Houston to bid for Super Bowl LI (UPDATE: Houston lands 2017 Super Bowl!)

But when you say "all"... is the outrage in any way representative of the actual populace? Houston is such an indifferent sports city, generally; transient, by nature... I just can't believe the pro-Dome component is really anything other than a very loud but ultimately very small minority.

 

Not really true.

Six Flags was a publicly traded company whose board of directors grossly mishandled its assets. They closed several properties, Astroworld included because of corporate financial reasons. Additionally, Astroworld was having contractual issues with Harris County over parking. Ultimately Six Flags decided it was no longer worth it to fight the battle and incorrectly predicted they could get much much more money for the land than it was ultimately worth. It was one of half a dozen or more blunder made by that board that saw it finally swept out of power and the company into bankruptcy before a re-organization saved the brand and brought it back from financial ruin.

From the Houston Business Journal:

"On September 12, Six Flags Chief Executive Officer Kieran Burke announced that Six Flags AstroWorld would be closed and demolished at the end of the 2005 season. The company cited issues such as the park's performance, and parking issues involving the Houston Texans football team, Reliant Stadium, and the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, leveraged with the estimated value of the property which included the park. Company executives were expecting to receive upwards of $150 million for the real estate, but ended up receiving $77 million when the bare property (which cost $20 million to clear) was sold to a development corporation in 2006."

The former Six Flags, which bears no resemblance to the current Six Flags in operation and governance, and its incompetence (which also included not giving a proper maintenance budget to Astroworld for many years, and bringing only old recycled rides from other parks and calling it a new attraction), is what killed Astroworld.

More specific to some comments in this thread asking "who over the age of 14 cares about Astroworld?".... I hear comments all the time from people who lament the closing of Astroworld, sad they can't share their childhood memories with their own kids, or commenting on the big empty field across from NRG.

It was a huge part of the fabric of living in this area, whether some people understand that or not.

 

I'm not sure I understand. It was still a private actor (not the county, city, etc) making a decision to shut down a park, right? It's not like we had a chance to vote on it.

I think we're actually agreeing with one another, DBrunk...you're putting it at the feet of Six Flags, and I'm saying that too.

 

The Dome is dead already... Nobody wants to step up and execute a plan for revival because a.) every possible plan has a huge risk of failure (no slam-dunk), and b.) any funding mechanism that would involve the public is likely to fail (just like it did with the last vote).

If a plan was announced tomorrow to get rid of it, there would be a small vocal outcry that "Houston doesn't value its history!", and that would be about it. There would be no protests, no viable grassroots campaigns, and no tears will be shed (if so, tears should be shed right now, everyday, as the Dome just sits there... Rotting).

 

That loud, small minority are a bunch of geezers who have lived here their whole lives and vote.

 

I said that; it was me. From the article you posted: "The company cited issues such as the park's performance..."

Attendance had fallen, to the point that the land had more value. Why attendance fell is, really, irrelevant. It fell. There's always some "absence makes the heart grow fonder" missives inside the void, and nostalgia is a powerful drug... but the reality is that it was an outdated, irrelevant park long before they finally put it out of its misery and people had stopped going to it.

So was... Joskes and Gerlands and Foleys and Oshmans and....... I grew up northside, spent roughly $1,789,745,679 at a place called Games People Play. Loved that place more than I loved my parents... it's demise had exactly zero-point-zero impact on my life and I certainly wasn't "embarrassed" by its closing.

That's what drew me into this; someone suggested AstroWorld closing was "embarrassing" while trying to equate it to a professional sports team, both of which are just, I'm sorry, the silliest of notions.

Like the Dome, it had a nice run that probably peaked in 1980... the city will not skip a single beat by leveling either.

 

But I'm among that group (old, native) and would love to see it demolished; I really think the % of people who would truly be upset is insignificantly tiny.

 

Did they all support the last failed vote?

I was practically conceived at the Dome... loved every second of every game/event there... I paid my respects a long time ago, and now I want it out of its misery.

It actually takes away from the rodeo/gameday experience... NRG park could be accentuated/improved without it.

 

And I tip my hat to you for it, but you're an anomaly.

We'll get to the point when the herp and derp (just go look at the hangout thread) over demolishing the Dome definitely favors the pragmatic over the idealists, but that time probably isn't here just yet.

 

The last vote wasn't about tearing it down or putting up a parking lot.

But yeah, they mostly leaned toward the convention center because it meant saving the Dome.

I'm amazed and discouraged by the small margin in which that proposition did not pass. (something like only 6-7 points)

 

I think most people have a problem with how much money is used.

 

No... it was about salvaging and making use of the structure.

If you can't find a viable use for it, it has to go... end of discussion.

 

The last vote was about a very specific use, as I recall. A park idea. It was up or down on that specific idea. Right?

 

Well that's exceedingly dumb.

Its just sitting there... 15 years now... a power-wash isn't going to keep it pretty for another 15.

 

It was deemed the 'best' of all the proposals submitted... and it failed.

 

Proposition 2 was for turning the Dome into a convention space/center.

It failed only by a margin of 6 percent.

 

Got it. Thanks!

 

And Minute Maid Park/NRG was approved only by a margin of 2 percent.

It rightly failed because Houston really doesn't need more convention space (plus they've recently spent a lot to renovate the convention space they already have).

 

Six Flags Ohio - It was never demolished and sits languishing as it has since 2007

Six Flags New Orleans - It was never demolished and it sits there languishing as it has since 2005.

 

It's like we're rednecks collecting old arenas in our pasture.