By Mike Finger | San Antonio Express-News (SAEN), 2026-02-19 16:10:09
2025年2月21日，周五，德克萨斯州奥斯汀穆迪中心，圣安东尼奥马刺队对阵底特律活塞队的第二节比赛中，马刺球迷为球队加油。马刺队最终以110-125不敌活塞队。
奥斯汀——在淑女鸟湖 (Lady Bird Lake) 周边十几平方英里的范围内，披萨店、酒店和三明治店砖墙上绘制的人物形象将过去浪漫化了。
威利·纳尔逊 (Willie Nelson) 和珍妮丝·贾普林 (Janis Joplin)。民谣歌手约翰·普莱恩 (John Prine) 和活动家安吉拉·戴维斯 (Angela Davis)。罗杰斯先生 (Mister Rogers)、神奇女侠 (Wonder Woman)，以及丹尼尔·约翰斯顿 (Daniel Johnston) 标志性的“嗨，你好吗”青蛙。
少数当地人会让你相信这些壁画是奥斯汀的精髓，也许曾经确实如此。但在当下的十年里，或许没有比州际公路上通勤者能看到的另一幅画作更能代表这座城市“企业资助、网红驱动”的文化了。
画中是一个穿着银黑配色球衣的卡通小狼 (Coyote) 形象。它装饰在 Wanderlust Wine Co. 的墙面上，这并非巧合，因为该公司是圣安东尼奥马刺队的官方葡萄酒合作伙伴，马刺队征集了这幅原创壁画，并通过新闻稿对其进行了宣传。
如果这看起来不像是纯粹的艺术表达，而更像是一场几乎不加掩饰的商业安排？
那么，欢迎来到2026年的奥斯汀。你觉得马刺队最初来这里的目的是什么？
他们从未试图隐瞒自己的意图。早在2023年马刺宣布计划从该赛季开始每年在穆迪中心 (Moody Center) 进行两场比赛时，首席执行官 R.C. 布福德 (R.C. Buford) 在接受《快报》(Express-News) 采访时就解释过，开发这条高速公路上80英里外蓬勃发展的都市区，在财务上显然是合理的。
马刺并不是要取代他们的市场，而是要扩大现有市场。
尽管如此，充满焦虑的圣安东尼奥人依然感到愤怒和不安，他们担心北边的邻居会抢走属于他们身份核心的东西。
奥斯汀人已经成功让全国的文青相信早餐塔可 (breakfast taco) 是他们发明的。难道他们还要把马刺队也据为己有吗？
事实是，从来没有必要为此担心。马刺队不仅从未想过搬迁，奥斯汀也从未想过要夺走他们。
2025年11月4日，周二，圣安东尼奥 River North Icehouse 的观赛派对上，马刺体育娱乐公司管理合伙人兼主席彼得·J·霍尔特 (Peter J. Holt) 感谢前来支持马刺的人们。“共赢政治行动委员会 (Win Together PAC)”筹集了数百万美元支持 A 项和 B 项提案。
校园内的穆迪中心按大学标准衡量是顶尖的，但作为任何球队的 NBA 永久主场都太小了。如果马刺队真的想搬迁，他们唯一的选择要么是在一座几乎肯定会以压倒性多数投票反对的城市中，赢得公投以获取公共球馆资金；要么是让他们的股东之一，比如奥斯汀本地人迈克尔·戴尔 (Michael Dell)，自掏腰包在其住所附近盖一座新楼。
而我们都知道，如果可以选择花别人的钱，亿万富翁们是有多不喜欢动用自己的积蓄。
即便马刺队在圣安东尼奥尝试了多种新球馆方案都告失败，奥斯汀可能成为“退而求其次的 Z 计划”，但在那种有限的情况下，这也说不通。
作为职业体育界最忠诚的粉丝群体之一，圣安东尼奥球迷将会反抗。而且马刺队还不得不与那个被称为德克萨斯大学 (University of Texas) 的巨大经济和政治巨头竞争，后者绝不会对全年的场馆竞争表现出太大的善意。
尽管如此，I-35系列赛的前三年在圣安东尼奥当地依然伴随着紧张的基调。每当马刺队的教练或球员对奥斯汀赞赏有加时，都会被误解为对圣安东尼奥含沙射影的抨击。
尽管布福德和其他马刺官员竭尽全力强调任何关于搬迁的猜测都是无稽之谈，但这种威胁感依然盘踞在球迷心中。
这种想法，无论多么荒谬，是否在去年秋天马刺队推动 A 项和 B 项提案时起到了助力作用？当然有可能。
无论如何，他们在投票箱中获胜了，这意味着本周在穆迪中心的两场比赛，所有与奥斯汀相关的焦虑都应该消失了。
马刺队属于圣安东尼奥已经超过50年，而且几乎肯定还会属于圣安东尼奥至少50年。
球队对于在奥斯汀培养粉丝群依然持认真态度，原因显而易见。只要让一些家庭在穆迪中心体验两个晚上的 NBA 魅力，他们可能就会愿意每赛季多跑几次州际公路去主场看球。通过一些公共活动展示对奥斯汀社区的关注，这个社区可能就会开始产生对马刺队的认同感。
然而，这是一个长期、宏观的工程。维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama) 和 斯蒂芬·卡斯尔 (Stephon Castle) 短时间内不会在那些标志性的奥斯汀壁画上取代威利、珍妮丝和那只“嗨，你好吗”青蛙。
就纯粹的艺术致敬而言，马刺队的官方葡萄酒公司依然无法与 Rudy’s Seafood 或 Fire House Church 相提并论。
但如果奥斯汀愿意接受这种商业安排呢？如果它能提供一个临时的“家外之家”，让牛仔竞技客场之旅 (rodeo road trip) 显得不那么艰辛呢？如果它能向金库贡献一点由企业资助、网红驱动的收入，用来支付文班亚马和卡斯尔未来的顶薪合同呢？
在无需焦虑的情况下，圣安东尼奥或许会找到一种方式来感谢奥斯汀人。
甚至可能分给他们一个好吃的塔可。
由生成式人工智能翻译，译文内容可能不准确或不完整，以原文为准。
点击查看原文：Why Spurs fans in San Antonio have no reason for Austin angst anymore
Why Spurs fans in San Antonio have no reason for Austin angst anymore
San Antonio Spurs fans cheer on their team during the second quarter against the Detroit Pistons at Moody Center on Friday, Feb. 21, 2025, in Austin, Texas. The Spurs fell to the Pistons 125-110.
