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I surprisingly can't find an article in the general press but the Bond Buyer is reporting the City of Glendale (which built the arena) kicked the Coyotes to the curb and a potential deal with Tempe is on the rocks. Glendale, Arizona, unties its future from professional hockey | Bond Buyer In August, the city announced that it would not renew the Coyotes’ lease after the current season, leaving the team without a home arena or even office space lined up for the 2022-2023 season. Coyotes ownership in September was the only respondent to a request for proposals the city of Tempe set out to develop a city owned 46-acre brownfield site. The team says it will build an arena and entertainment district there in time for the 2025-26 season. “While the submittal is evaluated, and the city engages in intensive due diligence, Tempe representatives cannot discuss the matter,” the city says on its website. According to a recent report by the website PHNX Sports, the proposal is in trouble at the Tempe City Council level. (Should this be a separate thread?)

I think the Astros will finally get passed the Braves this time. What do you think?

Minute Maid Park (also known as Enron Field, and Astros Field.) So I finally went to Minute Maid Park.. Not so impressive. Seats are small in the lower section. Got to sit in the suite. A good amount of boards and displays are around the park. The canon that goes off every time we make a homerun is cool. Love the bull/cowboy think which is reminiscent of the light up display at The Astrodome. Train was kind of funny. Good size but not large. Wonder why they won't hold concerts in it. The roof was closed The food was expensive as at all ball parks. There's always a hole lotta functions going on the screens of stadiums and arenas. They should instant replays, player bios and even showed lots of people kissing in the audience.

4 buildings that were originally part of the wooded HP Campus in northwest Harris County on 249 are going to be redeveloped into corporate office buildings as part of a $100M, 44.5 acre project headed up by Macfarlan Capital Partners and Buchanan Street Partners. It is being marketed as the largest block of office space available for a corporate campus in Houston. The project, to be named the Centre at Cypress Creek will include: 3 interconnected 4-story office buildings and 1 computer manufacturing facility 630,000 sq ft of space 4 Parking Garages Complete in 2008 http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/5020331.html *This may have been the portion that UH was hoping to buy before having to postpone their plans for a NW Harris County campus.

The Texans lost their first game to San Deigo 27-20. What I feel about the texans is two words, BAD LUCK! Even the city of bad luck, and now the texans. Next week they face the Lions, at Detroit. Yes, you could say another lost if they come out and play like they played today against the Chargers. After this season, they need to get another head coach, cause next is going to be the same if he still around. I guess Cowboys will always be Texas team to go to. The crowd at Reliant Stadium wasn't proud of their texans today, why cause they hurt their own selves by alot of turnovers. I say next week game against Lions, texans will fold again to a 20-7 lost. My pick Lions.

The Toyota center may seem not so big on the outside, but people don't realize is that it sinks into the ground like the Astrodome and the Compaq Center. Thats why the Astrodome isn't so tall as the Reliant Stadium. I think its a real good idea with the Hilton putting pedestrian bridges across to the convention center and the arena. I wonder what someone will do with the patch of grass next to it? I hope somone builds a little pond/reflecting pool/park there.

I've never been a huge sports fan, but I always root for the Houston teams and if they're doing well, I'll jump on the bandwagon. I've been keeping up with and have been enjoying the Rockets for the last several months. Anyone else excited that they've made it to the play-offs? That hasn't happened in a while, has it? I won't get my expectations too high, but we can always hope. They were outstanding on Saturday. I love watching them!

