It’s the football equivalent of old Turner Field. Just a cookie cutter run of the mill stadium with zero character. It’s not trash though, it’s just boring as ****.
The concrete heat island effect is super pronounced here. It’s atrocious. It’s frequently 5 degrees hotter once you get inside the beltway than it is in Conroe, Fulshear, etc. and it feels about 20 degrees hotter. The heat is downright oppressive
I've said it for ~20 years on this bbs and elsewhere, but paving over the Katy Prarie was a bad, baaaad idea.
I hate driving to that area for any event - rodeo, Teans game, etc. What a pain to get out of that area.
I don’t go to the rodeo primarily because I’m not a fan of country music and it’s a colossal pain in the ass lol
Back when Alabama was huge, that was a great band to see at the rodeo Oak Ridge Boys, Statler Brothers, etc... But I get what you're saying
Last time I went to take my girlfriend in high school to see the Judds. That was 1991, friend. Been to the cook off a few times for business related events. I’m good, man lol
Last times I was at the Dome: Last Oiler Season, Dad gave me his corporate tickets (because nobody else wanted them) so my gf and I went, could have sat anywhere (maybe 10K fans) but we sat about 10 rows behind the Ravens sideline. I got to yell a bit back and forth with Rookie Ray Lewis. It was great. '99 Stros clincher vs the Reds?, with postgame Willie Nelson concert, last song in the Dome was Willie singing "Turn out the Lights, the Party's Over"
While watching the Colt 45's, I saw it being built from the stands of Colt Stadium, the temporary field in use that eventually was dismantled and sold to someone in Mexico. The mosquitos were incredibly bad, as was the team. In 1965 they became the Astros, of course, and were equally bad. The mosquitos, however, not so much.
The dome had apartments.........Holy hell, didn't know that. The logistics today VS then is staggering, like where do you park, how do you get in......Fasinating stuff
They weren't for the public. Roy Hofeinz had quarters there. They had a Presential suite for the off-chance they'd host a president (I think LBJ was there). But it was otherwise not used and was easily torn down/absconded on subsequent renovations.
It's pretty embarrassing that [cliche] we can put a man on the moon but we can't [/cliche] figure out what to do with the Astrodome. I predict 20 years from now the Dome will still be there....slowly rotting away like it is now.
Anybody who truly loved this place or was attached to it (as was I) does not want to see it continue to rot. These are also usually the same people who scoff at wasting taxpayer resources on ventures that are unlikely to be successful. There is no clear cut purpose for it. When the Texans eventually leave the site, there will be even less focus/attention on the grounds year-round (which will also likely eventually lead to the rodeo wanting something different), and then they'll have the entire NRG complex rotting vs just the Astrodome (given that land doesn't sell or get developed around there even with sports teams and events like super bowls and final fours... see the Astroworld site).
I don't know that you need it to have a purpose. It's a historic landmark, that like most landmarks, will go under-cared and under-appreciated for centuries, until someone turns it into a historic site that people visit like stonehendge.
