I dunno why sports is the only billion dollar business that asks the public to fund their place of venue.
30,000 people in a 70,000 stadium is an echo chamber and not conducive to a good home crowd atmosphere. you want a stadium that will fit the size of the crowd. bad idea.
remodel the astrodome to fit 40,000 fans + retractable roof. use the remaining space for offices, medical facility, restaurants, shopping...
First of all, it would probably cost twice as much to renovate the Astrodome to have a retractable roof. Secondly, 40,000 is too much for the Dynamo right now. They averaged about 16K this year and will probably average between 16-20K next year. Thirdly, the stadium will not have a roof. Soccer is an outdoor sport and even in the Houston heat it's too costly for the roof and not enough return on the investment.
twice as much as purchasing land down town, getting permits, building the stadium, solving parking issues that may arrise?... i read somewhere that their new stadium downtown would cost in the neighborhood of 30 million. 30 million in renovations to the astrodome would do wonders. plus you could add offices, medical facilities, restaurants, shops, hotel rooms..... the astrodome is just sitting there... seems pointless to build a new stadium and let a current, unoccupied stadium sit there and go to waste.
As Donny said, it's a foregone conclusion that they're getting a stadium (or they'll leave town); MLS's master plan calls for each team to own a stadium to ensure profitability, since teams currently playing in existing stadiums have to split the profits from concessions and parking with the owner. The Galaxy and F*C* Dallas are currently profitable because of their stadiums, and the improved TV deal should further increase profits.
I just skimmed the topic. I agree that the Dynamo should have their own stadium. I see pro soccer moving into the 4th spot in sports. Hockey has really fallen on hard times, and soccer is gaining popularity by leaps and bounds. I don't think that remodeling the Astrodome is a good idea. It's a good auxiliary stadium for the rodeo or trade shows, but come on, it's seriously outdated. Why should the Dynamo settle for it when the Texans got a new stadium? There's a perfectly good piece of land sitting across 610 from the astrodome and reliant stadium waiting for a new stadium. The rodeo would certainly support it. Throw in a decent mass transit system and we would be a lock to get the olympics in the next 20 years.
Not paying taxes for a company that is in it for making money. It disturbs the free market. Anyways I though the county was gonna build it like Reliant?
The point is so that the Dynamo don't have to share revenues. With UH controlling the stadium, they control scheduling, concessions, parking, advertisments, etc., etc. It's been a great deal to this point, but the Dynamo will not stay if it had to continue long term. Ill-Skillz & Bladeage - thanks for your contributions to this thread. You truly define the word "Troll". Well done.
