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Tal's Hill Going Away


Nate99

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I'm a fan of the removal. It was a gimmick that didn't fit the franchise, indicative of the caprice behind the later McLane years, along with everything else that went into the half-implemented Houston Diesels rebranding.

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Disappointed. I love Tal's Hill, it makes our stadium unique. And it's nearly impossible to hit a home run to center field, whereas now the wall will be moved up 25+ feet.

The new design is awesome compared to what is there, screw the hill. There is nothing unique about a hill in center field other than a player possibly getting injured. Minute Maid has so much more that makes it unique, like a train station as a main entrance. It's not like we give up homers to dead center in the first place, plus it will be 409 ft which is the league average.

Edited by j_cuevas713
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I assume we're (the county) paying for this enhancement to the stadium, which will allow for more concessions and ticket sales?

 

does this include a contract extension to continue using the field for another 30 years? 

 

both the basketball and baseball contracts with cable provider stations really has made me re-think the use of county money for stadiums.

 

I hope moving forward there is enough backlash to the outrageous costs with building (and updating) these stadiums and arenas that at the least they include a guarantee in the contract that the owner show all regular season games on a local broadcast channel. that way everyone in the county can enjoy the stadium/arena they paid for.

 

We pay, and they collect concessions, ticket sales and distribution rights, the only benefit we receive is they employ minimum wage hourly labor to work there, and people are introduced to a new area of town they may otherwise have not visited.

 

$15 million to add some new seats and concession stands?

 

I'm going to try to calm down now.

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I assume we're (the county) paying for this enhancement to the stadium, which will allow for more concessions and ticket sales?

 

does this include a contract extension to continue using the field for another 30 years? 

 

both the basketball and baseball contracts with cable provider stations really has made me re-think the use of county money for stadiums.

 

I hope moving forward there is enough backlash to the outrageous costs with building (and updating) these stadiums and arenas that at the least they include a guarantee in the contract that the owner show all regular season games on a local broadcast channel. that way everyone in the county can enjoy the stadium/arena they paid for.

 

We pay, and they collect concessions, ticket sales and distribution rights, the only benefit we receive is they employ minimum wage hourly labor to work there, and people are introduced to a new area of town they may otherwise have not visited.

 

$15 million to add some new seats and concession stands?

 

I'm going to try to calm down now.

 

2 things:

 

1)  Unless you rent a car or stay in a hotel in Harris County, or go to a game or other event at one of the stadiums, they do not, and have not, cost you a dime.

 

2)  The Astros lease requires the Astros to maintain the stadium and allows them to make improvements.  Basically, if the Astros want upgrades, they pay for upgrades.  Unless there is some special agreement for these improvements, it appears they will be paid for by the Astros.  (If anyone is interested in gathering facts before pitchforks, it might be useful to know that the Astros (and not you, Samagon) paid for the $10-13 Million of stadium upgrades that were done in 2010, including the giant video screen.

 

Edited by Houston19514
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The new design is awesome compared to what is there, screw the hill. There is nothing unique about a hill in center field other than a player possibly getting injured. Minute Maid has so much more that makes it unique, like a train station as a main entrance.

 

Except for the fact that no one else has one, which does, by definition, make it unique. I like it because it's something that can actually influence the game, in rare situations. No one has ever gotten hurt from the hill, but the off chance that someone might plow into the flag pole makes those deep balls to center exciting.

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2 things:

 

1)  Unless you rent a car or stay in a hotel in Harris County, or go to a game or other event at one of the stadiums, they do not, and have not, cost you a dime.

 

2)  The Astros lease requires the Astros to maintain the stadium and allows them to make improvements.  Basically, if the Astros want upgrades, they pay for upgrades.  Unless there is some special agreement for these improvements, it appears they will be paid for by the Astros.  (If anyone is interested in gathering facts before pitchforks, it might be useful to know that the Astros (and not you, Samagon) paid for the $10-13 Million of stadium upgrades that were done in 2010, including the giant video screen.

 

 

I wasn't aware that they pick up the tab for improvements, that makes it more bearable.

 

I do rent cars when mine is not working, but regardless, could that tax money be used for something else? Fix roads, more transit options, more cops? So it doesn't directly come out of my sales tax, or my property tax, but by the money used to build the stadiums not being used for regular city projects, in effect, I am paying for it.

 

Don't get me wrong, I love that we have sports teams here, I enjoy cheering for the home teams as much as anyone, but overall, the city would be better without them, and with better roads, more cops, more easily accessible parks, etc.

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The hill and flagpole always seemed to me to be hokey and contrived. The nostalgia influence in baseball is really strong though, so I could see why they wanted more quirky, "old timey" elements to the original design, I just think these were a step too far.  The inclines at old parks (Crosley Field being the most famous) were a feature due to some structural compromise of the plan, if they could have been rid of them easily, they would have, but over time, the flaws became a feature and people associated the particular odd detail with the rest of the good memories of something they enjoyed.  Putting in the hill from the get-go just seemed like trying to manufacture nostalgia.

 

I think the flagpole was hit once by a ball in play during an actual game (it would take a monster shot to get out that far), so, that was about as prevalent an "element of the game" as small mammals running on the field.  Catches made on the hill were very rare too, but they did occur, though none ever hit it. It could happen, it just hasn't in over 1200 games.

 

http://www.si.com/mlb/2015/06/04/houston-astros-tals-hill-catch-video

Edited by Nate99
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I like it - in particular, opening up what appears to be a generally accessible club area on the same level as the field.  At the Dome, Lefty's was a grand place to hang out, as is the field level arcade at AT&T (or whatever the devil they're calling the stadium in SF these days).  

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  • 4 months later...

Ridiculous. How long does it take to bulldoze a hill and lay some new sod?

Additionally, that means that they were counting on not going to the playoffs this year. Unacceptable, they should be trying for playoffs every year.

 

they are redoing the seating in the area as well. Plus there is an allstar cricket  match in November that is disrupting the construction plans.

 

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Ridiculous. How long does it take to bulldoze a hill and lay some new sod?

Additionally, that means that they were counting on not going to the playoffs this year. Unacceptable, they should be trying for playoffs every year.

 

Relax.  The project involves a LOT more than just removing Tal's Hill. 

 

And there is a lot more to the delay than the mere fact of going into the playoffs.  http://blog.chron.com/ultimateastros/2015/10/15/astros-delay-renovations-to-minute-maid-tals-hill-lives-another-year/

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