THIS MAKES DOLLARS AND SENSE
How a perfect storm has created the ideal time and reason to reboot the Astrodome
Sep 8, 2020, 2:07 pm
Photos by: Wiki photo, Harris County Sports Corps via HBJ. Composite image by Brandon Strange.
Did you read where the Chicago Cubs are planning to put a sports betting room right there at Wrigley Field? The Cubs are the first Major League Baseball team to acknowledge, embrace – and will host – sports betting at its stadium. Once approved by Illinois legislators, the sportsbook at Wrigley will be operated by DraftKings.
Capital One Arena in Washington D.C., home to the Washington Wizards basketball team and Washington Capitals hockey team, already is clearing space for a sports gambling room.
Imagine that, Cubs fans can arrive at Wrigley Field during batting practice, lay down a bet on the Cubs to win, watch the game, have a couple of beers and pick up their winnings on their way out.
Or tear up their losing bet tickets.
Announcing the deal with DraftKings, Cubs official Crane Kenney said, "An increasing number of sports fans want to integrate sports betting into their game experience, and we're excited to be one of the first to engage in developing a retail sportsbook at a professional sports venue."
Wouldn't it be something if Texas allowed a sports gambling room at Minute Maid Park or Toyota Center or NRG Stadium?
Or the Astrodome! Why do I have to come up with every good idea around here?
Houston's iconic, Space Age building isn't busy these days - not since Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo squashed a $105 million project to renovate the Dome. The Dome makeover was a pet project of her predecessor, Ed Emmett.
"The plan that had been designed wouldn't have yielded truly a usable building," Hidalgo said. "Right now we don't have specific plans for the Astrodome. It's just not a priority."
So the Astrodome sits empty and unloved, slowly sinking deeper in despair. It's sad to walk by the once-mighty stadium on our way to eat turkey legs and watch Alan Jackson perform at the Rodeo. Gee, I hope he sings that Chattahoochee song.
The thing is, the Astrodome's structure is sound. It just needs lots of money, a new coat of paint, some TLC and a visit by the Orkin man. My position: either fix it up or tear it down. Letting it fade away and rot is ridiculous. It makes us look stupid.
Many ideas to renovate and repurpose the Astrodome have been floated in recent years. Some were kooky, like indoor ski jumping and a Wild West movie studio. Some made sense, like a new convention center and hotel in the same historic building.
But nothing makes more sense than creating one of the world's largest casino, hotel and convention center complexes. Of course, this would require the approval of the Texas Legislature. However, a bill to legalize sports betting and casino gambling would have to be signed by Gov. Greg Abbott, which would be a bad beat.
Of course, the final say should rest with Texas voters, but our fearless leaders in Austin refuse to put sports betting or casino gambling on a ballot, where approval would be a lock.
Fun facts: WinStar World Casino, the largest casino on Earth, is located in Thackerville, Oklahoma, just north of Texas. Louisiana, our neighbor to the east, has 28 casinos.
You know what WinStar World Casino and all those casinos in Louisiana have in common? Their parking lots are filled with cars with Texas license plates. We're missing out on millions of dollars.
It can't be that our governor is opposed to gambling, because we have the Texas Lottery (a sucker's play), horse racing, dog racing and bingo. Meanwhile, Sam Houston Race Park has limited live racing days and Gulf Greyhound Park closed its doors back in June.
I wonder why Abbott is against casinos. Any guesses?
A Texas-sized casino and hotel within the Astrodome would be a monster hit. Just think, tipsy convention goers wouldn't have to stumble outside for their Uber pickup. Texans fans could drop by the casino for some action before walking to NRG Stadium for football games. The NRG Park has tons of parking space. It's all right there.
The Woodlands did it right. When there's a Friday or Saturday night concert at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, fans often make a weekend of it. They spend money on concert tickets, restaurants and hotels in The Woodlands.
Repurposing the Astrodome into a casino and hotel would be a windfall for Houston and Harris County. Maybe we could present the Dome to Texas' superstar renovators Chip and Joanne Gaines as a Fixer Upper. Restaurants along 610 would thrive. Fans could spend weekends around a Texans game. Families could spend more days at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. Rolling Stones fans could spend $50 plus tax for a $5 T-shirt.
Spend, spend, spend. That's the whole idea. We sort of could use a few extra bucks around here.
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There almost certainly won't be a $700 million deal for any player in the baseball's next free agency class, nothing like the record contracts for two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani and four-time All-Star slugger Juan Soto the past two winters.
Still, plenty of talented players are going into their final seasons before potentially becoming free agents for the first time.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr., five-tool player Kyle Tucker and starting pitchers Dylan Cease, Framber Valdez and Zac Gallen could all become available to other teams after this season. Three-time batting champion Luis Arráez and Bo Bichette, who twice led the American League in hits, could also be first-time free agents.
