HPS lights require a lot of energy.. not sure mcnair wants to pay that. it would grow a beautiful field though..
You need quite a bit of land/unused space to keep 2-3 fields in rotation... then again, I think the Astrodome space is the perfect place to do that (or relocate the practice fields to where the Astrodome is, and use the practice field space for the growing).
Turning the Astrodome area for a place to put grass for NRG will never ever happen. That would be a very awful way to treat that stadium. They need to tear it down and turn it into a park.
As opposed to how well they've been treating it for the last 20 years?!?! Letting it rot from the inside out? The park will never happen either. Nobody in Houston would go to this park outside of 8 football gamedays (and those would be non-tailgating people)/events/rodeos... hell, not enough people use the actual parks that exist throughout the city currently. Its either going to stay as is, turned into a useless "convention/mixed space" place that will never really be used, or it will be turned into more prime parking. This was primarily in response to the poster saying to grow the grass closer by (to cut down on travel costs of the larger pallets), or if they were ever able to convert Reliant to have a "moveable" field (like AZ), a big limiting factor for that right now is outside space for the field (which the Astrodome area could provide). So, with a list of nothing but bad ideas, I'll take the one that actually provides a purpose... trying to make the current grass field better.
You don't need people to go to the park outside of game days because it won't require employees. It would just be a nice outdoor park that people can chill at on gamedays. Go early and throw the football and maybe they can put some stuff for kids. You would have a cool memorial to the dome with the circle of posts representing the skeleton of the dome. It was a great proposal from the Texans/Rodeo. I get that you think the land should be used for that purpose but it would never ever happen. I'm not sure what you are trying to say there. I guess it's slightly more realistic then cutting a whole at the bottom of the stadium and installing a retractable field within a enclosed stadium. They would have to eliminate the north or south concourses. See the picture of the only retractable field in existence. It has an opening on the field with no part of the stadium behind it. Best proposal for Astrodome: http://www.click2houston.com/news/a...lan-proposed-by-texans-houston-rodeo/26890202
And the amazing stuff about this is, that you can play 4 quarters on it in the afternoon, take it home and just get stoned to the bejeezus-belt that night on the stuff. Spoiler
Sure... if they wanted it exactly like Arizona's, it would be impossible... but I'm looking for something more innovative. Tunnel underground tracks/rails that will transport the field out east under the stadium towards the Astrodome. Sure, its probably impossible... but until an engineer says it is, you explore any and all opportunities. As far as a "park" goes, most people who go to the games have their hands full tailgating. I would welcome a central-plaza type area sort of like the Saints have... but I also think that's what they envisioned for Bud Plaza. Sure, people would go there... it would look good on some exterior shots (certainly better than the dome). However, if they decide this larger pallet idea is feasible, and want to move the fields closer to the stadium, there's plenty of land to choose from (either the Astrodome site, or the practice field site... with the practice facilities then moving to the dome site).
The original plan was for the Astrodome to have a natural grass field but alas, the grass died and thus was born Astroturf.
The grass wouldn't have died as quickly if they weren't forced to paint the panels because the outfielders kept losing the ball in the glare. (but knowing what we know now, chances are the grass would have died regardless). Also, a panel system is still better than astroturf...
Arizona wasnt the first. Sapporo Dome in Japan and Veltins Arena in Germany both opened in 2001, before NRG Stadium. Here's a look at the rollout field at Veltins Arena. Even better than Arizona, it rolls out underneath the stands, so there's no huge gap like in Phoenix. http://youtu.be/Hl6tpWt-yZo <iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/Hl6tpWt-yZo" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
