agreed.. and agreed. I mean, the Texans ARE my team, unlike in your situation where you haven't been able to attach yourself yet. But the Oilers were in the mix a lot.. and that run and shoot offense (among other things) was a ton of fun..
The only people that got screwed were the Oiler fans (and hopefully the Titans) I was just in Nashville and they could care less about that logo and franchise history, they would actually rather not have it around. They are the Titans and are starting their own thing and they like it. Good for them... The NFL screwed Houston and should have let them keep the history. If the owner wants to bail and start new, then leave the city the history like what happened with the Browns. It really pisses me off they didn't fix this or do it retroactively (although McNair probably doesn't want it to) Its really a shame and a big reason people are bigger college football fans and fairweather to the NFL.
Excellent points, DD. Honestly, once I learned about what Bud Adams was going through, I blamed him a LOT less. Here's the 1884 Houston Press article I was quoting from: http://www.houstonpress.com/1994-01-27/news/wanna-buy-a-robodome/
About the cost of getting the Texans opposed to keeping the Oilers; McNair footed the franchise fee himself Reliant Stadium was funded with $317 million bond through car rental and hotel taxes $50 million from PSL sales So unless you rented cars, stayed at hotels in the Houston area, or actually went to the games, you didn't feel any pinch from your pocket as a result from the Texans. Edit: Uncle Drayton = conniving Douchebag does not change the fact Bud Adams = a conniving Douchebag in his own right
What's funny is.... The Astros didn't have to pay rent - that was being paid (and more) by the Oilers... McClane made all the money from sale of food and drink and parking from the Oilers games... McClane opposed the building of a football stadium.... ... and later, cried about how the Astros were losing money and threatened to leave Houston unless he got a new stadium. When you think "major douchebag" you should think of Drayton McLane before you think of Bud Adams.
We've been through this over and over again....and every time you fail to mention that the Bud Dome was a fantasy. That it was completely based on the Rockets playing there too...and the Rockets had zero interest in that. And that Bud sold it to the public saying the Rockets would play there without even talking to them first. And that we were still paying the interest on the public debt incurred to make changes to the Dome that he told us just a few years earlier would be good enough to keep the team there...and Tagliabue told us would be good enough to get a Super Bowl in the Dome. We paid nothing to bring football back to Houston. Bob McNair paid to bring football back to Houston. Your argument is super swell if you leave out most of the facts...
I agree. But the new team is full of sucktitude, and the city lost all the history and connections from the old team. How much would we have had to foot for the old team to stay? One thing though....I'm sure the current stadium is much better than whatever would have been built at the time........
Droxford, your point is well taken, but I think we have to be real here. I loved the Oilers and recognize that Drayton and city and county officials played a big part in their leaving, but a lot of you are glossing over Adams' culpability in all of this. He already hijacked the tax payer to get "upgrades" at the Dome (that absolutely ruined the place..,taking down the scoreboard was unforgivable) and we were still paying for it. You can only blackmail a city so many times. I am sure if the Oilers had beaten Buffalo (or Denver, or Kansas City...Jesus, *one* of them) the city would have ponied up. The whole dual use plan of his was silly, though. The cumulative effects of Adams treating people like crap, playoff disappointments and poor political alignment probably doomed things from the beginning. Hell, Adams didn't even partner up with the *Rockets* before unveiling his proposal. Absolutely insane.
Bud agreed to ALL THAT just a few years before he left when he threatened to move to J-Ville. Look, had he moved to J-Ville this argument would be golden. But instead he took public money here holding us hostage with a "pending move to J-Ville"...and then decided it really wasn't good enough so he had to leave. He made up a fantasy dome and included the Rockets without talking to the Rockets. He looked like an ass...and no one in the business community stepped up to help him. Seriously...no one. 40 years here and not one person. That tells you all you need to know about Bud Adams. Then he signed an exclusive deal to NEGOTIATE ONLY WITH NASHVILLE FOR A YEAR. He couldn't even listen to offers from Houston for 12 months. He signed a deal with Nashville...Houston offered him an open air stadium, and he turned it down. The end.
Despite who was at fault and all the parties involved. I don't like that tennessee gets OUR history. For those who watch The Office, there's an episode when Michael is dating his realtor. She already has kids from a previous marriage so Michael goes and photoshops himself in the pictures replacing the first husband. This obviously creeps the woman out. I liken that to this situation.
The fact that Tennessee helped Texas win against Mexico, the least we could let them have in return is a no Superbowl title having, then losing by a yard in a Superbowl after moving, sports franchise. After reading droxford's article from '94... I'm just glad Les' Rockets won it all back-to-back or we would have never even had a chance for Jeff to lead a Save Our Rockets campaign. Anaheim? Really?
Speaking of Bud Dome, anyone have a pic of the rendering? I remember it would have been Downtown, the exterior was colored in hues of purple, gray, and blue. I also remember the floating stands and faux roof conversion idea for Rockets games.
Agree about the Rockets, but this was just his proposal, that the city flat out refused to look at.....this was like a BETA proposal.......they could have negotiated a new one, with Bud putting up some of his own money. The economics changed over that time, Bud paying rent was no longer feasible financially to keep up with the Joneses of the NFL......isn't it funny that almost every other NFL city has managed to keep their team after the Oilers lesson? Yeah, except that the NEW STADIUM cost the Taxpayers 3 to 5 times as much as keeping the existing team, which is a BAD business decision. You can hide behind the Hotel, rental car tax all you want......but they could have done that for the Oilers too, and then had Bud chip in $69 million of his own money to save even more off the tax payers out of pocket expense. This was a TERRIBLE business decision, and the reason that the city has had to suffer through years of Expansion franchise football....meanwhile missing out on a Super Bowl team, one of the leagues BEST coaches, and a chance for all of us Oiler fans to enjoy the success they are having now as the ONLY UNDEFEATED TEAM IN THE LEAGUE. This was a class A dumb ARSE move letting them go, and it cost the City/Taxpayers 5 times more to build the stadium than it would have to keep the Oilers. Bud Adams - while no Saint - made the ONLY move he could to keep his franchise competitive...... Now he did screw up by signing an exclusive window in negotiations deal with Nashville, but it was clear by then that McNair was not going to try to keep him.....and by the way for all of you b****ing about Adams...without him....the Oilers would have NEVER been in Houston anyway...they guy friggen STARTED A LEAGUE to get football to Houston......while you may not like him...he deserves respect for doing that. DD
