for the Final Four in San Antonio. Good afternoon, a Lena,
(00:25):
and another solid performance from San Antonio. It looked amazing.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Good afternoon, andya, it was amazing and we are recovering today,
but really happy with how everything turned out.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
And you got three great basketball games. Usually in a
final four like that, there's a game that's lopsided one
way or the other, but you got three fantastic finishes.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Oh, the best games we could ask for. Just really
exciting basketball to give us a great weekend.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
All right.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Feedback is always positive from the nc DOUBLEA, and it
has been since that first win back in nineteen ninety eight.
Take us through what the NCUBA has been saying this week,
and of course it's a city wide effort with all
the things and activities that go on downtown and the
accessibility to all the facilities as well.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Well, we got an overwhelming response, just with everyone happy
about the footprint, how walkable it was, how the events
were all laid out, the new event that we had
a tip off tailgate in Civic Park where you could
go and watch the games. I watched the Women's Championship
there myself, and just a really great atmosphere to show
(01:41):
us kind of what that sports and Entertainment district for
San Antonio could really look like.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
This is, as I said, a community project. I know
there's tons of volunteers that are involved in this. Take
us through all the people. I know, there's a laundry
list of people that are responsible for a lot of
different things to pull something like this off.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
Yeah, absolutely. So.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
You know, our host institutions UTSA and UIW really play
a key role in the games management and helping kind
of operate all the stuff in the Alamodome visit San
Antonio and their team handled all the housing in the
hotels for us, and of course you know, fifteen thousand
downtown hotel rooms makes us a.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
Great host city to start off the bat with.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
And then the city of San Antonio is just incredible
from the public safety, you know, police fire, all of
the teams at the Alamodome and the Convention Center and
parks and public works really pulled together to make everything
just really flow seamlessly throughout the whole weekend. And then
of course San Antonio Sports and our twenty five hundred
(02:48):
volunteers that were out and about and really all over
helping anyone that came downtown find their way, helping them
in all of the fan events. Just a really great
showing by the city.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
Elena Wells joining us from the local organizing committee for
the final four well four years from now, we'll do
it again with the women and those games where well,
at least from a Yukon standpoint, we're pretty good this time.
So what happens between now and then to get ready
for that.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
Well, actually, before we jump into planning for the women's
championship in twenty twenty nine, we were awarded the twenty
twenty six NCAA Women's Volleyball Championship, So that'll be played
in the Alamo Dome in December. You know, hosting here
in the Dome gives us an opportunity to set a record,
and so we're looking forward to doing that. NCAA college
(03:40):
Women's basketball are women's volleyball is just skyrocketing with their numbers,
and so we look forward to showcasing.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
That here in the Alamo City.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
And then we have an NCAA Men's Regional in twenty
twenty seven at the Frost Bank Center, so we'll welcome
March Madness back in two years.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
And then in twenty twenty nine the women's.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
Final Four where you know, if you'll remember, San Antonio
holds the record at twenty nine thousand, six hundred and
nineteen fans in two thousand and two, and we hope
that in twenty twenty nine we get to break that record.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
Yeah, absolutely, that'd be that would be huge. All right,
let's talk about I guess the big thing is is
that next summer they'll they'll start the discussion as to
future final fours in the twenty thirties. So how other
than Project Marvel that we can touch on a little bit.
