I heard on 610 that when the conditions are within the range that they would open it, that Kubiak gets the final decision. MAYBE the closed roof (extra crowd noice) helped get that false start in OT when the Jag's were at the Texans 9 yard line. I was thinking before the game that if the Texans need that little bit of extra crowd noise to beat the Jag's then something has gone very wrong...well... The Texans did original have plans for an open air stadium. The retractable roof is because of the rodeo's demands. It will never be open for the rodeo as they have the giant video board that hangs from the closed roof.
And that's the problem. These pansies can't deal with mother nature. Makes me sick. That's exactly what it's about. I don't see any other reason why they wouldn't open it up unless some season ticket holders were complaining about sitting in the sun at a FOOTBALL GAME. How ridiculous does that sound?
If that's the case, those season ticket holders should have switched seats a long time ago. Pretty sure most people would be happy to be at the game regardless of their seat. I still think this comes down to the team (ie - Kubiak). Maybe their recievers/returners lose the ball in the sun easier when the roof is open (I know Jacoby had return issues with the sun for the few games where the roof was open during his tenure). Maybe they get more over-heated with the direct sun, no wind, and dark jerseys. I think crowd noise at Reliant gets overrated... its loud in there, but I haven't seen it affect opposing teams all that much. They all expect crowd noise going it. The only stadium where I've seen it really make a regular impact is Seattle (an open air stadium that was specifically designed to enhance crowd noise).
stadium and fans are louder when the roof is closed.. Do yall remember the big deal about MLB making the Astros open there roof and many people on here complained that the Astros lost there home field advantage. Whats any difference than this?
I've heard from a decently reliable source that Kubiak prefers the roof to be closed for the crowd noise. I'm not really sure if that's valid reasoning though because some of the loudest stadiums in the league (Seattle, Kansas City, Green Bay) are open. There was no excuse for the roof to be closed yesterday that will be satisfactory to me.
Baseball is different. Teams rarely play in "packed rabid domes" during the regular season... that's why the 04-05 Cardinals were so irked in the playoffs. (also, when the Minnesota Twins were in the homer-dome, the advantage was clearly evident come playoff time). Also, playoff baseball (where every pitch is that much more important) is a totally different game than regular season baseball. When the fans are going nuts on every single pitch, and the sound is magnified by the closed roof, things can definitely get swayed. In football, nearly every game features a sellout and crazy crowd. There are quite a few domes out there. Most teams use a silent snap count now to combat that. Since year one, there have been very few cases here where an opposing team was clearly rattled by the crowd noise.
I went to the Jags game last year. I now feel special that I got to witness the rare open roof. Maybe one day my ticket stub will be a collectors item and I can tell my grandkids about the crazy time when the Texans played in the sun.
It doesn't make all that much a difference in terms of W-L's. In fact, they may have a better winning % in open roof games now thanks to their 6-2 season of 2008 (where the roof had to be open due to hurricaine damage).
It does suck to sit in the direct sunlight for 4+ hours. The problem with Reliant is that if the roof is open, most people don't know if they're going to actually be in the sunlight or not. So, you have unprepared people getting baked. The crowd noise difference is probably negligible. I'm guessing the coaches/players and majority of fans like it closed, so, closed it shall be. My question is, if the Rodeo never opens it either, then why the hell did we need it to retract?
Its pretty easy for the Texans to let the season ticket holders know which seats are "sun" seats, and which ones aren't. The sun is in the same orientation for every noon game. Most of the stadium is shaded for 3pm games. The season ticket holders are the only ones who could complain game-in/game-out of sitting in the sun (and paying the same price to be "uncomfortable" vs somebody on the opposite end). The random fans who go to one-two games a year and are "blind-sided" by sitting in sun all day aren't really going to influence team policy. The reason why they needed it to retract was that at one point, the Texans preferred the open air stadium to begin with, while every other group wanted a dome.
I didn't say the one-timers were influencing anything, I'm just saying that is part of the problem with having a partially covered stadium. A lot of the people sitting in the sun aren't season ticket holders, though. And the Texans almost never play 3PM games. Someone said the Rodeo demanded the retractable roof. So I was curious what their reason was. I'm guessing they mean they were demanding a closed stadium, hence why we ended up with a roof at all.
Those season ticket holders that do hold those tickets should be given a warning/notice when they buy them... so they're at least informed at the time of purchase (or they have an option to sit somewhere else). The rodeo wanted a dome. Texans didn't (part of the trying to distance themselves from everything Oilers as much as possible). I do expect the Texans to get much more 3pm games in the future. Its the time slot for the "elite".
The retractable roof was put in to help attract Super Bowls, plain and simple. The league loves those crowd shots from the blimp.
The superdome doesn't have trouble getting superbowls. A stadium without a roof is going to be hard in Houston with 90+ degree weather.
they built a retractable roof, not because it is easy, but because it is hard. I don't really care though. Why not remove variables from the game that could hurt you, like sun/shade areas, wind, etc, and add a variable that can help you, ie, noise? Although, I'm pretty sure it would still be pretty loud with the roof open. I will say that it was nice when U2 played a few years back and the roof was open, albeit at night.
Even Jerry Jones opens up Cowboys Stadium. Don't know why they kept the roof closed yesterday.It was perfect weather.