http://en.wikipedia.org/upload/0/04/Reliant_Park.jpg http://en.wikipedia.org/upload/d/df/PictureofReliantStadium.JPG Above & Beyond Roof covers new ground by bringing unique elements into play By DAVID BARRON Copyright 2002 Houston Chronicle As you drive at night along the South Loop and gaze at newly built Reliant Stadium, you may think that you see one building that, in the words of its designer, twinkles like a giant jewel box amid Houston's skyline. What you really see, in the orderly, mathematical world of David Manica and his colleagues at HOK Sports, is two projects -- the stadium, which is impressive in its own right, and the roof, which is unlike anything in the history of American sporting palaces. Roofed stadiums are, of course, almost old hat in Houston. Reliant Stadium, after all, towers over the building that broke -- and redefined -- the mold, the Reliant Astrodome. From the upper regions of Reliant Stadium's north side, it is possible to see downtown Houston and the baseball complex now known as Minute Maid Park. Reliant's roof, however, is unique in the small circle of retractable-roof stadiums. It has two retractable panels, as opposed to three at SkyDome in Toronto and six at Bank One Ballpark in Phoenix. The panels retract in opposite directions, similar to the BOB's roof but unlike the two moving panels at Minute Maid and Safeco Field in Seattle, which travel in the same direction. Miller Park in Milwaukee also has two moving panels, but they retract in a fan-shaped pattern. Manica's first challenge in designing what would become Reliant Stadium actually came back in the days when the NFL's return to Houston was little more than a pipe dream. In 1997, the stadium-to-be was a decidedly different project. For one thing, the roof was fixed, not retractable. "That was the initial design," he said. "But the tenant requirements between the football team and the rodeo were such that the rodeo would require the roof to be closed. They were not interested in being a part of an open-air facility. INS & "Houston was competing with Los Angeles at the time to get the team, and there is no doubt that the NFL prefers an open-air stadium with natural grass. So the best way to solve that problem was to design the new building here with an operable roof." Manica's first drawings of a roof that would open and close began in the summer in 1997 and proceeded in fits and starts for the next two years as Texans owner-to-be Bob McNair wooed and eventually won the rights to the NFL's 32nd franchise. HOK's original plan for the roof called for an "accordion-style" roof -- one that, in visual terms, would simply "fold up and go away" when opened. That plan, Manica explained, would prevent the roof from "overpowering" the stadium by setting too heavily, in a design sense, over the rest of the building. "But that started to present some interesting engineering complications and cost and maintenance worries," he said. "And so we moved away from the accordion to the simple roof panel." To be exact, two roof panels -- each 240 feet long and 385 feet wide. From midfield, one panel slides to the north and one to the south along a set of tracks placed along the 967-foot long "super trusses" that frame the roof structure. When the roof is fully retracted, the open space above the playing field is 350 feet wide by 500 feet long -- 175,000 square feet. Unlike Texas Stadium, which has trusses that span the open portion of its roof, the Reliant Stadium roof is completely open to the elements when the two panels are retracted. And, unlike the roof at Minute Maid Park, which whether open or closed is easily the defining element of that stadium, the Reliant roof is just that -- a top that doesn't overwhelm everything beneath. Smiley N. Pool / Chronicle Reliant Stadium is completely open when two of the roof panels are retracted, a process that takes only seven minutes. "We keep the visual weight of the roof down by not stacking panels, like they do with the roof at Minute Maid Park," Manica said. The second unique element -- at least as it applies to retractable-roof stadiums in the United States -- is that the roof material is made of fabric. Specifically, a Teflon-coated, fiberglass fabric manufactured by Birdair Inc. of Amherst, N.Y. "We wanted to have the feel of an open-air stadium, even with the roof closed," Manica said. "When you walk around the Astrodome, you walk through circular, dark concourses. We wanted to have more light with the comforts of climate control, and the fabric was an important part of that design." Birdair fabrics were used in the United States for the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, the Metrodome in Minneapolis, the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis and Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Fla. Elsewhere, the company installed fabric roofs on the Millennium Dome in London, Olympic Stadium in Rome, Hiroshima Stadium in Japan and Shanghai Stadium in China. "We used a high-translucency version of the fabric, which requires a lot of special care to install as opposed to the standard fabric," said Clark Martens, project manager for Birdair. "It allows 24 percent to 25 percent of the outside light to get through. The Georgia Dome roof, by comparison, allows maybe 10 percent." As with all projects, there are tradeoffs in using fabric, Manica said. "Fabric is more expensive than using a hard roof surface of decking and membrane," he said. "However, we found that not needing the additional amount of structural steel to hold up the weight of the roof would offset the cost of the fabric. So we came up with the most cost-effective roof that could be designed for this building." This particular element of architectural haute couture cost about $10 million. However, Martens said, it is engineered to carry full hurricane loads, including winds of more than 100 mph. Try that with your garden-variety Armani frock. The fabric also creates a vaulted frame over the roof frame to help shed water and to "give a sense of space for those inside inside the seating bowl," Manica said. A series of 10 steel cables, each two inches in diameter and capable of exerting 200,000 pounds of pressure, secure the fabric to the roof structure and create the series of peaks and valleys. "This is relatively new for the United States, but if you go to Europe, fabric roofs are much more of the norm," Martens said. "The next domed stadium that will be built in this country will be the football stadium in Phoenix, and that also will be fabric. We think it is a cost-competitive system, and it gives you a lot of nice attributes, such as that feel of natural daylight." The job of making the roof panels and their giant fabric swatches move to and fro fell to Cyril Silberman, president of Uni-Systems Inc. of Minneapolis, who also designed the transport system at Minute Maid Park. This system, however, is as different from Minute Maid's as football differs from baseball, Silberman said. For one thing, the Reliant Stadium roof is lighter -- 3,000 tons, as opposed to 9,000 tons at Minute Maid, including the sliding glass wall that runs along Crawford Street. That difference made for some, as Silberman gingerly described it, challenging design problems. "The Reliant roof could depart the stadium under a number of different circumstances if we didn't do something special with it," he said. "In winds of 50 mph from the right direction, in theory it could sail away if you didn't have a retention system. And you have 50 mph winds at least 10 times a year during thunderstorms. "Consequently, this roof has a very complex electrical and mechanical system that measures the wind and keeps the roof gripped firmly on its rails and moves it with timers and sensors that make it absolutely impossible for the roof ever to get away." Another challenge in designing the transport system, Silberman said, is that buildings are subject to lateral defractions. In other words, they wiggle. "To build the trusses strong enough so that they wouldn't have had any movement would have required 400 to 600 extra tons of steel and concrete," Silberman said. "But, by allowing this to be a semi-flexible structure, they saved a lot of money and complexities and erecting hazards." The roof is designed to allow 21 inches of lateral wiggle room as the building expands and contracts. To cope with those changes, Uni-Systems installed what it calls a four-bar linkage system on the north roof panel that keeps the roof on track as the building breathes. The south edge of the roof is on a rigid series of transports engaged to a rail that does not allow movement. "We only needed (the release mechanism) on one side," Silberman said. "The other side has to be rigid. Otherwise, the building could fall over sideways." The roof track also has a series of what Silberman describes as hurricane hold-down clamps that are not present on any other transportable roof in the United States. "It's like a series of giant scissors with teeth under the railroad track (on which the roof moves)," Silberman said. "There's enough clearance for the roof to move, but not enough for it to leave the track. When the roof comes to a stop, they clamp on tightly." If you're concerned about leaks, don't be. When the roof panels come together, it activates a system of inflatable seals, powered by a system of six to eight 15-horsepower air blowers, to keep fans protected from the elements. Silberman's transport system can close the roof in seven minutes, as opposed to 12 minutes for the one-way system at Minute Maid Park. He estimates the total cost of the roof, including the transport system, the fabric and the structural steel, at about $48 million. http://images.chron.com/content/chronicle/special/02/reliant/img/opensky.jpg Reliant Stadium is completely open when two of the roof panels are retracted, a process that takes only seven minutes. http://images.chron.com/content/chronicle/special/02/reliant/img/rooftop.jpg Even at night, it's clear that the Reliant's fiberglass roof shaped up to look very different from the fixed-glass one that covers the Reliant Astrodome. http://images.chron.com/content/chronicle/special/02/reliant/img/roofrail.jpg The retractable roof rides this rail when it is set in motion.

