shady 75

pesto, your initial statement is that "enough is enough", enough presumably being the amount of taxpayer money to be spent on sports stadiums. And, however enticing your design proposal for adaptive reuse of the Dome may be, you never even hint at the potential cost of redeveloping the Dome into an attractive 30,000 seat soccer venue, including removable grass trays, nor do you explain why this would be better for the Dynamo financially, a club whose president is a former head of the stadium committe.

My suspicion is that not only would the Dome be expensive for the Dynamo to operate, but the renovations would dwarf the city's cost in helping build a brand new soccer specific stadium. Care to hazard a guess as to what your idea might cost, and why that is a better use of our tax dollars?

Good point. Since only 10% care about soccer, and we spent $900 million on the stadiums for the sports that 90% of the population cares about, I propose that the City limit its investment on a soccer stadium to no more than $100 million.

Do you agree?

Hockey gets $300 million arena's already.....so lets divide the 90 million between the Dynamo. WNBA, badmitton, luge and a professional dart throwing arena. That would give each of these huge sports $18 million of capital.

pesto, your initial statement is that "enough is enough", enough presumably being the amount of taxpayer money to be spent on sports stadiums. And, however enticing your design proposal for adaptive reuse of the Dome may be, you never even hint at the potential cost of redeveloping the Dome into an attractive 30,000 seat soccer venue, including removable grass trays, nor do you explain why this would be better for the Dynamo financially, a club whose president is a former head of the stadium committe.

My suspicion is that not only would the Dome be expensive for the Dynamo to operate, but the renovations would dwarf the city's cost in helping build a brand new soccer specific stadium. Care to hazard a guess as to what your idea might cost, and why that is a better use of our tax dollars?

Good point. Since only 10% care about soccer, and we spent $900 million on the stadiums for the sports that 90% of the population cares about, I propose that the City limit its investment on a soccer stadium to no more than $100 million.

Do you agree?

I almost want to see this arena happen for laughs. Once the ticket prices exceed $20 the attendance will be promptly cut in half. That would be the funny thing about this. I have been to a Dynamo game before.....and it was...well...interesting.

I applaud Mayor White for not caving in. In the US football, basketball and baseball are the sports that 90% of the population cares about. The other 10% fights it out between hockey, luge, ping pong, badmitton and soccer.

Can't remember the last time I watched either minor league baseball or hockey (or WNBA, or NASCAR or arena football or golf or bowling). But, that's the great thing about America. You are free to watch whatever sport you like, including those sports that have been ruined by astronomical salaries.

agreed...I just think when you say the term Major League, it should be a real term and not something that is actually not true. All of the Major sports in the US are actually the best in their profession. The MLS is not even in the top 5 soccer leagues in the world so calling themselves Major is a farce.

When you have to make up stories... well, just says a lot.

Lets take away the money argument. Just to drive my point home lets discuss why good players leave to play overseas and the overseas clubs send us the older washed up players. I have actually watched enough soccer to know what would be major and what would be minor. I did live in Europe for a time and let me tell you the top team in MLS could not sniff the jock of a decent European club. That is a fact. It would be the same as the real NFL playing NFL Europe....just no comparison.

If salary is what you base what makes a league major or minor league, then how many minor leagues do you know have any players with a salary of over $1 Million a year?

easy...baseball and hockey.

MLS = MAJOR league soccer... not minor. And what's salary got to do w/ it... look at how much they pay the football and baseball players and they suck... at least the Dynamo can win championships.

Sure...I will bring it up next time I have one of the Dynamo reserves bring my car up from valet. Yes you are a Major League Player. Here is your tip. lol

Minor league soccer?

Take a look at minor league hockey and baseball and you will see salaries that exceed those of the MLS. WNBA, arena football and a few other minor leagues are in the salary vicinity of a lot of MLS. It is pretty factual. I think the three big sports have player's salaries that exceed an entire team in the MLS's salary cap of 2.4 million.

So yes....minor league soccer

Oh no...a minor league soccer team is threatening the city. Please come back and talk when your minimum player salary is over 12k. What a joke. See ya!

I am glad to hear this is happening. Did they say the area and timetable they are looking at to build the HS?

Now that the Bond has passed I wanted ask if the new HS is being built in Sienna? I keep hearing that it is.

It seems both Vick brothers come from the same pile of trash. Good ridance to him.