AUSTIN – Within a dozen or so square miles around Lady Bird Lake, faces painted on the brick walls of pizza parlors and hotels and sandwich shops romanticize the past.
Willie Nelson and Janis Joplin. Folk singer John Prine and activist Angela Davis. Mister Rogers, Wonder Woman, and Daniel Johnston’s iconic “HI, HOW ARE YOU” frog.
A handful of locals would have you believe these murals are quintessentially Austin, and there might have been a time when they were right. But in this decade, there might not be a better representation of this city’s corporate-funded, influencer-driven culture than another painting, which commuters can see from the interstate.
It features a cartoon figure of the Coyote, fitted in his silver-and-black trimmed basketball jersey. It adorns the side of Wanderlust Wine Co., which not-so-coincidentally is the official wine of the San Antonio Spurs, who solicited the original mural and heralded it via a press release.
And if this seems less like an organic artistic statement than a barely disguised business arrangement?
Well, welcome to Austin in 2026. What did you think the Spurs were doing here in the first place?
They never tried to hide their intentions. Way back when the franchise announced plans to play two games per season at the Moody Center starting in 2023, CEO R.C. Buford explained in interviews with the Express-News that tapping into a booming metropolis 80 miles up the highway made obvious financial sense.
The Spurs weren’t trying to replace their market. They were trying to expand the one they had.
Still, angst-filled San Antonians fumed and fretted, dreading the idea that their neighbors to the north were about to steal something integral to their identity.
Already, Austinites had managed to convince a nation of hipsters they’d invented the breakfast taco. Were they about to lay claim to the Spurs, too?
The truth is, there was never any need to worry about that. Not only did the Spurs never want to move, Austin never wanted to take them.
Peter J. Holt, managing partner and chairman of Spurs Sports & Entertainment, thanks people for coming out to support the Spurs during a watch party at River North Icehouse in San Antonio, Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025. The Win Together PAC raised millions of dollars to support Propositions A and B.
The on-campus Moody Center is a state-of-the-art facility by college standards, but it’s too small to be a permanent NBA home for anyone. Had the Spurs really wanted to relocate, their only options would have been to win an election for public arena funding in a city almost certain to vote overwhelmingly against it, or to have one of their owners, like Austinite Michael Dell, foot the bill for a new building closer to his neighborhood.
And we all know how much billionaires love spending their own money when they have the option of spending someone else’s.
Even if Austin might have been a last-resort, Plan-Z fallback option if the Spurs had made repeated attempts at multiple options for a new arena in San Antonio and still failed, it never made much sense in those limited circumstances, either.
One of the most devoted fan bases in professional sports would have revolted. And the Spurs would have had to fight the enormous financial and political behemoth otherwise known as the University of Texas, which wouldn’t have taken too kindly to year-round competition.
Still, the first three years of the I-35 series arrived with undertones of tension back home. Every time a Spurs coach or player said something nice about Austin, it got misconstrued as a veiled shot at San Antonio.
And even though Buford and other Spurs officials went out of their way to insist that any speculation about relocation was nonsense, the idea of a threat lingered in fans’ minds.
Could that idea, however absurd, have benefited the Spurs in their push for Propositions A and B last fall? Of course it could have.
Either way, they won at the ballot boxes, which means that during the two games at Moody this week, all of the Austin-related angst should be gone.
The Spurs have belonged to San Antonio for more than 50 years, and they’re almost certainly going to belong to San Antonio for at least 50 more.
The franchise remains serious about developing a fan base in Austin, again for obvious reasons. Get a few families hooked by the NBA experience during two nights at the Moody Center, and they might be inclined to drive down the interstate for a few more every season. Do some public events to show interest in the Austin community, and that community might start to identify as part of the Spurs’.
That, however, is a long-term, big-picture project. Victor Wembanyama and Stephon Castle aren’t going to replace Willie and Janis and the “HI, HOW ARE YOU” frog on those quintessential Austin murals any time soon.
In terms of authentic artistic homages, the official wine company of the Spurs still can’t hold a candle to Rudy’s Seafood or Fire House Church.
But if Austin wants to embrace the business arrangement? If it can provide a temporary home away from home to make the rodeo road trip a bit less daunting? If it can contribute a little of that corporate-funded, influencer-driven revenue to the coffers paying for upcoming max-level Wembanyama and Castle contracts?
With no angst necessary, San Antonio might find a way to thank Austinites for that.
And maybe even offer them a good taco.
By Mike Finger, via San Antonio Express-News