Fine... but I seriously doubt any sort of stadium referendum would have passed at the time. Hell, it barely passed even after the Oilers had already left... despite the fact that none of the raised taxes would be assesed to residents. In the end, the city of Houston was willing to build a new stadium... they just weren't willing to build one for Bud Adams.
Bud Adams offered to chip in like $60 million of HIS OWN MONEY !!!! to stay in Houston, and was rejected. The city of Houston failed to see the changing landscape of PSL's and luxury suites, and it got screwed by Drayton " it is a fine stadium" McLane as well. Drayton said the Astrodome was fine, and within a year of the Oilers leaving was lobbying for a new Baseball only stadium. If you step away from the "Haterade" on Bud Adams and look at it purely on dollars and cents....the city of Houston got SCREWED, they paid more than THREE TIMES as much money for the Texans as they would have keeping the Oilers...... And, regardless of Bud Adams, the people of Houston...LOVED that team like no other. It was the FIRST professional sports franchise in Houston, and Bud was not afraid of throwing money around to try to get better...Warren Moon etc..etc..etc.. I miss the Oilers, and think that Bob Lanier was an absolute MORON for letting them go.....Bud Adams or not. DD
I miss them too... but don't act like Bud is the innocent victim in all of this. Just look at how he held the city hostage just 7 years prior, and the city GAVE IN to his demands, and re-did (ruined) the Astrodome. The county still had a ton of payments left on that stadium when he demanded the new one. Of course they didn't understand the need for another stadium with luxury suites... they just got done retrofitting the dome with almost as many suites as Reliant has now. Also, any new Bud-dome, despite his $60 million token payment, would not have likely implemented the hotel/car rental tax... thus causing the residents of Houston a further tax burden. Finally, even though they paid a pretty price for the Texans... first of all, none of it was your, mine, or any other resident of Houston's money, second of all they got a MUCH better stadium, in a much better location, third of all they got MMP and Toyota Center (much better downtown venues then a football stadium), and fourth of all... they got away from a franchise that seemed "cursed". Ok... maybe the last part didn't come true. (yet another BBS debate that has been going on for years... and will likely never end.)
I never said he was innocent, but he was only asking for the city to give him what ALL THE OTHER OWNERS were getting at the time. And, because of Lanier's short sightedness, it cost 3 times the money....and YES that does include you and me, if you ever stay in a hotel, or rent a car in Houston....it directly hurts the businesses in Houston.... They could have had relient stadium 10 years earlier, and we could have seen Steve McNair nearly lead the Oilers to the promised land. Bud Adams was not a saint, but he was a business man who took a risk ON THE CITY OF HOUSTON before anyone else did..... He wasn't perfect, but I liked him, I just saw him as a shrewd business man. DD
And what about the fact that the city had given him just that 7 years before, and was still paying big-time $$$ for it... that, and the preceding "we're moving to Jacksonville" hostage situation played a HUGE role in what transpired. As was said... Houston never had a problem with building a new stadium (so all the talk about tax, or who's putting up what money is superfluous).
Am I the only one that felt a bit of jealousy tonight watching the Jags. They looked great, played hard, fired up, fans going crazy, beat the SuperBowl champs. I would like some of that action. An expansion team reconstructed in the last few years, four I think. Is everybody smarter than us? Is there something in the water in Houston? Well at least the Jacksonville fans had a great night, alot of fun, cheering and all, winning, must be a neat feeling, really exciting. Yeah, really exciting.
Nick, that is just business......the landscape changed during those 7 years, and Bud even offered to pony up some of his own cash...NONE of the other owners are doing that. Lanier blew it, the city should have kept the Oilers....I like Kubiak, but he is not half the coach that Fisher is....and Casserly vs. Floyd Reese....LOL. DD
Tell me how the lanscape changed in those 7 years? New stadiums at the time already had luxury suites, and the NFL was rolling in the TV dough. If Bud didn't want to be a tennant to the Astros, why didn't he just demand the new stadium in 1986? If you think "that is just business"... I hope nobody swindles you into making deals like that in the future. You tell a city you're going to move to get them to commit close to $100 million dollars to retrofit a 20 year old stadium... and then when you realize that you just want to get a new one alltogether (after the money has already been spent), you throw another hissy-fit. No other owners were threatening to move their teams again after they had already gotten what they demanded... plus you're flat-out wrong when you say that no other owner beside Bud Adams has offered to chip in some of their own money to build a stadium. In the end, the only people that will feel "screwed" are those fans who still think the Tennessee Titans are still synonymous with the Houston Oilers... news-flash: the Oilers are dead, that franchise cares nothing about Houston or their current fans or ex-fans, and continuing to whine about why they left, who was at fault is just a waste of time... unless you have a time machine, and plan on fixing all of it.