Anybody know anything about this

Never knew about this Mackie and Kamrath building until earlier this week. Was this all M&K or was there additions? Anyone ever play here? Sounds like a cool club! I've been loving the Memorial neighborhood(s) lately Edit: Looks like this was built in 1969. https://www.houstonracquetclub.com/

Well, I prefer the car show, but it's almost time for the rodeo too. This year it runs from March 1 - March 20. Everything you need to know.

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/sports/3384341 I love the tradition of watching OU vs. UT at the Cotton Bowl, but that may change soon. Dallas may even renovate the Cotton Bowl Stadium so both schools would battle there longer. What do you think?

https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/sports/2023/06/09/454105/houston-sports-festival-expo-pokatok-2024/ "Pokatok will be held next April 4-7 at the George R. Brown Convention Center and nearby Discovery Green, among other locations, according to an announcement this week by Gow Companies. Its vision is to create a world's fair in Houston that centers around sports, with activities such as live competitions in sports and electronic sports, watch parties, athlete meet-and-greets, panel discussions and vendor exhibitions, said company co-founder and CEO Lawson Gow."

This columnist wants it near downtown to succeed.

The current stadium sits on 27th and Ave M. Link

The area just to the west of Briargrove, across the drainage ditch was the Bob Smith Little League playing fields. There were several diamonds with bleachers close to Westheimer. As you went back, closer to San Felipe (which didn't go through at the time), there were large mounds of earth, probably left from deepening flood control ditches in the area. We would ride our bikes on these "hills" and made several mountain trails back there. Eventually development occured, and apartments filled in the property from Westheimer to Woodway. I remember a big fire in later years destroyed several of these buildings, but that's different story.

I was at Tennis Express out on Westhimer and they have signs that the building will soon be for lease. The staff were saying that they are moving to a larger space off of Westpark and Ranchester (90k vs 40k sf) — should be happening later this month.

As a long time Cougar supporter, I was hoping for a renovated Robertson Stadium but the cost estimates came in at $107 million. So, like the rest of Houston, the UH is gonna bomb the old and build new. Here's a look EXTERIOR press box/club suite side VIEW FROM NW CLUB LEVEL OVERHEAD Also included is a MUCH needed renovation to Hofheinz Pavilion right-to-left Alumni/Athletics Center, new Hofheinz exterior, football stadium

Couple interesting things I saw on My Stella Link walk yesterday. First: The Zone Sports @ Main Link Business Park http://thezonesports.com/ http://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x322/tebor79/IMG_0346.jpg http://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x322/tebor79/IMG_0347.jpg http://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x322/tebor79/IMG_0348.jpg http://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x322/tebor79/IMG_0349.jpg http://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x322/tebor79/IMG_0356.jpg http://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x322/tebor79/IMG_0357.jpg And Second: Woodshire Village Estates between 610 and Braeswood. http://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x322/tebor79/IMG_0361.jpg http://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x322/tebor79/IMG_0362.jpg http://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x322/tebor79/IMG_0363.jpg http://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x322/tebor79/IMG_0364.jpg Stella Link always makes me think of A Streetcar Named Desire