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What happens when you host a sci-fi convention on the site of a basketball championship?

I’m not a sports person. There’s a reason I write about costumed crimefighters on a pop culture website. I can tell you useless trivia about obscure Marvel characters like Millie the Model for hours, but I have no clue how many people are on a typical basketball team or what the scoring system is. Occasionally I’ll go to a sports game with a group of friends, but for me it’s mostly a social thing. I generally have no idea what’s going on, and I feel like I’m disguising myself as one of the normies.  

As a result, I don’t keep up with sports, and I had no idea what I was in for when I flew to San Antonio, Texas to cover Spacecon for Popverse. The convention took place June 12-14 at the Freeman Coliseum Expo Halls. If you follow sports, then you might know that Spacecon wasn’t the only event being held there that weekend. On June 13 the New York Knicks faced the San Antonio Spurs at Frost Bank Center. The game was part of the NBA Finals, which I’m told are a big deal.

Here’s where it gets interesting. The Freeman Coliseum and the Frost Bank Center are part of the same property, and they share a parking lot. They both sit on what’s known as the Coliseum Complex. Think of it like your old high school, and the way your classroom and the cafeteria were part of the same campus.

And thus, on June 13, a science fiction convention was being held at the site of a major basketball championship. I found myself completely blindsided by the chaos and energy this convergence created. My first clue came when my rideshare dropped me off at the Coliseum Complex that morning. Most of the roads had been closed off, and the parking attendants weren’t letting drivers drop people off at the usual spot. I thought this was odd, since the previous day hadn’t been like this, but I chalked it up to the Saturday crowd being bigger than the Friday crowd.

My driver said, “This is probably because of the Spurs game.” I knew that was a sports team, but for the life of me I had no clue which sport they played. I figured there was a game going on across town, never suspecting it was happening on the same property as the convention.

I told my friend Cynthia, who is a San Antonio resident, that if the Spurs game inflated rideshare prices I would just wait around for things to die down. “No, you don’t want to wait! After the games, they completely shut down the roads. It will take you forever to get back if you wait,” she said in a text message. I told her I didn’t mind waiting, and she made it clear I had no clue what I was in for. “I mean, like HOURS! Uber will be slammed after the game.” Uh oh.

I put the Spurs out of my mind and focused on the convention. However, as the day went on it became harder and harder to ignore the upcoming match. The panel moderators kept referencing it, and even the celebrities gave their thoughts.

“There’s a lot going on in town tonight. I got 30 minutes, and I want to respect everybody’s time, especially on a night that is so exciting for the city,” John Cena said during his panel. Oh, it sounds like this is no ordinary basketball game.

I was able to surmise that the San Antonio Spurs were the city’s home team, and they were playing the New York Knicks. Since this was San Antonio’s home team, there were a lot of fans in the building, and they were very invested in the outcome. Apparently, if the Knicks won this game, it would be their first championship victory in decades. No matter who you were rooting for, this was huge. I checked social media, and I saw posts indicating that people had flown in from all over the country to see the game. This was more than a typical basketball game – this was a BIG deal.

By the end of the day Spacecon was completely in basketball mode. I sat down for the Star Wars actors panel, and the screens surrounding the stage were all playing the basketball game. When the Knicks scored, the room cheered, and it was louder than I had heard them cheer during any of the panels the entire weekend.

The audience was so enthralled in the game that they groaned when the moderator turned it off to begin the panel. However, even a panel about a galaxy far, far away couldn’t escape the game. Hayden Christensen, Ian McDiarmid, and Jimmy Smits came onstage, and the very first question they were asked was who they were rooting for. Hayden was wearing a Spurs hat, so his answer was obvious. “I want it to go seven games. So, go Spurs tonight,” Smits says.

(I have no clue if that’s how the rules work, but I’ll take Bail Organa’s word for it)

“I have no idea what we’re talking about,” McDiarmid answered, and in that moment, I’ve never felt more connected to Emperor Palpatine.

Halfway through the panel the moderator announced that Hayden would be leaving to catch the rest of the game. To be clear, this seemed like a preplanned exit, and not something Hayden sprung on them. Still, I had never seen a celebrity leave in the middle of their panel to catch a basketball game. I guess this really was a big deal. At least Hayden didn’t have to go far.

After the panel I took Cynthia’s advice and got out as fast as I could. It wasn’t fast enough. My rideshare was still more expensive than usual, but probably cheaper than it would’ve been had I waited. The interstate might as well have been a parking lot, but I eventually made it out. Once I was miles away from the Coliseum, I grabbed dinner at a local Chili’s, and everyone inside was watching the game. You can’t run from the Knicks or Spurs.

As many of you probably already know, the Knicks won, and this was a pretty big deal. Once again, I’m not a sports guy, but I’m told this is something that hasn’t happened since 1973. On Sunday, the last day of the convention, vendors, panel moderators, and celebrities all had something to say about the game. In many ways, the Knicks and the Spurs were the real starts of Spacecon 2026.

To be clear, I don’t want to give the impression that I see myself as above basketball or sports in general. It’s a fandom I respect, even if I’m not entirely fluent in the language. There are a lot of similarities between sci-fi fandom and sports fandom. Both involve dressing up, waiting in line to meet celebrities, and traveling the globe for big events. And for one weekend in June 2026, both of them shared a space at San Antonio’s Coliseum Complex.

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