The Harris County Commissioners unanimously approved an agreement Tuesday for a 20,000 seat stadium in partnership with MLS and the City of Houston.
Houston City council had approved it last week.
Sit back, take a deep breathe and revel in what is an outstanding and exciting moment. Oliver Luck and the Dynamo deserve great credit for staying steadfast to the political process and never leaving the idea of having the stadium in downtown on stadium row. As most know, it was the only place for professional soccer in this town.
Soccer fans who rallied and who showed up at commissioners court and other open political forums deserve major applause for they helped to bring awareness to the political vein and the public!
The stadium will be owned jointly by the city and the country and the Dynamo will be responsible for stadium operations.
So what are you doing to celebrate this great moment that will see MLS in a soccer specific stadium come 2012?
Danish Inspirations
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Houston Web Design
Memorial Hermann Sports Medicine Institute
SportTalk 790
Zukowski, Bresenhan & Sinex, L.L.P.
Ya gotta love having our own stadium…. but…um…er where are you going to park 8-10,000 cars ? Gawd forbid that on a Saturday night the Astros or the Rockets also have a game.
Hello Schwinn, my old friend !
I haven’t lived in Houston for over 25 years, but I would hope there is a public transportation option c.l.
This is great news!
Fantastic news! Dynamo management deserve a big hand for sticking it out. I was almost resigned to the thought another city would take up such a generous offer as was made by the Dynamo owners, and so, we’d lose our beloved Dynamo.
Downtown was the only place to put the stadium. Most of all, it is centrally located. I was also entertaining a dreaded thought of Dynamo in the Burbs of Houston. I believe that would have been a HUGE mistake. Look what happened to FC Dallas (I mean FC Frisco). Their attendance is embarrasing and I have to think the long drive out into the suburbs can’t help the cause.
Now the Dynamo will have a stadium and Houston will have Soccer y Futbol well into the future. Houston is and now will grow as a Soccer city.
Now we can really say FOREVER ORANGE !!!!
I just can’t stop smiling.
Great news! Now, if we could only fix our midfield.
Letter from Oliver Luck to the fans:
Dynamo president thanks political contributors, Dynamo fans for support of stadium project
http://www.houstondynamo.com/news/2010/04/lucks-letter-dynamo-fans-supporters
GREAT NEWS
In addition to the team, its time to thank those of you who made the many trips to County Commissioner’s Court. People like Nord, Nigel, Vance (guy who ran Dynamo Planet) and so many others (I’m not including myself since I only got there a couple of times and never spoke).
Everyone, GIVE YOURSELVES A HUGE ROUND OF APPLAUSE AND PATS ON THE BACK!!!! Always remember that it is dedicated fans like you who made the trips, who gave your time and effort, whose words were not ignored but instead served the rest of us well when there were doubts. And now, it is your work that should be rewarded and celebrated. Thanks to all of you who supported, spoke, carried the water for our beloved Men in Orange, it is all of you for whom this is possible, for whom this will soon be a reality.
Also, thanks to Mayor Annise Parker. It is because of your quiet, diligent work behind the scenes talking to people at the county, keeping the channels of communication open, that kept our hopes and dreams alive. While most of us probably did not vote for you, we owe you our deepest thinks and a debt of gratitude. You have achieved something that your loud-mouthed predecessor could not. You presented a fair deal in good faith and ultimately facilitated a win-win for all involved.
Wow, what a great day!!!! Looking forward to Glenn’s next show “on location” (just give me notice so I can drive to work and get to the appointed place). Really looking forward to the groundbreaking. What a special day! Looking forward to taking my little 11-month old Dynamo to many games at the new place for years to come!! Wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Bout time!
Awesome!!!!!!
Public transportation option to alleviate the parking problem ? Surely you jest…
My Heartfelt thanks to all the Dynamo fans who went to those meetings, spoke, blogged and spread knowledge in the face of haters who spread only hate and lies about the funding and support level of soccer here. Thanks also to a Mayor that many said is against the stadium. Maybe some day we will know WHY Lee/Garcia were so balky on this for , what?, 2 years!! We could have had that stadium THIS season and not have suffered some of the injuries that plague our players now! Still…. I am THRILLED! Go Dynamo!!! See you all on Sat against chivas.
woooo!!!!!!!!!!!
AWESOME DAY!!!
Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh!
Come on April 2012!!!!
Congrat’s to all there in Houston on stadium news.
