Socializing the Risk: Why San Antonio's Newest Stadium Project Looks Exactly Like Its Oldest Financial Failure

This thesis investigates how San Antonio has historically responded to large-scale urban development projects, comparing the 1968 World Fair development to the contemporary Project MARVEL proposal for a new Spurs arena and entertainment district. Using archival newspapers, city records, public opinion polling, voter turnout data, social media campaigns, and media interviews with developers, this project conducts a comparative content analysis to examine how resistance, rhetoric, and public discourse have evolved across two of the most expansive mega-developments San Antonio has ever seen. Whereas HemisFair ’68 left behind limited documentation of public dissent despite its massive neighborhood impacts, Project MARVEL has generated widespread, visible, and digitally mediated opposition. This research asks to what extent does the contemporary 'Project Marvel' proposal rely on a sanitized historical narrative of HemisFair ’68 to justify a recurring model of socialized financial risk and systemic resource diversion. Furthermore, what does this reliance suggest about the developmental utility and long-term socioeconomic viability of San Antonio’s current urban strategy?