Guerrero, like Soto already a four-time All-Star and Home Run Derby champion at age 26, had set a self-imposed deadline for negotiating a long-term agreement with Toronto. That passed at the start of spring training without a new deal, when he said he wanted to stay but would listen to other teams in free agency.
Blue Jays president Mark Shapiro remained optimistic going into the season that the team would eventually sign the first baseman to a contract extension.
Soto’s $765 million, 15-year contract with the New York Mets in December came after Ohtani got a $700 million, 10-year deal from the Los Angeles Dodgers the previous offseason. Guerrero told ESPN in an interview after his deadline passed that he was seeking a similar contract length as Soto but noted that his last offer was for less than $600 million.
Here are some of the players eligible for free agency after this year’s World Series:
1B Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Blue Jays
Guerrero, who will make $28.5 million this season, hit a career-best .323 last year with a .940 OPS, 30 homers and 103 RBIs in his fourth consecutive All-Star season. Over six seasons with the Blue Jays, he has a .288 average with 160 homers and 507 RBIs in 819 games. He finished second in the 2021 AL MVP voting behind unanimous choice Ohtani.
OF Kyle Tucker, Cubs
Houston clearly wasn't planning to pay the price to keep Tucker in free agency, so the Astros traded the three-time All-Star and Gold Glove-winning right fielder to Chicago in December for a third baseman, starting pitcher and top prospect outfielder that are all under team control for multiple seasons. The 28-year-old Tucker was limited to 78 games last year because of a fractured right shin, and still hit 23 homers. He had a combined 59 homers, 219 RBIs and 55 stolen bases in 2022-23.
RHP Dylan Cease, Padres
The 29-year-old Cease has 130 starts over the last four seasons, twice finishing in the top four in Cy Young Award voting. He was the AL runner-up behind unanimous winner Justin Verlander while with White Sox in 2022, and fourth in the NL last year when 14-11 with a 3.47 ERA in 33 starts after being traded to the playoff-bound Padres during spring training from a Chicago team that went on to lose 121 games. Cease has 1,016 career strikeouts in 847 1/3 innings.
LHP Framber Valdez, Astros
One of the game's best left-handed starters, the 31-year-old Valdez has a 68-41 career record and is Houston's opening-day starter for the fourth year in a row. He was 15-7 with a 2.91 ERA in 28 games last season, his fifth in a row to finish with a winning record. The workhorse threw a no-hitter in 2023 and averaged more than 191 innings the past three years.
RHP Zac Gallen, Diamondbacks
The 29-year-old Gallen, 14-6 last year, is 43-19 with a 3.20 ERA in 93 starts the past three seasons. Arizona got him his rookie season in 2019 when it traded Jazz Chisholm Jr. to Miami. The Diamondbacks just gave 2021 NL Cy Young Award winner and four-time All-Star right-hander Corbin Burnes a $210 million, six-year deal, the richest in franchise history. That could significantly impact whether they will also be able to keep Gallen, twice a top-five finisher in Cy Young voting.
1B Luis Arráez, Padres
Arráez has back-to-back 200-hit seasons, part of three batting titles in a row while finishing each of those seasons with a different team. The Padres acquired him last year in a midseason trade from Miami, which got him from Minnesota after his first batting title with the Twins in 2022. He goes into this season with a .323 career average and only 194 strikeouts in 2,858 career plate appearances.
SS Bo Bichette, Blue Jays
A calf injury and then a broken right middle finger limited Bichette to 81 games last season, and the 27-year-old two-time All-Star hit a career-low .225 with only four homers. Before that, he led the AL in hits in 2021 and 2022, and batted .306 in 2023 during his third consecutive 20-homer season.
DH Marcell Ozuna, Braves
Ozuna, who turns 35 next November, played in all 162 games for the first time last year and was an All-Star for the third time — first since 2016. He has 79 homers and 204 RBIs over the past two years.
RHP Shane Bieber, Guardians
Bieber had 20 strikeouts in 12 scoreless innings last season before Tommy John surgery and becoming a free agent for the first time. Cleveland re-signed the 2020 AL Cy Young winner even though he won’t pitch until later this season, during which the pitcher with a 62-32 career record turns 30. He does have a $16 million player option for 2026.
A few Phillies
34-year-old catcher J.T. Realmuto, 32-year-old slugger Kyle Schwarber and 29-year-old left-handed starter Ranger Suárez are going into the final seasons of their contracts with the Phillies after being key figures for three consecutive playoff seasons. That began with that 2022 NL pennant that ended a decade-long postseason drought. Schwarber has 131 homers and 302 RBIs in that three-season span, along with 318 walks and 612 strikeouts.
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