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RIP Bud Adams

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by Steak Snabler, Oct 21, 2013.

  1. Steak Snabler

    Steak Snabler Well-Known Member

    Only two left are Ralph Wilson (back row, third from left) and Barron Hilton (back row, far right). Incidentally, Barron Hilton is Paris Hilton's grandfather.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 15, 2014
  2. Football_Bat

    Football_Bat Well-Known Member

    Surprisingly no, considering all the badass collisions he initiated.
     
  3. YankeeFan

    YankeeFan Well-Known Member

    Two have you have referenced this, but I don't know the story. What's the deal?
     
  4. Mark2010

    Mark2010 Active Member

    The Astrodome, built in the mid 1960s was the first major indoor stadium for baseball and football. One of the unique features was a unique "exploding' scoreboard that flashed all sorts of fancy (for its day) graphics and stuff whenever the home team scored big (touchdowns, home runs, etc.) It covered the top three levels of the baseball outfield and football end zone.

    In 1987, Adams, seeking more revenue, visited Jacksonville, Fla., several times and toured the Gator Bowl and made a very public noise about moving the team. Harris County, which managed the dome, got scared and tore out the great scoreboard and added seats in those top three tiers to encircle the entire stadium and increase the football seating capacity from around 50,000 to about 65,000. This obviously provided more revenue for football, but the seats were rarely used for other events.

    Less than a decade later, Adams was back whining to the county leaders about needing a new stadium and bolting the Astrodome altogether. When county leaders balked this time, Adams moved the Oilers to Nashville.

    My feeling is if Adams had been a little more quiet and politically-savvy about things, he would have gotten the new stadium (which was eventually built for the Houston Texans) anyway. But by making such a public issue of the whole thing, he put the elected officials in a tough spot. If they went along with him, they were seen as giving in to the blackmail of an owner who wasn't real popular to begin with. So they called his bluff and he left. The Texans came just six years later and it turned out everyone was better off.

    https://www.google.com/search?q=astrodome+scoreboard&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=_w5mUqiGFo_o8gT-s4GYCA&sqi=2&ved=0CCkQsAQ&biw=1360&bih=673

    https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTCiYFvDJLZXhLCMc15as5pFU5FIAjGaHy7DaImOGVHqoNGXeeiF4vmC16L
     
  5. Michael_ Gee

    Michael_ Gee Well-Known Member

    Like many of the stadiums of the 60s and early 70s, the Astrodome did not age well. I covered a game there (NFL) in 1987, and it was a Shea Stadium-like dump even then.
     
  6. Liut

    Liut Well-Known Member

    Sorry the man died, but will never forgive him for moving the Oilers.
     
  7. cyclingwriter

    cyclingwriter Active Member

    One the best stories I ever heard was Adams getting in a fight with a Houston sports writer after the press conference to announce Al Davis as the AFL's commissioner. Not a verbal yelling thing, but the two of them rolling around the floor punching each other.
     
  8. Mark2010

    Mark2010 Active Member

    Superdome is pushing 40 years and still deemed good enough to host a Super Bowl. Major renovations, I realize. But that shows it can be done and you don't have to build another stadium every 20 years.
     
  9. wicked

    wicked Well-Known Member

    I hate to be crass, but the main reason the Superdome got the post-Katrina renovations was because of the stench of death around that place.
     
  10. ucacm

    ucacm Active Member

    Is it a bluff if the guy follows through with his threats?
     
  11. Double J

    Double J Active Member

    No, it's not.
     
  12. Double J

    Double J Active Member

    Glory days of the Astrodome.

     
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