I suppose when you pay $700 million for a professional football team, you couldn't very well expect them to play in Rice Stadium, could you? Tonight is opening night for Reliant Stadium, the Houston Texans' new state-of-the-art pleasure palace. This is probably not the right time to wonder about the appropriateness of spending a gazillion dollars on a stadium, because the whole town seems to be ga-ga over the Texans. All that aside, it WILL be interesting to see what a gazillion dollars buys these days.
Reliant Stadium was abuzz with activity Friday afternoon as workers hustled through the mammoth steel and glass structure one final time, polishing chrome, scrubbing glass and tying up loose ends in preparation for a moment many Houstonians have been anticipating for almost six years.
That moment will come at 7 tonight when the Texans trot onto the field for their first game ever at the dazzling new 69,500-seat facility.
Never mind that it's an exhibition game against the Miami Dolphins, that it doesn't count in the standings or that it's only a dress rehearsal for the Sept. 8 regular-season opener against the Dallas Cowboys.
The game itself won't put the first-year expansion team any closer to winning a Super Bowl, but it will provide an evening of expectation and emotion for local pro football fans, many of whom probably thought they had seen their last NFL game here after the Oilers departed in 1996.
Reliant Stadium was built as a result of that disappointment. The $449 million facility rose from groundbreaking to completion in just 28 months on an Astrodome parking lot, and in the end, tonight's game will have as much impact on the local sports landscape as winning a Super Bowl.
"I think there's going to be more excitement for this game than when the Oilers were in their heyday," Texans center Steve McKinney said. "They're making it so nice for fans to come out and tailgate and be part of things. I know it's a day a lot of people have waited a long time to see."
Stadium designers predict fans will love the new facility's cozy seating bowl, wide concourses and open, airy feel. It includes a retractable roof to protect fans from bad weather, but the Texans say they want the place to be, first and foremost, an open-air facility.
Texans coach Dom Capers hopes to use the heat as a sort of home-field advantage, and fans are advised to dress appropriately.
An open-air stadium? In Houston? In August? Well, at least the Texans are being up front in making it clear that fan comfort is not their top priority. Sitting in a concrete and glass bowl when the air temperature is around 90 and the humidity is around 80%...well, why would anyone bother to shower before the game?
What I'm really interested in is the parking situation. During the days when the Astros played to a full house at the Astrodome, getting out of the Dome parking lot and back onto 610 was always a major headache. I'll be curious to see if that issue has been resolved or not. Of course, I'll be watching the game on TV as one of the unwashed masses who couldn't get tickets. At least I'll be in an air-conditioned environment, though.
