Okay, so the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo has rejected the Astrodome Redevelopment Corporation’s plan for converting the historic sports venue into a hotel and entertainment facility. Some have been whispering that the Dome is obsolete and should be torn down like so much else in Amnesia City. Before we decide what its future use will be — Let’s all commit right now to preserving our beloved Astrodome. All agreed? Good.
Yes, the idea of transforming the Dome into some sort of mixed-use project with restaurants, hotels, and parking seems to be a clever way to make money for its owner – Harris County. On the other hand, the Rodeo folks argue that any new money-making ventures might compete with their month-long occupancy of Reliant Park. Like many others, I think a compromise can be found for those two parties. And if not, then I have a new proposition: Let’s give soccer champs the Houston Dynamo a home in the Dome.
After three+ years as a guest at UH’s Robertson Stadium, it’s time the Dynamo had a permanent home. While a brand new 22,000 seat, open-air soccer stadium might need as much as $80 million to build, reimagining the fabled Astrodome into a world-class, state of the art soccer stadium is easy for all of us to do. How difficult would it be to transform the former football (and baseball) stadium into a Major League Soccer stadium? Of course, the legendary Astro-turf would have to go in favor of real grass. This would pose a problem for the semi-opaque ceiling. We return the Astrodome ceiling to clear glass spanning the gaps in the beautiful steel structure. I see the structural steel beams painted Dynamo Orange. I can even see a soccer ball pattern on the remaining steel structure. Seating, concessions, parking, utilities are all there! The existing 60,000 plus seats are more than enough. Perhaps we could even replace the original animated scoreboard that was so mercilessly scrapped in favor of more seating.
The newly-dubbed DynamoDome could also be host to other soccer (and futbol) events. Could Houston host the World Cup? We could in the new DynamoDome.
Ultimately, we should let the Dome be the Dome. While filling the inside with a hotel might make the most money for Harris County, retaining the indelible sports theme makes more sense. As a home to another local championship team, the Astrodome could remain a home to over thirty years of our collective sports history – and a home to future sports memories.