Thursday, June 12, 2025

Another stadium for Houston?

The Oilers left Houston over this issue. Then the Astros threatened to move, and so there was a referendum in Houston, which set up a Sports Authority. The Sports Authority builds the stadiums now. This referendum just barely passed. If it didn't, there's a good chance that Houston wouldn't have a professional sports team.

 

I voted for it. But now I wish I had not. The vote did not solve the problem. The problem is runaway player salaries. Stadiums become "obselete" because they don't raise enough revenues. They don't raise enough revenues because they don't have enough "amenities". The so-called amenities are luxury suites that can be sold for higher prices. Indeed, even the regular seating have prices that might as well be in the stratosphere.


Now the Houston area has this Sports Authority, and they have a team that can threaten to move if they don't get a new stadium whenever they want one. Screw it. No more stadiums, but I don't live in Houston anymore. Not only that, the Sports Authority exists, and can fund new stadiums before the old ones get paid for. The debt for the "old" stadium in Houston won't be paid for another two decades. But they want a new stadium now, and the price tag is a lot higher.


There needs to be a line drawn at some point, but where will that point be? If the teams want to move, let them move. People are going to have to start saying no to these unreasonable demands on taxpayers. If I had the opportunity to vote on something like this, my vote this time would be "NO".



No comments: