The city of Houston and Harrison County have agreed on a $20 million measure to play for infrastructure improvements to help the building of a Houston Dynamo stadium. The deal is contingent on the Dynamo agreeing to pay for a $60 million stadium.
The agreement could pave the way for a Houston soccer stadium in time for the 2012 MLS season. There are still votes to be cast, but this agreement is a major step forward for the Dynamo.
What do you think of the news? Share your thoughts below.
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Aaron, I believe you’re thinking of the high-speed rail initiative, which was $8 billion. That’s for intercity rail, though, not intracity.
Yawn. As a Dynamo fan said above, this is kind of pathetic since its construction timeline is about the same as San Jose’s, which was out of the league for two whole years while Houston was supposed to be getting their stadium done. Just shows how full of crap AEG was when they said they couldn’t get a stadium deal done in SJ and moved the team – Houston is spending pretty much the same amount in private money that the new Quakes stadium is going to cost.
Good to know. Always like to see these set in more metropolitan areas as opposed to way out in suburbia. Much better chance of success.
I wonder, is Houston part of that giant mass transit bill passed recently? Something like $8 billion to be spent nation wide. I know STL-Chicago got a rather large chunk. Would be helpful for something like this for sure.
Copy that. We have a turd in the punch bowl
Aaron, actually they (Dynamo FO and fans) have been fighting diligantly for this precise location, there was talk of several suburban spots for it but they decided to stick with this more central spot.
Is basically in Downtown Houston. Is on the East side of Downtown Houston off the bordering US Hwy 59, a very popular freeway in Houston that goes from Northeast end of the city to the Southwest and connects to every single freeway and major street in Houston. Is actually not too far from the current Robertson Stadium at UofH. It makes it easy for everyone to access in all of Houston and also for the folks in say the northern and western as well as southern suburbs. There is a plan for a light rail to stop right next to the Soccer stadium so is an amazing spot. Is also within a mile of the Astro’s Minute Maid Park and the Rockets Toyota Center as well as Houston’s convention center. It’s a good spot
It will be a few blocks east of downtown Houston, 5-10 blocks from Minute Maid Field (not sure of the exact location, just the general area.) There’s supposed to be a light rail line running a few blocks from the area, but I’m not sure when that will be complete. There have been political problems with the new light rail lines.
+1. I remember there being talk of two separate sites under consideration—is this the better of the two potential sites? Is it walkable from downtown? Is it on any (extant or planned) light-rail or commuter-rail lines?
I think New England might be a long wait. Bob Kraft, who owns the Revs, also owns Gillette Stadium. He doesn’t have the revenue problems that the other teams face as tenants in football stadiums. Another big thing is that he paid for a large portion of that stadium, so he may not want to make another large investment that may not get him enough of a return.
So for those not from Houston, where will the stadium be in relation to the major populated areas? Is it easily accessible or will it take a good hike to get to any games?
Congrats either way though, great to see another one in the works.
Turd in the punch bowl!
Sure hope so. Not sure how long ACSTL will be able to exist as an NASL franchise… the league doesn’t seem like much more than a stepping stone.
The $80 million is not including the land. The city/county already own the land and the Dynamo will be leasing the land from them.
TSU is a local University where the 2 pivotal County officials went to school at.
They are pitching in 2 million and the Dynamo control all aspects of the field, I’m hoping they chalk up the lines with some light light paint in Sept/Oct and well the Dynamo won’t let them ruin the field and not keep up the maitenance of it.
Grass is a known fact, no turf!
I’ve been following this issue for about 2 years now, I highly recommend Glenn Davis’ blog for news on this later tonight and overall soccer stories, he tore up Bob Bradley on his stubborn tactics back in like Jan or Feb of last year!
The stadium is 22K from what I remember with a design to expand to 30 or 35 easily from what I remember.
I’ve been followig this for 2 years almost and is ironic as soon as the New Earthquakes got some positive news they get theirs.
Is still sad the new SJ team which was gone for 2 seasons will be no further than maybe a few months from announcing and opening their own stadium as the Dynamo will be. Here’s to hoping that DC follows suit and maybe when everyone is controlling their own revenue they will make profits accross the league and force New England to get a nice natural grass stadium!
Dont worry as a Revs fan I understand how you feel.
Happy for Houston – good Job
he has Red bull Arena on the mind.
