Houston Pursues Super Bowl LI

[HPF Bob]

In an article about upgrades to Dolphins Stadium not getting the legislative support needed, it implies that only one other city is in the running to host Super Bowl L (50) in 2016 - Santa Clara, CA in the new stadium that is being built for the 49ers.

It also mentions that there were only two suitors for Super Bowl LI (51) in 2017 - Miami and Houston. Therefore, it looks like Houston could become the site of the Super Bowl again in four years, presumably at Reliant Stadium.

The most recent Super Bowl was in New Orleans and the next is scheduled for MetLife Stadium in the Meadowlands (still hoping for a snow game unless one of my teams are in it). The 2015 game will be played in Glendale, AZ.

One has to ask where is Jerry Jones and Dallas (Arlington) in all of this? I suspect, after all the criticism the Dallas area took for the last Super Bowl, that Jerry is going after college bowl games and other events which, truth be told, might be more profitable than hosting the Super Bowl.

With the SuperDome and Dolphins Stadium apparently showing their age, the circle of appropriate venues for the NFL Championship appears to be shrinking. It used to be that you could count on a rotation of Miami, New Orleans and Los Angeles with an occasional venture to some other locale like San Diego or Houston (there was a Super Bowl in Rice Stadium back in the 1970s which did not go over well).

Could Houston someday be one of the staples of Super Bowl hosting?

BTW, no team has ever played or won a Super Bowl on their home field although the 49ers came close, beating the Dolphins at Stanford Stadium in Palo Alto when the 49ers were technically the hosts.

[nunusguy]

I'm not for a moment buying into any possible scenario that Houston's path to hosting the SB 4 years from now could be virtually uncontested.

[chuck]

Before it hosts another Super Bowl Reliant Stadium needs more parking.

[popanot]

Houston would probably have a good shot at being in a rotation if:

1. The City "leaders" would develop some sort of entertainment district/attraction (i.e., riverwalk, etc)
2. Tear down the damn Astrodome once and for all (ridiculous that thing is still standing in limbo).
3. Put in a luxury hotel or two near Reliant (hard to do without business or consistent entertainment in that area though).

If they don't want to tear down the Astrodome, they should sell it someone who will develop it into something like the Gaylord Opryland Hotel, which would take care of #1 and #3 above.

If you've never been to the Gaylord Opryland it's an amazing hotel consisting of multi-sectional atriums, riverwalks, restaurants, shopping, and banquet and entertainment halls.

http://www.marriott.com/hotels/trave...ention-center/

They don't have the land to build on the scale of the Opryland, but there's enough there to build something close. Having something like that next to Reliant would likely bring in numerous Super Bowls. The competing teams would be able to walk to Reliant and not have to bus from North Houston.

[Keith]

Set your calendars... 2/5/2017 Super Bowl LI in Houston!

[HPF Bob]

It would be really cool to be the first team to win the Super Bowl on their home field.

[HPF Bob]

Houston, meanwhile, will offer a new scoreboard at Reliant Stadium, which will be the largest scoreboard in the world. Bigger even than the one in Cowboys Stadium?

"I didn't tell [Jerry Jones] that until after he voted," Texans owner Bob McNair joked on the NFL Network.

More from McNair: “We had a wonderful time in 2004, and we loved having the NFL in Houston. We're even better prepared this time. It will be a wonderful celebration. We look forward to having people from all over the world come to Houston."

Said Houston bid committee chairman Ric Campo to the NFL Network: "It's really good. It's like an overtime win for us. We're really excited about bringing the Super Bowl to Houston. We'll put on a party that no one has seen in a long time.”

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/blog/ey...-super-bowl-li

[Nconroe]

That will be nice to see the super sized display and whatever else was promised to get the SuperBowl 51. Very good. I know Texans worked hard to get this over several years. San Fran promising lots of high tech, so I'm guessing we will have a bunch of that too.

[nunusguy]

Congrats to the city and the Texans' organization. And perhaps this will be the catalyst needed to finally raze the A.Dome and replace it with something that would be a revenue source instead of an expensive relic to maintain for the city. I believe there might be a plan to put that up for a vote by taxpayers this Fall ?