But what's the idea, What kind of message do you
send to them to hopefully get picked again for another
(04:35):
Final four down the road.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
Yeah, So the next available year to host this twenty
thirty two, and as you said, we expect those that
bid to come out sometime next summer so we can
start look at what they're looking for. You know, we
know that this showing here this weekend was you know,
the greatest impression we could leave them as they go
(04:59):
into that process.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
So we're really happy with that part of it.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
And then outside of that, it's just how they're they're
changing the tournament every year.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
They do new things.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
The tip off tailgate was a new thing for them
to do it outside of the venue, and they really
loved that, and we're happy with that. So we get
to you know, make our mark on the event in
that way and make it memorable for them, and then
you know, we'll work with the city on you know,
we always want to see what kind of investments that
we're making into the Alamo Dome. Those have been really
(05:30):
important to the NCAA and their decision factors on when
they're looking at cities. You know, in twenty eighteen, in
order to secure that event for the city, we committed
some improvements to the dome. We did that again for
twenty twenty five, and so I think we'll be working
with our city partners to see what those improvements are
(05:51):
and you know, how we can stay competitive with some
of these other cities, especially like newer buildings like Nashville
coming online so that we can be a contender for
the Final four because we know it's a fan favorite.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
Yeah, and it's also maybe in the future, the Valero
Alamo Bowl could be a playoff game or you could
have a championship game in San Antonio. And that all
comes with making sure you have the best facilities possible.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
I mean, renovations to the Alamo Dome help everyone. They
help bring bigger stadium concerts to San Antonio. They help
bring bigger sporting events, you know, some of the international
soccer that we love to host, or boxing, college football playoffs,
those kinds of things are really what we would love
(06:41):
to be able to bring more of to San Antonio,
and improvements to the Alamo Dome are definitely a surefire way.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
To do that. Well, if you can promise Taylor Swift
and the Alamodome in the future, I'm sure you'll get
even more votes from the younger crowd.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
I agree, you'd give my.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
Vote for sure we can pull that off. That would
be great. Speaking of Project Marvel, I know that Mayor
rolled that out a few weeks ago and there's discussions
about that. Do you let the NC DOUBLEA do you
give them updates and progress on that so that it
kind of gets them thinking again about future events for
San Antonio.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
Yeah, we absolutely do. And in addition to that, we
consult with them to say, you know, what is it
that you're looking for? What can san Antonio do to improve?
Where are those things that if we're looking at a
project like this, what would be important for their.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
Decision making factors?
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Because we want to do that, and we do that
with a lot of event stakeholders, so that we're kind
of taking in all that input, listening to those experts
about what they need, and then being able to build something,
you know, based on what those needs are.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
We're pretty good at throwing parties in this town. We're
getting ready to have another Fiesta soon, so this was
just kind of a prelude to that. Since we do
it every year, we're pretty good at it. And I
think the NC DOUBLEA is wrecking that.
Speaker 3 (08:01):
Oh yeah, absolutely. You know.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
I don't know if you were able to come downtown
and see all the festivities, but you know, the music
festival in the Tower Park area was just, you know,
an incredible sight to see the city come together and
kind of build out that facility and and then offer
those free shows uh to the for the community to enjoy,
and we look forward to doing it and again in a.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
Couple of weeks.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
Yeah, absolutely, Elena, thank you so much for the time today.
Congrats again on all the things that went great for
San Antonio this week. And uh, we'll look forward to
volleyball in the in the winter or in the in
the fall this year when that comes around in December,
so good luck with planning for that. And again, Craig,
congrats on this year's Final Four.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
Thanks to everyone who supported and came out.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
All right, thanks so much. That's Elena Wells. She's the
local organizing committee head for the Final Four and future
events in San Antonio. All a part of San Antonio
Sports and they're they're involvement and Michael, this is what
we do here. We like to have events and we
do them pretty well, and not that other cities don't.
(09:07):
But if Project Marvel happens like I think it will,
it's just gonna be even better and bigger to have
all the conveniences of not having to rent cars and
be able to go from venue to venue in place
to place. And that's what we do here.
Speaker 4 (09:22):
I mean everything that you were seeing on social media
from whether it was obviously local but the national guys,
from whether it was CBS or ESPN or whoever it was.
Everybody kept kept sitting here complementing how great a city
that San Antonio was to hold events like this because
(09:43):
everything was so convenient, you know, with everything being downtown,
it was you didn't have to rent a car. If
you were downtown, you could literally walk everywhere. You could
walk to, whether it's a river center or walk to
one of the other local restaurants down there. Everything was
was within walking distance. And like you mentioned with Project Marvel,
(10:05):
all that's gonna do is just ampike it matter, make it,
make it better.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
You can have the games, and you can have the
Final Four in the Dome, and you can have events
in the in the arena and concerts out on the
on the on the lawn and all kinds of good
stuff that could happen. We'll talk more about that coming
up here in just a little bit. But Denver today
fired Michael Malone and that kind of shocked the NBA world.