Here’s the latest by Garber on DCU
“I am tired of going down [to Washington] for meetings and getting back-slapped and [attending] faux press conferences with mayors and local city officials to have them back-track because they can’t get out of their own way. Quite frankly, it is frustrating, and at some point, we are going to have to do something about it.”
And Kevin Payne…
“We understand and share the commissioner’s frustration. When it comes to our long and arduous journey toward an appropriate, permanent home for our club, we continue to pursue discussions with several jurisdictions and developers, and hope to advance those talks over the next several months.”
Same ol Same ol….
Garber don’t come to DC anymore if it upsets you so much…..disrespectful Frack
Seconded!
half-&ssed things usually come out cheaper…in bottom line, in politcal capital, in effort, etc. Dont discount the half-*ss-ness of things.
for Hou, it should definately be closer to a 20k seater. For 60mil though, it sounds like they plan on hiring illegals and eventually not paying subcontractors. But thats cool. Oh wait, Texas is an anti-union state with lax labor laws, so maybe 60mil is all thats needed. As a soccer fan, all I can say is “Amen, Thank you Jesus, now lets seriously underpay some workers to get it done”.
The cost is estimated around 80 million. And yes, real estate is cheap down here and the proposed location is in an area that’s…we’ll say up and coming 🙂 It has the potential to be a really great area once more things develop around it.
Ives, do you ever read your writing before you post it to your site? Harrison? play for infrastructure?
How far does $60 million go to build a stadium in Houston? I assume a lot further than places like New York, Los Angeles and Toronto.
I base my assumption on watching so many house-flipping shows and being constantly amazed at how cheap real estate is in the south!
2012 season is such a long time
Look forward to seeing you at the games!
Awesome! My job is moving me to Houston and I’m looking forward to cheering for the Dynamo. Can’t wait for the SSS!
Hooray stadiums!
If there are gridiron lines, can they be the same invisible yellow they used at Giants Stadium for the Red Bulls?
in response to your twitter, it should be St. Louis
From what I hear from Dynamo fans, they said they have been promised grass. 2nd hand info so take it whats its worth.
Um… depends on what your definition of “legitimately” is.
Fanciful and pathetic come equally to mind.
At last count it was supposed to seat 21,000:
http://swamplot.com/a-first-glimpse-of-the-new-dynamo-stadium/2009-02-05/
As per the soccer/football thing, that would be for a very limited time period when MLS is just wrapping up their season (September to November) and the Dynamo will be the primary tenant. I’d be really surprised if it were turf or if the football lines were a permanent feature of the field.
I was gonna say…two stadiums in Harrison??
Wow, Houston, KC and San Jose all on track this year.
Good for MLS.
DC is legitimately trying for a SSS, too.
I think that only leaves New England without a real push for a stadium (I hear the rumors but won’t believe them until the stadium opens).
Way to throw a fit for no reason. There’s no mention of turf, and if they’re the main tenant, they will be able to control when there are and aren’t football lines.
If that’s what it takes to get my team on par with the other SSS teams’ revenue, then they can put football, lacrosse, and field hockey lines all over the grass. The point is that it’s the Dynamo’s stadium. That means they get 100% priority for scheduling, they get all of the other gameday revenue that they weren’t getting at Robertson, and the field won’t be rock hard during the spring/summer.
Come on. This is the US and soccer still has a tough time competing with the rest of the major sports for tax dollars to build stadia. You can’t take an all-or-nothing attitude.
I don’t think any of that has been agreed upon yet.
The agreement to this point was “shares with” but really that’s pretty limited, you’re only talking about 5 or 6 home games per college football season.
Beat me to it 🙂
This means very little if they use turf and have tackle football lines all over the pitch during the fall. That is exactly what they have now. Sometimes you have to wonder why people do things half-@ssed.
More of a “you chip in $2M of the construction and political support, and we let you use it for games when we’re not” kinda thing.
Didn’t you guys read the article? The Dynamo are the main tenant. The Football Team is a sub-tenant.
Kids….(rolls his eyes)
Hard to say what I think.
How big, hopefully not the inbetween 15k and 20k max size ?
Share with football team means turf ?
I am ok with that, but most are not.
I guess it will be a positive for Houston or they won’t do it, huh ? Only upside to be had.
“shares it with” or “will make some coin renting it to”?
I like the latter a lot more than the former.
I think they will share it with Texas Southern University’s football team.
Will this be a SSS or would they still have to share their new stadium with the college football team???
fantastic. houston with a real stadium will be something.
That would be “Harris” County.
As a DC fan my shame grows daily…