I believe that there the MLS will surpass the NHL by 2010. The league is gaining popularity, and almost every team has their own stadium, or one in the works. Cities like San Antonio, who passed up on the MLS will be sorry. This is a growing league. I only hope that the people who play it now, continue to get better and play it up to the MLS. Something else to help popularity is to sign some famous, worldwide known soccer player to the MLS.

lol....the last team that was to be sold out of the NHL (Nashville Predators) was going close to $300,000,000 more than three times the value of the LA Galaxy...NHL is debating adding two franchises (one in Vegas) with close to $300,000,000 in fees. It is going to be a while before MLS approaches this.

Besides I don't think the two sports are in competition. I have been to numerous hockey games and soccer games and the fans are not the same at all. They don't compete for the same customer.

Like Red said...it is about small, steady gains at this point.

I'm looking for help trying to find the Taub family mansion in Houston. Where did Ben Taub live? 

Any info would be greatly appreciated! Thanks

Sienna has a golf course within it along with many homes in the $1,000,000 range near our golf course (yes Sienna has a fairly nice golf course). The developers also said at the last meeting that most homes from now forward will be focused on the $300,000 bracket. Sienna will be much bigger than Riverstone when completed (20,000 homes) so you had to have diversification to fill a neighborhood with this many homes.

All in all though I think both communities will complement each other bringing major commercial business to this side of Missoui City in the near future. Missouri City is changing right now, getting more upscale in the western portion while still having some ghetto elements to the east and towards Houston. This is why Sienna will most likely have its own HS in a couple of years. The homeowners pay too much money for their kids to go to a HS such as Hightower.

It will be interesting to see how these areas mix in the coming years, as their is a vast difference in income in such a relatively close area of town.

The same developer Johnson Development is doing Riverstone and Sienna. Sienna has more amenities, while Riverstone is a little closer to Sugar Land. The will be connected once the bridge is up so both communities will be intertwined before long. I can not wait for the commercial businesses to come out here.

This is too easy...lol

Well, MLS DOES have Landon Donovan. Perhaps the best player in American history. He's tied Eric Wynalda's national team record for most goals in his career. Wynalda was 31, and Donovan is now 25. But I agree with you with the name factor issue. Once Beckham gets here, the secret is to create more big names in the league, because there is already some really good talent throughout.

Landon Donovan...he had to come back to the states because he could not cut it in Germany...go read about it.

I keep hearing this Beckham/Pele comparison. Wasn't Pele like, 38 when he played in NASL? And I think he played 3 semi-retirement seasons, not 5 season like Beckham is, while trying to stay on England. Beckham's 32, around the same age as Allen Iverson, Peyton Manning, etc., and is still playing for the England National Team. Though Pele was one of the greatest ever, I seriously doubt that Pele at 38 was as in his prime coming to the Cosmos as Beckham, who just led Real Madrid to it's first La Liga in 4 years just a few weeks ago.

Pele was 34 ( a whole 2 years older than Bechham )

Regardless of other countries, there's no denying that MLS is the biggest and best league soccer in the USA. It's not one of the biggest leagues in the world yet, but it's far from the worst, and the attention the league is recieving worldwide is not seen with every league in the world.

Keep your hopes and dreams alive....as long as we promote MLS I am all for starting minor league baseball, hockey, basketball and arena football forums.

And we have a really good team. 5 game winning streak, MLS Champs, beat the South American champs in CCC 2-0 at home a few months ago. So it's not like Dynamo will never be a top-tier team one day. But they have a great foundation talent-wise, and have to keep growing. Part of that comes from being financially stable with their own stadium, and building their young fanbase year after year.

Hate to break it too you but I am in my 30s...all of my friends played soccer when we were kids. Once we were in high school we all played other sports.

Here is my point...in this country fans take to sports that have the "Michael Jordan" factor....I know all of you guys are going to bring up Beckham at this point but he is 32 with maybe two good years left...soccer is not an old man's game....let MLS get a prime player in his 20s and then we will talk.

Many people forget the NASL got Pele, one of the greatest players in the world (better than Beckham) but the league folded a few years later.

I know good players play soccer in the states I am just saying that in the US we are spoiled we like to see the best athletes in our professional sports. Maybe if I had not watched soccer teams in Europe and Brazil play I would think MLS is fine....but is not even in the same stratosphere.

It is the same arguement as saying I love NFL Europe because I live in Germany...fine I respect that but realize the players you watch in NFL Europe could not sniff the jock of a majority of players in the NFL.

