Interesting Outsider's View of our Stadiums

Public swindling
By Eric Wilbur, Boston.com Staff, 1/27/2004

HOUSTON -- You could tell this was going to be one ground breaking news conference, what with representatives handing out invitations for it in the media center. Folks who were expecting a vacation villa tour filed out in an orderly fashion.

The owners of Houston's three major league sports franchises held a press conference yesterday entitled, "How we swindled Houston into public funding." Or something to that effect. I couldn't really hear over all the backslapping involved.

Since 1996, residents have contributed an enormous sum of $696 million for the construction of three facilities; Reliant Stadium, home of the NFL Texans and Sunday's Super Bowl (and apparently a rodeo), Minute Maid Park, home to Jimy Williams, Roger Clemens, and the Astros, and the Toyota Center, home of the Houston Rockets, apparently owned by Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the Scooby Gang judging by their odd logo.

Couple more million here or there and Houstonians could have bought the Red Sox. Bud Selig pending, of course.

It was after the 1996 NFL season when Bud Adams took his Houston Oilers to Tennessee because the city wouldn't build a new stadium for the future co-MVP and company. You think that freaked out folks here? Eight years have passed, and now, if you wanted to build a stadium for say, oh, a beer league Wiffle ball team, you could probably get public funds.

According to the owners, the public is just peachy-keen with having ponied up all that dough. Why, Texans owner Bob McNair cited a poll where 56 percent of those asked felt they were getting their money's worth. See, there's your proof right there.

Of course, the flip side is that 44 percent feel they aren't getting their money's worth, and that's an even more enlightening number than 56 depending upon the participants. If you ask 100 people, each sporting a Yao Ming jersey, what do you think their answer is going to be? If you ask 100 other folks, who think David Carr is a new line of Volkswagens, what do you think they're going to say?

Not that these aren't nice places. For a total cost of $1.138 billion they had better be. In fact, they're quite remarkable. Teddy Sarandis would be in heaven down here, with not one, but two retractable roof stadiums. Wow!

Imagine the FleetCenter, but nice. That's the Toyota Center. The Field Formally Known As A Bankrupt Houston Enterprise is a gorgeous facility, save for the stupid Duffy Cliff-inspired slope in center field. Now named Minute Maid Park, it is the oldest of the city's Big Three, and it opened in 2000, 88 years after Fenway Park.

But here's where Massachusetts folks and Patriots fans should take pride. The total construction cost for Reliant Stadium was $500 million, of which the public contributed $275 million. The total construction cost for Gillette Stadium was $325 million, of which the public contributed nothing aside from half a decade of headache-inducing chaos. South Boston first rejected Kraft. The state refused to finance a new stadium. Connecticut jumped in and made an offer, one Bob Kraft accepted to pin Massachusetts legislation's collective back against the proverbial wall. We all knew there was about as much of a chance of the Pats playing at Adrien's Landing as "My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiance" has of landing an Emmy.

In the end, Gillette (CMGI, we hardly knew ye) was privately financed. The state kicked in infrastructure costs. The Patriots are in the Super Bowl for the second time in three years and everybody's happy. Well, maybe not Connecticut Governor John G. Rowland, but he's got enough on his worry plate right now anyway.

It's not that public financed ventures are bad. All you have to do is look at Baltimore's Inner Harbor to see how a place like Camden Yards (still the best) can revitalize an area. But there is an air (or err) about these Houston places, an elite mentality. For instance, the Lexus Lounge at the Toyota Center, complete with plasma TVs, leather couches, and private dining rooms is so bling-bling it would even pry J. Lo.'s eyes wide open. Of course, don't kid yourself that it isn't the same way in Foxborough and every new venue throughout the country. Catering to the rich is a way of life in sports today. But these digs in Toyota and Minute Maid make the private boxes at Gillette look like Archie Bunker's living room.

And how much of the public, paying for these extravagant rooms, gets to see these privileged spots? How many get to watch the Rockets play from a private suite? Millions who foot the bill will never see what they're paying for. In a way, I guess that's no different than wondering where in the heck my salary went when I glance at my pay stub, but at least that dough is going to some dirty politician, not Astros owner Drayton McClane's pocket. Or the newest Astro, The Rocket.

The public voted, and they chose to donate stadium financing. Fifty-six percent are happy that they did. Indeed, the Texans, Astros, and Vampire Slayers are very happy with what they've accomplished down here. They even took the time to tell us so.

Meanwhile, all poor Bob Kraft gets to talk about is his team's presence in the Super Bowl. Again. Not even a retractable roof to speak of.

Missing history

Actual conversation with an NFL transportation volunteer:

"So, they must be going nuts up there in Boston."

"Yeah, indeed they are."

"I mean it would be huge. This would be the Patriots' first Super Bowl win."

"Um, what?"

"Their first."

"Or, second. They won it two years ago."

"Oh, right. They beat the Rams. Where am I?"

Seeing as this is the Space City, Mars.

On the town

Thanks a bunch to the multitude of you that wrote in emphasizing that the bellman didn't know what he was talking about when I arrived with my late night hunger. I'll be sure to explore some of your suggestions. Among Matt Kerrigan's, a transplanted Bostonian in Houston, I had to share his story:

"I was living in Switzerland when the Pats beat the Rams. On Super Bowl Sunday, I got up at 1 a.m. (by then it was actually Super Bowl Monday in Europe) and was able to find (and tape) the game, which was broadcast in German. The only real distraction was that the commercial breaks on Swiss TV weren't synched to the US commercial breaks, so Brady would drop back to pass and (cut!) suddenly you're in the middle of a German beer commercial wondering how the play went. This time I'm not only in the right country, but living in the right city, about 6 minutes from Reliant."

On the bright side, at least it was German beer and not "Heidi."

Courtesy (or not?) of the Houston Chronicle print edition comes the "Web Site of the Day," amiannoying.com, which lists reasons why the Patriots and their fans might (or might not) be annoying.

Houston hosted an Opening Ceremony last night, honoring the 38 (get it?) sports legends from the city's history. Included were Clemens, Mary Lou Retton, Hakeem Olajuwon, and Nolan Ryan. Musical guest for the evening was Yanni, who would be high on a list of 38, but legend wouldn't be the word used.

If you need a mental picture of the colossal George Brown Convention Center, where the media center is housed for the week, think Death Star, but with color.

There's a familiar tune being played down here, with folks just wanting to talk baseball, even with the Big Game in town, somewhat akin to the beyond ridiculous A-Rod situation in Boston, while the Pats raised their hand like the nerd in the back row trying to get attention. But who can blame them? The Astros are going to be one difficult team to deal with in the NL Central.

Pushing the naming rights to the edge: At the Toyota Center, you can park your car in the Tundra Garage. Not sure about the Highlander Nosebleed Seats.

Some comfort for New Englanders mired in a snowstorm. While it was 70-plus degrees here yesterday, some Mt. Washington scale gales came through town last night, dipping temps into the 30's. Some comfort for a New England skier mired in Houston. Heck, it was 70 degrees with not a scant of humidity yesterday. The hill can wait a fortnight.