As retirement nears, Nelson Wolff encourages leaders to protect Spurs

As his long career in public service nears an end, Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff has a message for local leaders: Focus on protecting the Spurs rather than trying to secure a second major professional sports franchise for San Antonio. “In my view, you are not going to see an NFL team here for a long time,” Wolff said. “You are not going to see a Major League Baseball team here for a long time." “People don’t understand that. They say, ‘OK. You’ve got 2 million people. We’ll draw real good.’ Well, what they don’t know is, we don’t have the corporate base. And, without being too cynical, major league sports has become a corporate game.”

Wolff’s comments came during an interview in his 10th-floor office at the Paul Elizondo Tower. During the conversation, his wife, Tracy, looked for personal items to take home before his fifth term as county judge ends Dec. 31. “I’ve got some great stuff from the Texas Legislature. We’ll save some of that,” Wolff said, referring to mementos collected during his time as a state lawmaker in the 1970s. One prized possession in his large memorabilia collection is from long before he entered politics: a framed photo of his days as a Little League baseball player for the G.S. McCreless Home Builders. “Baseball was king then,” Wolff, 81, said wistfully. From his days as a skinny young ballplayer on the Southeast Side, Wolff grew to become arguably the most influential politician in San Antonio history. The Democrat’s legacy includes a sports landscape that has his fingerprints all over it.