Whether you want it to be here (and most do) or not (contrarian waves hand) Super Bowl LI is on its way and your taxpayer dollars are already being spent to get it here.
First off, is the movement (started by the Texans and NFL) to convince you that NRG is no longer enriched with enough world classiness to not only host this next Stupid Bowl, but to (gasp!) receive the honor of
With a final cost in the hundreds of Millions, NRG is not going to be considered technologically advanced enough to compete with the Billion dollar pleasure palaces/entertainment complexes that are built, being built, or are planned to be built in other locales.
The answer to this? $50 Million in short-term upgrades but the long-term plan has not yet been announced.
My guess? A $1 Billion package that makes use of the dilapidated Astrodome which also transforms the area into a new-urbanist, walkable (mixed-use) paradise that can only be accessed via bus or rail, with limited parking in the immediate area. The financing tool for this will be yet another increase in hotel and rental car taxes, and an increase in certain municipal and county "fees" which will disproportionally hurt those poor and economically disadvantaged.
Of course there will be bars, and nightclubs, and new entertainment districts that spring up along the rail lines, get hailed as the rebirth and renewal of the urban core. Articles will be written, Houston's night-life and urban environment will be declared "on the come" and officially full of "world classiness". Then quietly, almost overnight, most of these venues will have taken all of the profit that they can out of the boom market and will shutter in short order. Experts will blame this on Houston's lack of urban transportation options ignoring the fact that a majority of the city has never shown an inclination to party downtown.
In the course of all this racket you're going to hear whispers that Houston is going broke, that the city is running out of money, is facing a pension short-fall, a difficult debt situation and is short on both police and other first responders. You will then be told by the sycophants that you elected to public office, and the media that devotes themselves to them, that all of these concerns are unfounded and the permanent spike in sales tax, property tax and other revenues that will be generated by Houston's new status as a party/convention mecca, is going to make all of our problems go away.
Houston has arrived as a destination dripping with world classiness and the Orange House dammit. Of course people want to travel here to ride the Danger Train, and see the Menil, and walk around in the half-full downtown tunnel system. Why soon, with the new Marriott Marquis featuring a lazy river (on the rooftop no less) people will be coming from miles around just to take a gander at the fancy cement pond. (It's shaped like Texas!)
So buckle up, get ready for two weeks of even worse traffic then we have right now, Pimp and Ho balls sponsored by mid-level players who aren't in the game and Gina Gaston in fish-net stockings. The NFL is coming Houston, and you're going to be asked to sacrifice a little in order to be the perfect host for a game you'll not be able to attend.
Or, you can try and do what the sane people will do, move out of the central core into the suburbs, or even (if you can afford it) leave town that week.