We'll talk about that next. It's the and the average
show on the ticket
Last night Florida with a two point win over Houston
in the NCAA Championship game at the Alamo Dome. Another
great performance by the city of San Antonio and what
the Dome has been able to showcase over its thirty
plus year lifespan. Elena Wells heads the local organizing committee
for the Final Four in San Antonio. Good afternoon, a Lena,
(00:25):
and another solid performance from San Antonio. It looked amazing.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Good afternoon, andya, it was amazing and we are recovering today,
but really happy with how everything turned out.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
And you got three great basketball games. Usually in a
final four like that, there's a game that's lopsided one
way or the other, but you got three fantastic finishes.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Oh, the best games we could ask for. Just really
exciting basketball to give us a great weekend.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
All right.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Feedback is always positive from the nc DOUBLEA, and it
has been since that first win back in nineteen ninety eight.
Take us through what the NCUBA has been saying this week,
and of course it's a city wide effort with all
the things and activities that go on downtown and the
accessibility to all the facilities as well.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Well, we got an overwhelming response, just with everyone happy
about the footprint, how walkable it was, how the events
were all laid out, the new event that we had
a tip off tailgate in Civic Park where you could
go and watch the games. I watched the Women's Championship
there myself, and just a really great atmosphere to show
(01:41):
us kind of what that sports and Entertainment district for
San Antonio could really look like.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
This is, as I said, a community project. I know
there's tons of volunteers that are involved in this. Take
us through all the people. I know, there's a laundry
list of people that are responsible for a lot of
different things to pull something like this off.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
Yeah, absolutely. So.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
You know, our host institutions UTSA and UIW really play
a key role in the games management and helping kind
of operate all the stuff in the Alamodome visit San
Antonio and their team handled all the housing in the
hotels for us, and of course you know, fifteen thousand
downtown hotel rooms makes us a.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
Great host city to start off the bat with.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
And then the city of San Antonio is just incredible
from the public safety, you know, police fire, all of
the teams at the Alamodome and the Convention Center and
parks and public works really pulled together to make everything
just really flow seamlessly throughout the whole weekend. And then
of course San Antonio Sports and our twenty five hundred
(02:48):
volunteers that were out and about and really all over
helping anyone that came downtown find their way, helping them
in all of the fan events. Just a really great
showing by the city.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
Elena Wells joining us from the local organizing committee for
the final four well four years from now, we'll do
it again with the women and those games where well,
at least from a Yukon standpoint, we're pretty good this time.
So what happens between now and then to get ready
for that.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
Well, actually, before we jump into planning for the women's
championship in twenty twenty nine, we were awarded the twenty
twenty six NCAA Women's Volleyball Championship, So that'll be played
in the Alamo Dome in December. You know, hosting here
in the Dome gives us an opportunity to set a record,
and so we're looking forward to doing that. NCAA college
(03:40):
Women's basketball are women's volleyball is just skyrocketing with their numbers,
and so we look forward to showcasing.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
That here in the Alamo City.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
And then we have an NCAA Men's Regional in twenty
twenty seven at the Frost Bank Center, so we'll welcome
March Madness back in two years.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
And then in twenty twenty nine the women's.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
Final Four where you know, if you'll remember, San Antonio
holds the record at twenty nine thousand, six hundred and
nineteen fans in two thousand and two, and we hope
that in twenty twenty nine we get to break that record.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
Yeah, absolutely, that'd be that would be huge. All right,
let's talk about I guess the big thing is is
that next summer they'll they'll start the discussion as to
future final fours in the twenty thirties. So how other
than Project Marvel that we can touch on a little bit.