Espically fans involved in grass roots efforts, like showing up at rallies, contacting politico’s, etc.
Would keep it right at the 20,000 seat mark, make it a tough ticket to get.
Glenn, will the stadium be 20K or could it be higher. Demand for tickets will be much higher if it is just 20K but I truly believe Houston will sell out most of their games wishing they might have built it at the 24-25K mark.
I am just glad we have a stadium. It will be very interesting to see if this might be what it takes to keep Dom in Houston but I truly believe he is on the short list to be the next National team coach after South Africa.
I just hope he knows that there is more “long” term opportunity of being the Dynamo coach than the national team coach.
Thank you to all those who made such a great effort, especially the “civilians” who took time out of their lives to have their voices heard all over the city. I was a bit of a free loader in this situation, but my appreciation is immense. Congrats everyone.
To all of those who were active in supporting this stadium through emails to elected officials or speaking at City Council and Commissioners Court – congratulations. You can all be proud of the fact that you had a part in building this stadium.
But the real credit should go to Annise Parker, who early in her administration took it upon herself to jump start the deal by visiting with El Franco Lee and negotiating a deal acceptable to both.
Although there are other matters to be ironed out, I’m positive that we’ll be sitting in our new stadium in April 2012.
But our activism on this matter should not end here. I just sent out emails to Annise Parker and all of the County Commissioners thanking them for their votes to advance this and build a home for our team.
Might I suggest that all of you do the same – it only takes a minute, and whilst we may be quick to criticize and complain to our elected officials – not many bother to complement them when they get it right.
In this case they really got it right – send those emails now.
This is the best news ever… I know that a lot of people are worried about parking, but if we build the stadium, parking will come. If people can make money, they will make the parking lots (even if they are pretty cheap.)
I am hoping that because of the closeness of the Dynamo Stadium to Minute Maid Park that maybe the Astros/Dynamo can work out some deals a couple of saturdays every summer. One having an afternoon game followed by a night game at the other stadium. That would be too cool.
GLORY!
Second that Nigel!
I was so excited and drained last night that I couldn’t sleep last night. : )
This is awesome news for us. Cant wait to see it done. Hopefully that can reconsider for a 25k seat stadium.
Yes this is all good news. But I have a feeling that city council is going to get an ear full for months to come from those people who own those trendy condos and townhomes in that area. They see the stadium as a bad addition to their utopia. Would they rather see that land just sit vacant and rundown as it has for a long time? But maybe this will give the Houston police more opportunity for overtime for their officers. And maybe the Dynamo can get a food vendor in there who can make nachos that do not taste like cardboard.
As suggested, here are the contact details for the primary public official involved:
• Judge Ed Emmett: judge.emmett@cjo.hctx.net, (713)755-4000
• Commissioner El Franco Lee: Janet_Duran@cp1.hctx.net, (713)755-6111
• Commissioner Sylvia Garcia: sylvia_garcia@pct2.co.harris.tx.us, (713)755-6220
• Commissioner Steve Radack: pct3@hctx.net, (713)755-6306
• Commissioner Jerry Eversole: JerryEversole@hcp4.net, (713)755-6444
• Mayor Annise D. Parker: mayor@cityofhouston.net, 713.837.0311
• Council James Rodriguez: districti@cityofhouston.net, 832.393.3011
Anybody else I left out?
Post #23 – We can’t underestimate what they’ll do but great news is that the majority to almost all people I have spoken with in East End (both residents and business owners) are very favorable with regard to the stadium. These groups are as vocal (if not more and more powerful) as some of these later-comers.
Glen,this is great news.There is much credit to be spread around.You sir,deserve credit too.You have championed the beautiful game for a very long time in Houston.As a displaced Texan,and Houstonian now living in Indianapolis,I want to thank you .Not just for what you do that is known but the unknowns as well.
When homeforthedynamo.com was birthed you were all in as well as very supportive.
Thank you Glen and congrats.I hope to see you on opening day of the new digs
Keith
Thanks to those of you who put time and efforts to make this deal possible — city and county officials, the fans, and residents of EastDo. Thank you!
As far as stadium capacity, I would like to see the capacity between 22000 – 25000. The reason is I don’t want the demand for Dynamo tickets to become too high such that scalpers would seek an opportunity to make money, or the front office raises the ticket price. Dynamo game is the best deal in town for sporting events and I would like to see it stay that way for as long as possible.
Great news…
Great news! Congrats to Houston