Posted on 01/10/2008 1:34:32 PM PST by weegee
As negotiations on a proposed soccer stadium drag into the new year, the city of Houston and the Dynamo can now at least agree on where such a venue would be built.
Earlier this week, city officials signed letters of intent to buy parcels of land just east of U.S. 59 and the downtown business district, a move Mayor Bill White described Wednesday as a major step toward acquiring property for a possible home for the back-to-back Major League Soccer champions.
City officials declined to identify the location, but a person with knowledge of the situation confirmed reports that the parcels are in a six-block area between Texas and Walker avenues and Hutchins and Dowling streets, just southeast of Minute Maid Park near the northbound side of U.S. 59.
The Dynamo and parent company Anschutz Entertainment Group have been in negotiations with the city over the building of a 22,000-seat, open-air stadium since May.
Both parties said Wednesday that discussions are proceeding, with the city intending to have the team finance construction of the stadium, expected to cost $70 million to $80 million.
"It's not going to be done the way it was done with other stadiums, where the taxpayers picked up the tab," White said. "We're not going to do some special deal of giving a lot of money that could go to police or fire to a sports owner."
Minute Maid Park, Reliant Stadium and Toyota Center, all recently built sports venues in Houston, were financed for the most part with public monies.
While deeming White's announcement encouraging, Dynamo officials appeared focused on managing expectations as they try to hammer out a deal.
"The new stadium is our highest priority," Dynamo President Oliver Luck said. "Although we have not reached an agreement with the city of Houston, we are anxious to come to closure on the terms of a public-private partnership with the city and we are willing to assume responsibility for a much higher proportion of the costs than any other team owner has had to assume in Houston."
Letters of intent signed The sides seem to be making some progress.
Last month, the city signed letters of intent for two sites being considered for a regional amateur soccer complex. The proposed 18-field complex would house the Dynamo's practice facility and amateur youth and adult clubs.
The locations — one immediately north of Sims Bayou, the other north of Almeda-Genoa — are just west of Texas 288 in south Houston. The site near Almeda-Genoa is the more likely to house the complex, officials said.
Local clubs and organizations welcomed the announcement.
"A severe shortage of quality soccer pitches within the area has long restricted our ability to compete for regional and national level events," said Ed Loucks, president of the South Texas Youth Soccer Association. "This complex, once built, will allow Houston to compete for both regional and national tournaments with long-established venues."
White said officials would see whether school districts wanted to partner with the city on the complex.
"It's going to be one of the biggest things in amateur sports to have occurred in this city in a long, long time," said White, who added that some fields could be in operation as early as 2009.
Possible complication Reaching a deal for a stadium might not come as quickly.
Complicating negotiations is the possible sale of the Dynamo. A group that includes boxer Oscar De La Hoya is interested in buying the team from AEG, which wants to concentrate on its more profitable MLS outfit, the Los Angeles Galaxy.
While AEG's initial proposal called for the team to bear the brunt of the stadium's cost, De La Hoya's group might be pushing to have more public money go toward the project, something White has rejected.
"We will not do what Frisco and other communities have done, which is use large amounts of taxpayers funds to fund the construction of a stadium," White said.
White said that if the stadium deal falls through, the city could use the land, find a commercial developer or sell it.
"It's a good piece of property," he said.
If a stadium is built, tax receipts from concession sales and appreciation in adjacent real estate would benefit city coffers, White said. Though the city would pay to acquire parcels of land for the stadium, it also could sell or lease that land back to the Dynamo owners.
Echoing prior statements by MLS and AEG on the issue, Luck said a stadium is critical to the long-term economic success and viability of the Dynamo.
A billion dollars later...
"It's not going to be done the way it was done with other stadiums, where the taxpayers picked up the tab," White said. "We're not going to do some special deal of giving a lot of money that could go to police or fire to a sports owner."Minute Maid Park, Reliant Stadium and Toyota Center, all recently built sports venues in Houston, were financed for the most part with public monies.
I had no idea the MLS had gotten so popular that someone would actually build a stadium for one of their teams.
Oh come on. There are several large football stadiums that in the Houston area that could be used for soccer.
The tax payer should not have to build a stadium for the MLS, NFL, MLB or NBA.
Each is a ripoff of the tax payer and a massive welfare payment to billionaire sports team owners.
When did we get the Dynamo?
Wow, the Mexicans will be able to boo our National Anthem in Houston.
You have no idea. It’s the government’s (local or state, depending on the specific situation) way to look multi-cultural and international.
In Utah, 75% of people in Salt Lake County did NOT want public funds used to build a soccer stadium. The governor and state legislature didn’t appreciate that, since they’d pretty much promised Real SL that they’d do it. So, they decided they knew better than we did, and redirected all Salt Lake County’s hotel and tourism revenue into a fund for the stadium. Then they tried to convince us that we weren’t paying for it.
Thankfully. Out of town Brown loved spending taxpayer money on stadiums.
Does Joel Osteen & Lakewood church have to pay the taxpayers back for the Compaq center?
The Houston Sports Authority has to keep building stadiums to justify their unelection offices and catered skyboxes.
Soccer is for Eurofags. When did they take over our city?
Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. They all work for Mayor Bob’s pals.
Ken Lay was partnered with them and the Chronicle to get the slim majority vote needed to approve the stadiums.
And people were shocked to learn that the Chronicle “missed” the Enron story. Protected partnership.
Depends on the size of the latino population.
It’s like Car Rental Taxes...
The excuse it that “people who don’t live here” pay those taxes, but in reality, 60% of all car rentals are LOCAL, in Non-Florida cities...
Our car rental and hotel costs have gone to the other stadiums that they now admit WE paid for.
This should make the 50 MLS fans in Houston quite happy.
We had Hurricane Allison flood Houston with a couple of nights of rainfall. Every car in the city was rented for weeks by those who suffered damage from storm.
No waiver for the high tax either.
We got them from another city. I don’t know when/where.
Obviously they’ve BEEN playing someplace else.
The Dynamo moved to Houston 2 years ago and they’ve won the MLS title for 2 years straight, making them the most successful pro team in Houston’s history. The games are a blast, but they had to play in Robertson Stadium at UofHouston. The statium they’re building is a modest one, seating about 22,000, but it’ll get a lot of revenue from concerts, etc.
The concert industry is dead. And between the Woodlands, Verizon, and Toyota Center, there are more than enough venues for Clear Channel to host their concerts at.
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