But what's the idea, What kind of message do you
send to them to hopefully get picked again for another
(04:35):
Final four down the road.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
Yeah, So the next available year to host this twenty
thirty two, and as you said, we expect those that
bid to come out sometime next summer so we can
start look at what they're looking for. You know, we
know that this showing here this weekend was you know,
the greatest impression we could leave them as they go
(04:59):
into that process.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
So we're really happy with that part of it.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
And then outside of that, it's just how they're they're
changing the tournament every year.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
They do new things.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
The tip off tailgate was a new thing for them
to do it outside of the venue, and they really
loved that, and we're happy with that. So we get
to you know, make our mark on the event in
that way and make it memorable for them, and then
you know, we'll work with the city on you know,
we always want to see what kind of investments that
we're making into the Alamo Dome. Those have been really
(05:30):
important to the NCAA and their decision factors on when
they're looking at cities. You know, in twenty eighteen, in
order to secure that event for the city, we committed
some improvements to the dome. We did that again for
twenty twenty five, and so I think we'll be working
with our city partners to see what those improvements are
(05:51):
and you know, how we can stay competitive with some
of these other cities, especially like newer buildings like Nashville
coming online so that we can be a contender for
the Final four because we know it's a fan favorite.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
Yeah, and it's also maybe in the future, the Valero
Alamo Bowl could be a playoff game or you could
have a championship game in San Antonio. And that all
comes with making sure you have the best facilities possible.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
I mean, renovations to the Alamo Dome help everyone. They
help bring bigger stadium concerts to San Antonio. They help
bring bigger sporting events, you know, some of the international
soccer that we love to host, or boxing, college football playoffs,
those kinds of things are really what we would love
(06:41):
to be able to bring more of to San Antonio,
and improvements to the Alamo Dome are definitely a surefire way.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
To do that. Well, if you can promise Taylor Swift
and the Alamodome in the future, I'm sure you'll get
even more votes from the younger crowd.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
I agree, you'd give my.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
Vote for sure we can pull that off. That would
be great. Speaking of Project Marvel, I know that Mayor
rolled that out a few weeks ago and there's discussions
about that. Do you let the NC DOUBLEA do you
give them updates and progress on that so that it
kind of gets them thinking again about future events for
San Antonio.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
Yeah, we absolutely do. And in addition to that, we
consult with them to say, you know, what is it
that you're looking for? What can san Antonio do to improve?
Where are those things that if we're looking at a
project like this, what would be important for their.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
Decision making factors?
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Because we want to do that, and we do that
with a lot of event stakeholders, so that we're kind
of taking in all that input, listening to those experts
about what they need, and then being able to build something,
you know, based on what those needs are.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
We're pretty good at throwing parties in this town. We're
getting ready to have another Fiesta soon, so this was
just kind of a prelude to that. Since we do
it every year, we're pretty good at it. And I
think the NC DOUBLEA is wrecking that.
Speaker 3 (08:01):
Oh yeah, absolutely. You know.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
I don't know if you were able to come downtown
and see all the festivities, but you know, the music
festival in the Tower Park area was just, you know,
an incredible sight to see the city come together and
kind of build out that facility and and then offer
those free shows uh to the for the community to enjoy,
and we look forward to doing it and again in a.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
Couple of weeks.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
Yeah, absolutely, Elena, thank you so much for the time today.
Congrats again on all the things that went great for
San Antonio this week. And uh, we'll look forward to
volleyball in the in the winter or in the in
the fall this year when that comes around in December,
so good luck with planning for that. And again, Craig,
congrats on this year's Final Four.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
Thanks to everyone who supported and came out.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
All right, thanks so much. That's Elena Wells. She's the
local organizing committee head for the Final Four and future
events in San Antonio. All a part of San Antonio
Sports and they're they're involvement and Michael, this is what
we do here. We like to have events and we
do them pretty well, and not that other cities don't.
(09:07):
But if Project Marvel happens like I think it will,
it's just gonna be even better and bigger to have
all the conveniences of not having to rent cars and
be able to go from venue to venue in place
to place. And that's what we do here.
Speaker 4 (09:22):
I mean everything that you were seeing on social media
from whether it was obviously local but the national guys,
from whether it was CBS or ESPN or whoever it was.
Everybody kept kept sitting here complementing how great a city
that San Antonio was to hold events like this because
(09:43):
everything was so convenient, you know, with everything being downtown,
it was you didn't have to rent a car. If
you were downtown, you could literally walk everywhere. You could
walk to, whether it's a river center or walk to
one of the other local restaurants down there. Everything was
was within walking distance. And like you mentioned with Project Marvel,
(10:05):
all that's gonna do is just ampike it matter, make it,
make it better.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
You can have the games, and you can have the
Final Four in the Dome, and you can have events
in the in the arena and concerts out on the
on the on the lawn and all kinds of good
stuff that could happen. We'll talk more about that coming
up here in just a little bit. But Denver today
fired Michael Malone and that kind of shocked the NBA world.
We'll talk about that next. It's the and the average
show on the ticket
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