Things looking up for Houston Dynamo

29Mar10

Members of the Dynamo Supporters Alliance gather on the proposed site for the team's new stadium in an effort to expedite the approval process. (photo courtesy of Katy Umaña)

Well, the 2010 Major League Soccer season is officially here and the Dynamo are already getting some good news. Fist came word that there would be no players’ strike, and then there was this breakthrough in the ongoing battle for a soccer-specific stadium. Add to those positive developments the fact that Reliant Stadium will host the 2010 MLS All-Star Game, and Houston soccer fans have a lot to look forward to.

As for the stadium, what once seemed like a lost cause 20-plus months into the process now seems to be gaining steam. The proposed six-block East End site was purchased for $15.5 million by the city in March 2008 with the goal being to build a 20,000-seat stadium. The tab for the proposed stadium has been set at around $80 million, and the Dynamo have indicated they were willing to foot $60 million.

The hold up has been the remaining $20 million, and the city and Harris County have agreed to jointly pay using a a tax increment reinvestment zone, or TIRZ. Harris County would join the city’s East Downtown TIRZ, which could use its increment to sell bonds backed by tax revenue to finance its portion of improvements.

Dynamo President Oliver Luck said the terms of the proposed deal were “more favorable” to the public than those for Minute Maid Park, the Toyota Center and Reliant Stadium. The stadium, if completed, will be “symbolic of the fact that (soccer) has arrived.”

Others, though, have not been as receptive or supportive. Soccer message boards and comments sections of various articles covering the deal have been littered with disapproval. Most cite the city’s budget shortfall and lagging economy as reasons why the city should not use taxpayers’ money for the project. Some have taken it as far as insinuating that soccer is a “foreigners’ game” and therefore U.S. municipalities should stay away.

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