Here is another problem with soccer in the US. When I was a kid my primary sport was soccer with my dad as the coach. But as I grew up I ended up playing baseball, basketball and football finally settling on football in high school.

I think many kids in the US go this path. Most parents including myself will put their kids in non harmful sports such as soccer when they are kids....but when they grow older most kids will play football, basketball and baseball. You throw in hockey up north.

Let me cut to the point. So down in the south soccer is at best a #4 sport...baseball, football and basketball are not going anywhere. Up north soccer is a #5 sport with hockey being added in. The rest of the world soccer is #1. What this means simply is that our best athletes do not play soccer. If they did we probably would have one of the better leaguse in the world, but that is not happening in my lifetime.

Go look at any HS and I guarantee you the best athletes are not on a soccer field. There is the problem for long term success....end of story.

I think soccer will only succeed here long term if the best come to play here....and as someone who follows all sports including soccer I think we are a long way off from that happening.

They have players in Europe worth more than an MLS team by themselves. MLS is minor leage at the moment and Americans including myself are used to watching the best athletes in every sport.

When my dad and I watch soccer overseas and then MLS it is like a joke. The first thing I noticed when watching MLS is the players are half as accurate and half as fast.

Here is the true problem for MLS down the road which no one mentions. With Beckham, etc coming in at big contracts this could create serious problems down the road. Most MLS players make less than the league minimums in MLB, NBA, NFL and NHL. LEAGUE MINIMUMS....there are guys in the MLS that make $12,000.

If the MLS hopes to get the talent to make them competitive on a world stage (again this is what it would take for America to take to it) ticket prices, sponsorships and money invested would have to increase.....and if you have been to MLS game....I have been to a couple, the crowd leans to the poor side. Increase ticket prices to $100 for example to have these players and I would say that the crowds would be cut in half killing the sport. The MLS is going to have to add very slowly for the next 10 years because if it gets too far ahead of itself the league will colapse.

The ESPN deal that gets publicized is one of the lowest paid sports deals around...they make very little from it.

The money in this city for example does not support soccer....the money supports the big sports.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?id=2880877

It looks like the Nashville Predators are being sold to a Canadian billionaire. It's not clear yet if there's a planned move for the team yet seeing that they're not having hot ticket sales. If they do announce they'd be looking at a possible move, I'm guessing you'll hear a few Canadian cities on the top of the list, and possibly Houston, Kansas City, and Las Vegas again mentioned.

I still think that the only way NHL were to come to Houston anytime soon would be if Alexander bought a team and moved them to Toyota.

Yep...I agree that the NHL will only come here under Alexander's ownership. No other NHL owner is going to want to give a portion of their revenue to Alexander to play there.

Attendance in Nashville is up though about 1,000 more people per game this year to around 13,600...while it still needs to go up the NHL has a long season like the NBA and MLB. The NHL has 82 regular season games so you take the numbers with a grain of salt.

All in all from what I have seen and heard I think post lockout the NHL is on its way back to health.

In the Sports Business Journal this week the NHL revenue topped 2.2 Billion this year up from 2.1 Billion last year.

Question? Who would pay for the stadium? I see no way that tax payers vote to do this or that the city would volunteer. Is AEG going at this alone with the idea that they will shift their concerts from Toyota to here to help fund this building?

I think MLS would be the best fit for SA. But it is not on par with the NFL, MLB, NBA or NHL. It is a level below. I watch some soccer along with all of these other sports and MLS is inferrior to most overseas club teams. It is more on par with arena football, minor league baseball or minor league hockey in terms of prestige.

I just bought a house in Sienna Plantation after a lot of research. My wife and I are going to have a baby. Like you I live near downtown (Midtown) at the moment and was looking for a place in the suburbs to raise a family with a decent comute in to town.

If you work in the med center it is literally 20 minutes from Sienna to the med center ( I timed it ) when there is no traffic. I have made the drive when I get off work at 6 PM and it takes 45 minutes.

I have lived my whole life in the city and considered myself a non suburban type but I really like it out in Sienna. Plus I hear the tollway will eventually build another stop that will go to the back part of Sienna which would cut the drive time to the med center even more. The toll way is key here as it is pretty new and a straight shot to the medical center / dome area. Not crowded even at 6 PM on a weekday.

I am seeing a lot of areas in and near Sienna being made into future retail. Although It will take time I do think retail is recognizing the growth in this area and is coming.

Thanks for the advice guys. I went ahead and signed on the house in Sienna. I think we will enjoy it there.