Minute Maid Park lease extension

I agree with the sentiments posted here. Lock it in!

We have an amazing ballpark that still has that "new car smell" 20 years later. There are very few (if any) "bad" seats and it's always a joy to be in the building.

Even better, we have a front office and roster befitting such a palace. Long live Enro... MINUTE MAID PARK!

 

I'm surprised more growth hasn't already happened around MMP.

There's a ton of undeveloped land, particularly along Texas where foot traffic is the highest. I still can't figure out what the hell those random houses are supposed to be.

 

I was born in 1974. Grew up with the Astros as if they were a family member. I was in college when they started talking about moving out of town if they didn't get a new ballpark. That terrified me, knowing I'd be moving back home to Houston after college.

I stayed up late at night in the Baylor library hitting refresh over and over again on the Chronicle's website...watching the referendum barely get passed. Whew. And thinking, I'll be pretty old before we have the Astros outside of a lease again!

I'm 44 now. This is huge news to me today. Lease extended to 2050. I'll be in my mid 70's before I have to consider the notion that my beloved Astros would be somewhere other than Houston. Eff Bud Adams for ever putting that concept and experience in my head.

Here's to a lot more years at MMP rooting on the 'stros!!! Slainte!!!

 

In fairness to Bud, he never had a stadium of his own. The Astrodome was built for Baseball first. Reliant/NRG was built for football and improvements have been made to that stadium too (The video boards come to mind). I do see the Texans/County getting together on an enlarged training facility.

 

That's what you took from my post?

 

In "fairness" to Bud, he demanded the awful (and very expensive) renovations of the Astrodome in the 80's... at that point, he was basically getting a new stadium built for him with property tax money.

He made demands for another one just 6 years later, where it was even more clear that the city wasn't going to bend over backwards again because of what he pulled and because of the type of guy he was.

The new buildings all exist despite of him... not because of him. As far as taxpayers footing the bill for private franchise stadiums, Houston has to be one of the leading cities doing so for all 3 (not saying that to brag or anything... billionaires should build their own ****ing stadiums).

 

That's pretty much exactly what he talked about in the press conference. He also mentioned the freeway re-do and potential greenspace, which I thought was interesting. BTW, what do you mean by "ballpark village"?

 

Currently living in Atlanta. The old ballpark was more than serviceable, but nothing was really around it and it was south of downtown. The only reason you would go that far to the park was to either watch a game or you were on the way to the airport.

The new park is surrounded by bars/restaurants and the area was completely redeveloped. It's crowded on the weekends even if the Braves aren't playing and much easier to get to.

 

Camden Yards opened in 1992, so it's only 26 years old but it has that classic feel without feeling old. It'll hold up for quite awhile. It's a simple park in a great area and it's well taken care of. One of my favorite parks I've been to.

 

The “only 26 years old” part stands out.

There was a time where a ballpark/arena was built to basically be obsolete in 30 years.

Most modern construction has a similar “limited shelf life” feel to it.

I’m glad they got some of these stadiums right. The one in Arizona and Miami, not so much.

 

In a day and age where teams leaves perfectly good ballparks behind, this is refreshing news.

 

TigerEye addressed this well. I will only that the Chicago Cubs are doing this as well. It is essentially ownership of the team investing in the area around the stadium and tying it into the stadium as a place to go either before/after games or even (hopefully) when games are not being played. It is an attempt to greatly increase revenue by capitalizing on the popularity/location of the team by making the whole adjacent area attractive to visit and spend money on. Imagine the Houston Galleria attached to MMP with all the tourists, shoppers and event watchers.

At first blush a lot of people are repulsed by the idea, as it largely benefits the team ownership. However it is important for the Astros because it likely means more money to spend on free agents and keeping our own players. The one is Chicago with Wrigley is going to be a massive success. The Astros need some degree of success just to keep up financially.

 

That's what I thought, I'm all for it, and it's been a long time coming. I just hadn't heard the term "ballpark village" before.

 

I must say, I always prefer the roof closed. Though, when it’s open it feels good- doesn’t exactly feel like MMP to me. Plus, closed roof doubles the roar of the crowd!

 

A Rockies Hall of Fame? They could just put up a 10 x 10 canopy out front and fit all 3 players that might qualify for it.

 

Don't forget the humidifier.