A hometown home run

San Antonio's minor league baseball team scores new owners, including Texas sports legends

Alamo City's very own minor league baseball team is back to being locally owned.

San Antonio's very own minor league baseball team is back to being locally owned. Designated Bidders LLC has purchased the San Antonio Missions from longtime franchise owner David Elmore of the Elmore Group.

Designated Bidders LLC consists of a group of of San Antonio business executives, with notable members including David Robinson, Manu Ginobili, and Henry Cisneros, among others. Ryan Sanders Baseball, an organization founded by MLB Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan, Reid Ryan (who is Ryan Sanders Baseball CEO), and Don Sanders will also join Designated Bidders as owners/operators of the San Antonio Missions, according to a press release.

Ryan Sanders Baseball has 25 years of experience in the sports industry at the minor and major league levels in baseball. "Our team's dedication to excellence and the fan experience is in great alignment with the Designated Bidders group of investors, their vision and energy. This partnership will ensure the future of professional baseball in San Antonio for generations to come and we couldn't be happier to be on board for the journey," said Reid Ryan in a statement.

Designated Bidders founders Bruce Hill, Randy Smith, Bob Cohen, Peter J. Holt, and Graham Weston all come to the table with a strong track record of investing in past projects with great returns. The San Antonio Spurs, for example, won five championships during Holt's tenure as chairman of Spurs Sports & Entertainment, while Weston's development firm, Weston Urban, has also helped with the development of iconic San Antonio landmarks like Legacy Park and 300 Main.

In other words, the San Antonio Missions are in capable hands moving forward.

The release also notes that the new owners of the San Antonio Missions are well aware that Nelson Wolff Stadium must be renovated in order to meet the MLB's standards for professional development league stadiums. Randy Smith, CEO and co-founder of Weston Urban, has high hopes for the future of Nelson Wolff Stadium.

"We believe our city needs a vibrant stadium where pedestrian-friendly business, recreation, public spaces, art and culture attract the talent of today and tomorrow," Smith said in the release. "An approachable, family-friendly venue is a key component of continuing to build the city our kids will call home."

hottest headlines of 2024

10 most popular stories that capture city life in San Antonio in 2024

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Readers were mostly drawn to data about schools and finance, but tree health took precedent.

Editor's note: At the end of 2024, we're looking back at the stories that shaped San Antonio this year. In the case of CultureMap's City Life section, it was actually the other way around: San Antonians were most interested in gathering data and understanding where the city stands against others nationally. This year, we looked into education, income, and retirement. Yet taking care of trees outshined it all. Here are San Antonio's top 10 city stories of 2024.

1. Texas tree group issues dire warning to San Antonio owners of oak trees. A nonprofit dedicated to trees issued a warning to Texas citizens who own oak trees: Put down the pruning shears to avoid oak wilt.

2. Stellar San Antonio high school ranks among America's best in 2024, says U.S. News. The 2024 rankings put BASIS San Antonio - Shavano Campus at No. 64 nationally. The school also ranked No. 13 nationally among the best charter schools and No. 76 among the best STEM high schools.

3. 3 San Antonio-area companies hailed best places to work by U.S. News. Frost Bank, iHeartMedia, and the New Braunfels-based Rush Enterprises, Inc. made the list, which considered work-life balance, quality of pay, stability, and more.

4. 2 San Antonio neighbors relax among best places to retire in the Hill Country. New Braunfels and Boerne hung up their hats with other small towns with relatively low costs of living, low crime rates, and a variety of attractions.

5. San Antonio university ranks No. 18 among best small colleges in U.S. Trinity University has made the high honor roll. The esteemed San Antonio university ranks among America's top 20 small colleges and liberal arts colleges for 2025 by Niche.

6. 2 San Antonio billionaires land on Forbes' new list of richest Americans. Charles Butt and Eleanor Butt Crook, the chairman and a member of the board of directors of H-E-B, respectively, had estimated net worths of $8.9 billion and $3.7 billion.

7. San Antonio is the No. 4 most educated city in the country, says Forbes. In San Antonio, the bachelor’s completion rate for people 25 and up was 67.30 percent, and 29.56 percent of people in that age group have advanced degrees.

8. San Antonio university ranks No. 3 among best Texas colleges for 2025. Trinity University does it again. The private university performed the best in the category for best admission rates, ranking No. 2 with a 28 percent acceptance rate, according to U.S. News & World Report.

Trinity University aerial shot Trinity University made two appearances in this top 10 list.Trinity University/Facebook

9. This is how much it costs to raise a child in San Antonio. Raising a child certainly isn't cheap. In San Antonio and New Braunfels, annual costs of raising just one child can add up to more than $21,000 every year — and that wasn't even that high compared to the rest of the list.

10. Here's what it takes to be a middle class earner in San Antonio in 2024.According to the 2024 edition of SmartAsset's annual report, middle class households in San Antonio would need to make between $39,215 and $117,658.