Not a lot of details yet - I wonder how far $180 million will go? I assume some of this money will go towards the rumored Rockets entertainment district south and east of the Toyota Center. Exciting times! Toyota Center, home to the Houston Rockets, will be getting a $180 million upgrade “at no cost to Houston taxpayers,” Mayor John Whitmire said Wednesday. The Harris County Houston Sports Authority is expected to make the announcement official Wednesday afternoon, but Whitmire said that $95 million of the renovations will come from the state with Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta footing the rest of the bill. Although details of the upgrades have yet to be announced, Whitmire said “it will completely transform” the arena. https://www.houstonchronicle.com/sp...novation-upgrade-tilman-fertitta-22195107.php
Don’t live in Houston but when they say 90 million of the cost will come from from the state, are they saying the state of Texas will cover that 90 million? If so does the state regularly do this for sports teams in different jurisdictions? That’s incredible if that’s the case Basie from reading Hosuton sports area talk, they make it seem like the rockets are the ugly stepchild of Texas sports
Good news, hopefully they add some more food/drinks by the Toyota Center. But pretty Houstonians still kick into state taxes... which is a roundabout way of saying all Texans will help
Not trying to make this political. Just pointing the obvious out for awareness 1. The George R Brown Convention Center expansion ongoing currently. 2. The Toyota Center renovations ongoing (along with new work to be announced) It was all for one big event in 2028 Houston is hosting. The Republican National Convention. Tilman Fertitta is US Ambassador to Italy under the current administration. In short, it’s his big party and these project have to be complete by Summer 2028 I’m all for further investment in the city as long as it doesn’t impact my taxes personally
Apparently the state government is paying for half of it. On the one hand, Tilman should pay for the whole thing because he's the one who profits, not taxpayers. On the other hand, Spurs and Mavs fans get the honor of helping fund renovations for our stadium. Hmmm. Anyway, I'm just happy the Rockets are going to stay in downtown. TC's location is great, it just needs a little love.
to think that just Dorian Finney Smiths' salary would cover half of the renovation... so basically tax payers are subsiding Dorian Finney Smith's salary. no wonder our country ranks so low on education.
I'm wondering what the renovations entail I wonder if they're going to do something with the exterior which needs some love too!
Really puts it in perspective how the professional athlete salaries have ballooned in recent years. It's ridiculous.
Hopefully whatever they do pulls in more crowd to the games, it's woeful how much louder other crowds are tbh.
I love it Toyota Center is outdated, especially when you compare it to other arenas if they could just figure out how to get the crowd engaged and loud during the game, that would be a dream come true for me literally the only thing I want more than a good home atmosphere is an actual championship tired of going to games and it feels like I’m at the local library or we just left a funeral the vast amount of empty seats are an eyesore as well…dim the lights or something
We could get mannequins that people use to drive the HOV lane, put them in the empty seats? They would be more demonstrative than the fans that actually show up. Houston has always had lame crowds. My wife and I saw CP3-Harden beat the mf Lakers (Harden left the game early with a minor hamstring injury but we won). Crowd was hyped. Unfortunately 30% of the crowd were mf Lakers fans. In the old Summit, I watched Hakeem-Clyde-Barkley take out the Sonics (regular season). Crowd was electric. Many other games, it was akin to the Tina Turner concert I saw in 1987 or so. Tina put on a hell of a show and I felt like I was posing for an oil painting. Same thing with the Rockets' crowds. Hell, half the crowd doesn't show up until almost the 2nd quarter, and then they just stare at their goddamned phones, the women carefully texting with those long-ass nails. Or the time we went to see the Jeremy Lin Rockets. We were literally the only non-Asians in our section because we went cheap for the tickets. The LOF either conversed with one another or stared at their phones until Jeremy Lin touched the ball. Good times.
