HARRIS COUNTY - HSA INSIDER
A weekly look at all things Houston sports this week from the Harris County - Houston Sports Authority
Melanie Hauser
Nov 3, 2017, 8:50 am
A weekly look at Houston sports. Harris County - Houston Sports Authority
They captured our imagination, then they captured our hearts.
Those Houston Astros kept us on the edge of our seats for seven epic nights with head-shaking defensive plays and an offense that wouldn’t quit. They kept us trusting each other and kept us believing.
They took a swing at history and came away with their first World Series title.
Today, Houston will come together with the Astros to celebrate each other with a #HoustonStrong parade downtown. It’ll put an exclamation point on an incredible season and another huge sports event.
And, yes, we’re already working on the next big event – the 2024 College Football Playoff National Championship.
Houston was awarded the Jan. 8, 2024 game which will be played at NRG Stadium.
In less than two years, Houston has hosted the 2016 Final Four, the 2017 Super Bowl and the 2017 World Series. The Final Four and Super Bowl together generated an estimated $600 million for the economy and showcased not only Houston’s sports venues, but also a thriving downtown area with the Hilton-Americas, Discovery Green and the George R. Brown Convention Center that’s perfect for a big-event experience.
In event terms, Houston has everything in place.
“Both the Final Four and Super Bowl had very successful footprints with the fan fests and music fests,’’ said Doug Hall, VP of Special Projects for the Harris County – Houston Sports Authority “
“The downtown experience has been great for the fans and the light-rail component connects us with the venues. It gives us the best of both.’’
Bill Hancock, executive director of the CFP, said Houston had demonstrated it’s mettle for college sports adding, ““Houston is one of the most venue-rich cities in the country with a great, modern stadium, multiple convention centers/arenas and a downtown park that will make for a terrific festival setting for our attendees.”
Hall estimates the 2024 championship game could bring $300 million to the local economy.
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The Houston Business Journal released its list of Houston’s top-20 most influential sports leaders this week and it’s a who’s-who.
Take it from Houston Rockets owner Tilman Feritta, who told HBJ, "From ownership to presidents to general managers and coaches ... I don't think you've ever had it as strong (as it is now in Houston).
As you’d expect, Fertitta, Astros owner Jim Crane, Astros manager A.J. Hinch, Texans owner Bob McNair topped a list that also included two women -- Janis Burke, chief executive officer for the Harris County – Houston Sports Authority, and Suzie Thomas, the executive vice president, general counsel and chief administrative officer for the Houston Texans.
Others on the list included Dynamo CEO Chris Canetti, Texans President Jamey Rootes, Houston Golf Association executive director Steve Timms and Joel Cowley, President/CEO of Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.
For the full list:
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With visions of all those incredible Astros plays still dancing through your heads – one of George Springer’s homeruns, an Alex Bregman defensive play or a performance from Justin Verlander or Charlie Morton – start thinking about your nominations for the inaugural Houston Sports Awards. You’ve seen moments from the Texans, the Rockets, college and high school teams, so make a list. There will the 10 different awards presented at the Feb. 8 event at the Hilton-Americas and the selection committee wants to know what you think.
Go to www.houstonsportsawards.com to submit your nominations and get sponsorship, ticket and table information.
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They’ll be watching in Canada, not just because of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, though the NBA’s scoring champion and MVP favorite who plays for Oklahoma City surely helps lure in fans who are north of the border.
They’ll be watching from Serbia and Greece, the homelands of Denver star Nikola Jokic and Milwaukee star Giannis Antetokounmpo. Alperen Sengun will have them watching Houston games in the middle of the night in Turkey, too. Slovenian fans will be watching Luka Doncic and the Lakers play their playoff opener at 2:30 a.m. Sunday, 5:30 p.m. Saturday in Los Angeles. Fans in Cameroon will be tuned in to see Pascal Siakam and the Indiana Pacers. Defending champion Boston features, among others, Kristaps Porzingis of Latvia and Al Horford of the Dominican Republic.
Once again, the NBA playoffs are setting up to be a showcase for international stars.
In a season where the five statistical champions were from five different countries, an NBA first — Gilgeous-Alexander is Canadian, rebounding champion Domantas Sabonis of Sacramento is from Lithuania, blocked shots champion Victor Wembanyama of San Antonio is from France, steals champion Dyson Daniels of Atlanta is from Australia, and assists champion Trae Young of the Hawks is from the U.S. — the postseason will have plenty of international feel as well. Gilgeous-Alexander is in, while Sabonis and Daniels (along with Young, obviously) could join him if their teams get through the play-in tournament.
“We have a tremendous number of international players in this league,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said earlier this season. “It’s roughly 30% of our players representing, at least on opening day, 43 different countries, so there’s much more of a global sense around our teams.”
By the end of the season, it wound up being 44 different countries — at least in terms of countries where players who scored in the NBA this season were born. For the first time in NBA history, players from one country other than the U.S. combined to score more than 15,000 points; Canadian players scored 15,588 this season, led by Gilgeous-Alexander, the first scoring champion from that country.
Gilgeous-Alexander is favored to be MVP this season. It'll be either him or Jokic, which means it'll be a seventh consecutive year with an international MVP for the NBA. Antetokounmpo won twice, then Jokic won three of the next four, with Cameroon-born Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers winning two seasons ago.
“Shai is in the category of you do not stop him,” Toronto coach Darko Rajakovic said after a game between the Raptors and Thunder this season.
In other words, he's like a lot of other international guys now. Nobody truly stops Jokic, Antetokounmpo and Doncic either.
And this season brought another international first: Doncic finished atop the NBA's most popular jersey list, meaning NBAStore.com sold more of his jerseys than they did anyone else's. Sure, that was bolstered by Doncic changing jerseys midseason when he was traded by Dallas to the Los Angeles Lakers, but it still is significant.
The Slovenian star is the first international player to finish atop the most popular jerseys list — and the first player other than Stephen Curry or LeBron James to hold that spot in more than a decade, since soon-to-be-enshrined Basketball Hall of Famer Carmelo Anthony did it when he was with New York in 2012-13.
“We’re so small, we have 2 million people. But really, our sport is amazing,” fellow Slovene Ajsa Sivka said when she was drafted by the WNBA's Chicago Sky on Monday night and asked about Doncic and other top Slovenian athletes. “No matter what sport, we have at least someone that’s great in it. I’m just really proud to be Slovenian.”
All this comes at a time where the NBA is more serious than perhaps ever before about growing its international footprint. Last month, FIBA — the sport's international governing body — and the NBA announced a plan to partner on a new European basketball league that has been taking shape for many years. The initial target calls for a 16-team league and it potentially could involve many of the biggest franchise names in Europe, such as Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City.
It was a season where four players topped 2,000 points in the NBA and three of them were international with Gilgeous-Alexander, Jokic and Antetokounmpo. Globally, time spent watching NBA League Pass was up 6% over last season. More people watched NBA games in France this season than ever before, even with Wembanyama missing the final two months. NBA-related social media views in Canada this season set records, and league metrics show more fans than ever were watching in the Asia-Pacific region — already a basketball hotbed — as well.
FIBA secretary general Andreas Zagklis said the numbers — which are clearly being fueled by the continued international growth — suggest the game is very strong right now.
“Looking around the world, and of course here in North America," Zagklis said, "the NBA is most popular and more commercially successful than ever.”