Final week, the Houston Chronicle wrote a strong article that went into how dangerous the town was financially affected by the stadium cope with the Houston Texans. It’s value a learn. At present, Harris County Sports activities & Conference Corp, straight manages the stadium and close by services for the county. Nonetheless, the native authorities is “answerable for upkeep — not the Texans”. Lately, Harris County requested for and acquired a stadium report that clearly confirmed that assigned taxpayer funds for the stadium weren’t sufficient to fulfill the fixed and costly upgrades demanded by the Texans.
Absolutely, this stadium should generate income within the low season. I hear this argument each week by stadium proponents.
“The county…it has not managed to show its management of NRG’s low season calendar right into a cash-generating machine that would cowl the recurring prices…The Texans…shouldn’t have to contribute considerably towards upkeep prices, and the county doesn’t manage to pay for to fulfill its upkeep obligations.” — Houston Chronicle, 01/24/25
Primarily, and I’ll quote the article on this, the present stadium setup “isn’t working”. Why is that this immediately turning into a narrative? As a result of the stadium and surrounding improvement presently want about $2 billion in “capital repairs over the subsequent 30 years”. In 2019, the worth for upgrades was simply one-third of the 2025 value. Residents of Harris County ought to take note of this half as a result of “taxpayers should pitch in to shut that hole”. You higher as a result of the Texans, a workforce value over $6 billion, are “annoyed” on the “lack of upkeep”. When Houston bought the Tremendous Bowl in 2017, the workforce bought offended on the county due to their refusal to pay for costly upgrades that will simply be used for the Tremendous Bowl. Don’t you are concerned although, as metropolis leaders bought Tremendous Bowl tickets at no cost, reasonably than having to pay the $3,000-$4,000 required for a ticket.
Some individuals have argued that the Texans do, in truth, pay $4 million in lease yearly! Sure, and in seven of the final eight years, the workforce has gotten tax rebates which might be value greater than their lease cost. How fortunate. Houston additionally had two different sports activities venues for his or her NBA workforce and MLB workforce. Each of these venues enable the proprietor to improve every time they need, however from their very own pocket. These two venues additionally preserve the income from all low season occasions, which is usually a monetary assist if correctly used.
The Texans responded in a press release by stating that they “offered capital to assist the development and on-going wants of the constructing”. I learn this and my preliminary query is…have they? Let’s begin with the Texans gifting the general public with cash for upgrades. At any time when I examine enhancements to the stadium, I see tales like this, the place the upgrades “are being paid for with loans from the sports activities authority”. Now let’s speak in regards to the building of the stadium. If we wished to begin in the beginning, we are able to begin with Harris County earlier than 2002 proclaiming {that a} new stadium would value just a bit over $300 million. The ultimate value was simply over $475 million. Only a bit outdoors. However wherever I look, I don’t see the Texans offering something actually for the development of the stadium. The truth is, can anybody present me {that a} dime of the development got here from McNair himself? The billionaire?
A 2002-story in Enterprise Journal notes $50M was being given for the development of the stadium via Texans PSL gross sales. When the stadium first jumped up by 18M, the Texans lined $11M of that improve. That was all that I may discover on the Texans giving to the stadium building.
However we have to minimize the Texans and their proprietor, Bob McNair, a break:
“One other issue within the county’s resolution to tackle upkeep, based on Patterson and others concerned within the negotiations, was that McNair needed to pay considerably greater than he envisioned in his pursuit of a workforce. When he first began organizing his effort, he believed he must pay a $250 million growth price to the NFL. He in the end paid $700 million. “The turnip had been sucked dry on that specific day,” mentioned Dave Walden, who was chief of employees to Mayor Bob Lanier within the Nineties and later lobbied for the Texans” — Houston Chronicle, 01/24/25
