UTSA's Alamodome agreement a done deal

In what sounded like a recruiting pitch, UTSA athletic director Lynn Hickey on Thursday ticked off the names of three teams that play football in domed stadiums in Texas.

The Dallas Cowboys, the Houston Texans and ... the UTSA Roadrunners.

“How cool is that?” Hickey asked.

The Roadrunners have been granted a licensing agreement that will allow them to continue playing in the Alamodome through 2035.

City Council unanimously approved the deal Thursday morning.

UTSA played its inaugural season at the dome last year in the first year of what had been a five-year contract, with the possibility of two one-year additions.

After drawing record-setting crowds for an NCAA start-up program in 2011, UTSA started to work on an extension. The city was more than happy to oblige.

Finally, the “license agreement” was announced two days before the home opener in Year 2 of the program.

Alamodome facility operations coordinator Tom McAfee applies some blue while painting UTSA’s logo on the field Thursday. Alamodome facility operations coordinator Tom McAfee applies some blue while painting UTSA’s logo on the field Thursday. Photo: Kin Man Hui, SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS Photo: Kin Man Hui, SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS Image 1 of / 11 Caption Close UTSA's Alamodome agreement a done deal 1 / 11 Back to Gallery

Now the Roadrunners are set with a home stadium for the next two decades and more.

“It's just a great advantage,” Hickey said.

Hickey has never subscribed to the theory that UTSA needed to build a stadium of its own on or near its Northwest side campus.

“For a start-up program, that would be cost prohibitive, to find $100 million (for construction),” she said.

Hickey also noted that a UTSA tract of property at Park West, just west of the main campus, isn't big enough to house a football stadium along with other planned athletics facilities.

“And, why would you want to be away from the River Walk?” she asked. “It's just a natural draw.”

UTSA gained some financial incentives in the new deal that made it attractive. The city also gained a tenant that will generate nearly $1 million a year for the 65,000-seat dome.

The city hasn't had a major sports tenant there since the Spurs departed in 2002.

“The past year was our most successful since the Spurs left,” said Mike Sawaya, director of the city's convention and sports facilities. “And it's mostly attributable to UTSA.”

New practice facility: An on-campus football practice field will be built next summer and is expected to be available when the Roadrunners start fall camp next August, Hickey said.

UTSA has been training at Farris Stadium, a Northside Independent School District property west of campus, since the first practices in 2010.

jbriggs@express-news.net